By Raju Prabath Lankaloka
Barely a month after the Chinese Communist Party’s pompous 20th Congress, anger from below is bursting to the surface.
Recently, the Foxconn mega-factory in Zhengzhou, Henan, saw violent confrontation between workers and the police over wage theft by management. And in the past few days, large and violent protests have been reported in many major cities, targeting the regime’s draconian lockdown measures, which have become a focal point for widespread discontent.
As we have long predicted, the deep crisis of Chinese capitalism is beginning to spur the masses into action.
Fight in Foxconn
The workers at the Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou, Henan were the first to move.
This mega-factory assembles the bulk of the global output of Foxconn, the producer of 70 percent of the world’s iPhones. For this mammoth operation, the mega-factory houses over 130,000 workers, who live on site.
The factory, which was awarded the ‘Workers’ Vanguard’ award by the CCP regime’s All-China Federations of Trade Unions in 2021, is in reality a brutally exploitative hellscape for its workers.
By late October, tens of thousands of workers had already fled the site on foot, fearing that it would be subjected to a brutal lockdown as a result of an outbreak of COVID-19, which management’s reckless lack of protection measures had allowed to break out.
Now, workers in the very same factory are rising up against a clear case of wage theft.
Workers had signed contracts promising bonuses of 3,000 RMB (416.77 USD) for 30 days work, with an additional 3,000 RMB for a further 30 days. But soon, many found that Foxconn had changed the dates such that no worker would receive their first bonus until well after 60 days of work. Many workers were enraged by this, as they were saving up for the Lunar New Year holiday in early 2023.
By 22 November, enraged workers gathered to protest against management’s act of theft. They were met with the violence of the factory’s security forces, to which they responded with a valiant fightback. As the factory’s own security personnel were rapidly overwhelmed, local CCP authorities deployed police in the factory to join the crackdown.
Such was the scale and ferocity of the workers’ protest, however, that the Henan government had to mobilise over 20 truckloads of police from the nearby cities of Luoyuang, Kaifeng, Zhumadian, and Xuchang.
Despite this, the workers remained defiant against state security, who were armed with riot shields, tear gas, and water cannons. Street fighting persisted throughout the factory, even as more police were being mobilised. In the end, the factory management relented and promised to issue 10,000 RMB for any worker who was willing to leave the site immediately.
News of the struggle rapidly spread throughout China. The movement of the Foxconn workers has shown that it is possible to fight, in defiance of the regime, and to win concessions. This has inspired a wider layer of the masses to come out openly against the regime’s draconian lockdown measures themselves.
All this, once again, exposes the real essence of the CCP regime as a guardian of Chinese capitalism at the expense of the working class.
Rising up against lockdowns
Initially, the CCP regime’s rigid measures contained the COVID-19 virus better than its western counterparts. But, maintaining a ‘zero COVID’ elimination strategy in a single country is unsustainable. China cannot completely cut itself off from the rest of the world, and the emergence of more contagious mutations of the virus make new breakouts inevitable.
The Chinese masses have had to endure a heavy price in terms of harsh lockdown measures, which have massively disrupted their daily lives and have led to job losses.
The regime has extended such measures far longer than other countries. Now it has tried to change direction somewhat. But the bureaucratic character of the regime has meant that this is only aggravating the suffering of the masses.
Following the 20th Congress, the regime relaxed the quarantine rules for foreign visitors from seven days to five days. But as it continued to give orders to local bureaucrats that they must continue maintaining a zero COVID policy.
And as the cases of COVID-19 started rising, as travel restrictions were eased, local bureaucrats – following diktats from on high to keep cases at zero – responded with new rounds of ever-more draconian and frantic lockdowns, reproducing ever-greater disruption in the lives of the masses.
The bureaucracy expected the masses to simply comply with their orders. Little did they understand that the masses had reached the end of their tether.
Avalanche of fury
Something has snapped among the masses. In Urumqi, Xinjiang’s provincial capital, a fire in an apartment block that caused over 10 deaths (though many have said it could be as high as 44) was the catalyst for an outpouring of rage.
In the aftermath of this event, many have pointed the finger at neighbourhood lockdown measures by the state for causing severe delays to rescue operations, leading to many unnecessary deaths. This was too much for the masses, who rapidly went from complaining about the tragedy online to taking to the streets en masse.
As in many previous mass upsurges, the protests began with a few outraged individuals taking a great personal risk by calling for defiance. Then, as more people joined in, the common outrage coalesced into a courageous and determined mass. Hundreds and potentially thousands spontaneously marched in the streets, defying the lockdown measures, descending upon the city hall in protest.
The avalanche of fury across the internet was so widespread that it proved too much even for the massive apparatus of censorship the regime has at its disposal. It failed to contain the initial movement. Everywhere, people are now finding the courage to join in.
Within a few days, protest vigils mourning the victims of the Urumqi fire spontaneously spread far and wide across major cities in China. Most of the protesters are completely new to politics or any act of protest, and many of them live-streamed their activities, rendering censorship difficult.
In particular, the holding of a white piece of paper aloft has become a symbol of many of these protests: an ironic jab at the regime for forbidding all protest slogans copied from the 2019 Hong Kong protests.
Thus far, protests ranging from mass gatherings to the dismantling of lockdown barricades have been reported in Nanjing, Chongqing, Chengdu, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan, and Beijing.
