I don’t know those terms tbh because Im just some pleb. i would welcome some simple explanation of it.
Wikipedia asserts “300 to 2700” dead, with the CCP asserted toll (according to wikipedia) being 241. That isn’t a peaceful dispersion, and, while not 10,000 people, is still a massacre.
I just don’t understand how events like this doesn’t substantially taint your image of them, in the same sense the stolen generation policies (for my country, Australia) are massive stains on my countries’ histories that we havent fully contented with.
But trying to relate it to what I my original comment, I worry about denials of mistakes that countries have made, results in failing to see their current mistakes. In particular aswell, seeing what would normally be considered a grave immoraility, to be seen in a much more positive light because its anti western imperialism.
What I am saying aswell, is this also distorts the truth of events or facts, in a similar manner to an average western citizen’s truth because of their aversion to china.
I’ll start off with a brief explanation of Marxism-Leninism, socialism, and communism.
Marxism is an ideological framework centering the Marxist Law of Value (derived from earlier labor theories of value), the philosophy of dialectical materialism, and the application of each to analysis of history and society in the form of scientific socialism. Lenin carried Marx’s critique to the era of imperialism, where bank and industrial capital merged to form monopoly capitalism that exploits the world through export of capital, rather than simple sale of commodities, as well as advancements in organizational theory and the theory of nations. This forms Marxism-Leninism.
Socialism is a mode of production and distribution by which public ownership is the principal aspect of the economy, ie dominant and rising, and the working classes control the state. This is a pre-communist formation. Communism is the global end result of socialism, when all production and distribution has been collectivized, and therefore class, the state, and money become superfluous and die away. Administration and central planning remain.
The Marxist view of economics asserts that private property has a tendency to stitch together production first nationally, and then internationally, creating an interconnected and centralized system. Socialism advances upon this by controlling the direction of production and the distribution of its gains collectively, rather than privately, essentially turning humans into the masters of production, rather than capital, for the benefit of the collective, rather than profits for the few.
The “300-2700 dead” figure is for the hundreds I said died in the areas surrounding the square, not the square itself. Here’s the Wikipedia section, copied and pasted directly:
Deaths around and in Tiananmen Square itself
Government officials have long asserted that no one died in the square in the early morning hours of 4 June, during the “hold-out” of students’ last batch in the south part of the square. Initially, foreign media reports of a “massacre” on the square were prevalent, though subsequently, journalists have acknowledged that most of the deaths occurred outside of the square in western Beijing. Several people who were situated around the square that night, including former Beijing bureau chief of The Washington Post Jay Mathews[i] and CBS correspondent Richard Roth[j] reported that while they had heard sporadic gunfire, they could not find enough evidence to suggest that a massacre took place on the square.
Student leader Chai Ling claimed in a speech broadcast on Hong Kong television that she witnessed tanks arrive at the square and crush students who were sleeping in their tents, and added that between 200 and 400 students died at the square.[268] Ling was joined by fellow student leader Wu’er Kaixi who said he had witnessed 200 students being cut down by gunfire; however, according to Mathews, it was later proven that he had already left the square several hours before the events he claimed to have happened.[211] Taiwan-born Hou Dejian was present in the square to show solidarity with the students and said that he did not see any massacre occurring in the square. He was quoted by Xiaoping Li, a former China dissident to have stated: “Some people said 200 died in the square, and others claimed that as many as 2,000 died. There were also stories of tanks running over students who were trying to leave. I have to say I did not see any of that. I was in the square until 6:30 in the morning.”[269]
In 2009, human rights activist Robin Munro, stated that he was present during the clearance of Tiananmen Square and that, according to his account, there were ten Western reporters near the Monument to the People’s Heroes at the time. He also reported a Spanish television crew that recorded footage of the event. Munro disputed Wu’er Kaixi’s claims of mass killings inside the square, stating that he did not witness fighting there and instead observed students peacefully complying with the soldiers’ demands to leave the square in an orderly manner. He further noted that the Spanish TV crew reported not seeing killings within the square during the final clearance.[270][271]
In 2011, three secret cables from the United States embassy in Beijing from the time of the events were leaked and published by WikiLeaks, all of which stated that there was no bloodshed inside Tiananmen Square itself.[194] Instead, they said Chinese soldiers opened fire on protesters in Beijing outside the square, around Muxidi station, as they fought their way from the west towards the centre.[194] A Chilean diplomat who had been positioned next to a Red Cross station inside the square told his US counterparts that he did not observe any mass firing of weapons into the crowds in the square itself, although sporadic gunfire was heard. He said that most of the troops who entered the square were armed only with anti-riot gear.[194][216]
The west makes the claim that thousands were killed directly in the square, the peaceful protestors massacred. What actually happened is that rioters that were lynching PLA members engaged the PLA in surrounding areas, leading to hundreds of deaths of rioters and dozens of PLA members killed. There was no “Tian’anmen Square Massacre,” there were many riots outside of Tian’anmen Square that were violently suppressed. The west presents a fictionalized, dramatized account of tanks rolling over innocent students that simply never happened.
