Solidarity with Chinese workers!
On 4 June 2023, we mark 34 years since the Chinese state’s massacre of pro-democracy protesters around Tiananmen Square. The students’ stand in 1989 is rightly honoured around the world. Less widely known, yet hugely significant, was workers’ action. Over several months, steel, construction, transport, office and other workers demanded democracy, denounced inequality, challenged the party-state elite’s corruption and profiteering, blockaded the army, and struck. From Beijing to Guangzhou, they organised federations independent of the state-controlled “unions”. Rebellious workers penned...