Following a crackdown from the police, it seems that most of the crowds have now dispersed, for now. But events are developing very quickly, and it remains to be seen how the movement will develop in the coming days.
Youth mobilisation
The youth have mobilised energetically. At the time of writing, 79 universities across 15 provinces have witnessed mass protests by students, 14 of which are in the capital Beijing.
Outside the campuses, ordinary citizens also marched in the streets, shouting: “We don’t want PCRs, we want to eat. We don’t want lockdowns, we want freedom.”
This slogan was originally raised by a lone wolf protester who hung up a large banner in Beijing ahead of the recent CCP Congress. Although he was quickly arrested, his slogan obviously resonated with many people.
Throughout the day, protesters either gathered at Sitong Bridge where the banner was unfurled a few weeks ago, or they met at Liangma river to continue their vigil. Throughout the night, the singing of the Internationale could be heard.
The situation is developing rapidly. But in terms of scale and breadth, the present struggle is already making a mark in history as the largest in the past 30 years.
Rebellion in the air
Marxists fully support the masses’ struggle against the draconian lockdown imposed by the CCP, which at the end of the day is conducting a policy aimed at maintaining its own dictatorial power.
Xi has staked his reputation on the success of the rigid lockdown policy. He needs to be seen as the powerful man at the top who can protect the Chinese people, as this would give him the authority he needs to weather the coming economic and social storm.
The regime also faces the problem that its Sinovac vaccine lacks the effectiveness of western vaccines. This is in large part due to the technological protectionism of the West in withholding mRNA technology. But the regime itself has refused to buy more effective vaccines from western pharmaceutical companies for reasons of prestige.
The authority and prestige of the regime is now breaking down, however. People have been driven to the limit, but COVID-19 has not been eliminated. Whilst large enterprises have received big tax cuts and benefits, many ordinary people don’t have access to meat, and at times find it hard to order food of any kind under the lockdowns.
Despite persisting in calling itself a ‘Communist’ regime, there is no communism in China. There is no democratic workers’ control in the workplaces, or wider society. This lack of democratic control from below has led to all the inconsistencies, bungling, and suffering that the bureaucracy has imposed on the masses.
If there was real workers’ democracy in China, the challenge of fighting the pandemic would have seen the masses themselves involved in developing the necessary measures to minimise infections, vaccinate the population, protect peoples’ jobs and income, and guarantee access to daily necessities.
No trust in the liberals!
For now, the majority of the protests are raising slogans that are focused on ending the severe lockdown, or simply rendering the lockdowns ‘more humane’. Calls for the downfall of the CCP and Xi Jinping, or bourgeois liberal demands such as freedom of the press and speech, are in the minority.
At this point, we offer a warning to those involved in the mass movement. While, at this moment, there is little sign of the nefarious bourgeois-liberal elements intervening in the protests, there should be an absolute rejection of anyone appealing to the West for help. This was the fatal error that led the 2019 Hong Kong protest movement to defeat.
It is likely that western governments will offer forked-tongued statements of ‘solidarity’ with these protests for ‘democracy’. But such overtures must be rejected with contempt. Western imperialism is no friend of the Chinese workers and youth. It only wishes to weaken China – the main rival to US capitalism on the world stage – in order to promote its own political interests.
We should also have no illusions about the present pro-capitalist system under the CCP. The regime may even be forced to make some concessions, but this would only be to demobilise the protests. At a later date, once the movement ebbs, they would hit hard against anyone involved in organising this struggle.
The idea that some kind of reform towards genuine socialism is possible under this regime should also be excluded.
Should the regime move to quell these protests through repression, this would offer a searing lesson for a new generation of workers and youths.
Both repression and concessions contain dangers for the regime, however. Concessions will embolden the masses, demonstrating that this regime is not as all powerful as it presents itself. Repression, meanwhile, contains the danger of fanning the flames of anger and outrage.
Reaching the limit
However things develop, this experience will help draw the most advanced layers to the conclusion that simple bourgeois-democratic reforms will not address the problems they face in any way.
The only way forward is the revolutionary removal of the CCP capitalist regime, followed by the establishment of a genuine socialist workers’ democracy.
The movement cannot simply count on the regime admitting defeat. The Xi Jinping regime has concentrated powers in the man at the top, and its aim is to keep it that way. At some point, retaliation on the part of the regime will occur. There are, in fact, already reports of some Zhengzhou workers being arrested in their homes after having taken their 10,000 RMB concession.
This protest movement, however, has lifted the lid on the depths of resentment among the mass of workers and youth.
A process of class differentiation is taking place, which stems from the social polarisation produced by decades of capitalist development.
So long as the transition to capitalism seemed to be working – creating jobs, developing society, producing a powerful productive apparatus, in spite of all the inequalities – the masses could feel that things were improving; that today is better than yesterday, and that tomorrow will be better than today. But this has now reached its limits.
Gone are the days of double-digit growth. Now we have all the contradictions of capitalism pushing the masses onto the road of class struggle.
The past 40 years of transformation and development of capitalism in China has produced the biggest proletariat on the planet, now counted in the hundreds of millions. This force is beginning to move. The bureaucrats of the CCP, together with the homegrown Chinese capitalists and foreign capitalists, have good reason to be worried about these latest events.