As for how it changes how I view China, it’s a deep tragedy. When Communists begin to analyze the June 4th incident, as it’s referred to in China, we begin with the class background. What caused the protests? It was largely sparked by 2 main groups: urban students upset that the peasantry was being prioritized in development by economic reforms made by Deng Xiaoping, and by those supportive of the economic line of the Gang of Four, who wanted a more dogmatically planned economy.
Within this was the deliberate influence of the CIA, who made contact with the leaders of the student protests. The students largely hated the workers that were protesting, and wanted liberalization. The workers were upset that the reforms increased marketization. They were not unified, and eventually the workers left, leaving the students. The student leaders then admitted to wanting the state to crush the protests violently, so as to turn the people against the socialist system.
In this context, it was a clear color revolt attempt, with far more blood shed than there would have been without the west’s involvement. It was good that the socialist state remained, considering the immense gains made by socialism, and it was good that the CIA did not succeed in overturning socialism. It was tragic that hundreds lost their lives. See Another View of Tian’anmen by Sun Feiyang for more.
What gets ignored by western media is that Taiwan had their own massacre. The Kuomintang murdered 10,000+ native people upon taking over Taiwan in an event called the White Terror. The Republic of Korea also murdered thousands in many massacres, such as the 1979 Gwangju Massacre against a pro-democracy movement protesting the South Korean dictatorship under Chun Do-Hwan. These events eclipse 1989 in scale, but are virtually unknown in the west due to being geopolitical allies.
This is what we communists are pointing out. We begin with class analysis, analyze the causes and effects historically from a materialist basis, and go from there. We point out the double-standards and seek truth from facts.
I don’t know those terms tbh because Im just some pleb. i would welcome some simple explanation of it.
Wikipedia asserts “300 to 2700” dead, with the CCP asserted toll (according to wikipedia) being 241. That isn’t a peaceful dispersion, and, while not 10,000 people, is still a massacre.
I just don’t understand how events like this doesn’t substantially taint your image of them, in the same sense the stolen generation policies (for my country, Australia) are massive stains on my countries’ histories that we havent fully contented with.
But trying to relate it to what I my original comment, I worry about denials of mistakes that countries have made, results in failing to see their current mistakes. In particular aswell, seeing what would normally be considered a grave immoraility, to be seen in a much more positive light because its anti western imperialism.
What I am saying aswell, is this also distorts the truth of events or facts, in a similar manner to an average western citizen’s truth because of their aversion to china.
I’ll start off with a brief explanation of Marxism-Leninism, socialism, and communism.
Marxism is an ideological framework centering the Marxist Law of Value (derived from earlier labor theories of value), the philosophy of dialectical materialism, and the application of each to analysis of history and society in the form of scientific socialism. Lenin carried Marx’s critique to the era of imperialism, where bank and industrial capital merged to form monopoly capitalism that exploits the world through export of capital, rather than simple sale of commodities, as well as advancements in organizational theory and the theory of nations. This forms Marxism-Leninism.
Socialism is a mode of production and distribution by which public ownership is the principal aspect of the economy, ie dominant and rising, and the working classes control the state. This is a pre-communist formation. Communism is the global end result of socialism, when all production and distribution has been collectivized, and therefore class, the state, and money become superfluous and die away. Administration and central planning remain.
The Marxist view of economics asserts that private property has a tendency to stitch together production first nationally, and then internationally, creating an interconnected and centralized system. Socialism advances upon this by controlling the direction of production and the distribution of its gains collectively, rather than privately, essentially turning humans into the masters of production, rather than capital, for the benefit of the collective, rather than profits for the few.
For more, see this basic Marxist-Leninist study guide I put together. The first section is really all you need to get a brief overview.
The “300-2700 dead” figure is for the hundreds I said died in the areas surrounding the square, not the square itself. Here’s the Wikipedia section, copied and pasted directly:
Deaths around and in Tiananmen Square itself
Government officials have long asserted that no one died in the square in the early morning hours of 4 June, during the “hold-out” of students’ last batch in the south part of the square. Initially, foreign media reports of a “massacre” on the square were prevalent, though subsequently, journalists have acknowledged that most of the deaths occurred outside of the square in western Beijing. Several people who were situated around the square that night, including former Beijing bureau chief of The Washington Post Jay Mathews[i] and CBS correspondent Richard Roth[j] reported that while they had heard sporadic gunfire, they could not find enough evidence to suggest that a massacre took place on the square.
Student leader Chai Ling claimed in a speech broadcast on Hong Kong television that she witnessed tanks arrive at the square and crush students who were sleeping in their tents, and added that between 200 and 400 students died at the square.[268] Ling was joined by fellow student leader Wu’er Kaixi who said he had witnessed 200 students being cut down by gunfire; however, according to Mathews, it was later proven that he had already left the square several hours before the events he claimed to have happened.[211] Taiwan-born Hou Dejian was present in the square to show solidarity with the students and said that he did not see any massacre occurring in the square. He was quoted by Xiaoping Li, a former China dissident to have stated: “Some people said 200 died in the square, and others claimed that as many as 2,000 died. There were also stories of tanks running over students who were trying to leave. I have to say I did not see any of that. I was in the square until 6:30 in the morning.”[269]
In 2009, human rights activist Robin Munro, stated that he was present during the clearance of Tiananmen Square and that, according to his account, there were ten Western reporters near the Monument to the People’s Heroes at the time. He also reported a Spanish television crew that recorded footage of the event. Munro disputed Wu’er Kaixi’s claims of mass killings inside the square, stating that he did not witness fighting there and instead observed students peacefully complying with the soldiers’ demands to leave the square in an orderly manner. He further noted that the Spanish TV crew reported not seeing killings within the square during the final clearance.[270][271]
In 2011, three secret cables from the United States embassy in Beijing from the time of the events were leaked and published by WikiLeaks, all of which stated that there was no bloodshed inside Tiananmen Square itself.[194] Instead, they said Chinese soldiers opened fire on protesters in Beijing outside the square, around Muxidi station, as they fought their way from the west towards the centre.[194] A Chilean diplomat who had been positioned next to a Red Cross station inside the square told his US counterparts that he did not observe any mass firing of weapons into the crowds in the square itself, although sporadic gunfire was heard. He said that most of the troops who entered the square were armed only with anti-riot gear.[194][216]
From 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests and Massacre
The west makes the claim that thousands were killed directly in the square, the peaceful protestors massacred. What actually happened is that rioters that were lynching PLA members engaged the PLA in surrounding areas, leading to hundreds of deaths of rioters and dozens of PLA members killed. There was no “Tian’anmen Square Massacre,” there were many riots outside of Tian’anmen Square that were violently suppressed. The west presents a fictionalized, dramatized account of tanks rolling over innocent students that simply never happened.
As for how it changes how I view China, it’s a deep tragedy. When Communists begin to analyze the June 4th incident, as it’s referred to in China, we begin with the class background. What caused the protests? It was largely sparked by 2 main groups: urban students upset that the peasantry was being prioritized in development by economic reforms made by Deng Xiaoping, and by those supportive of the economic line of the Gang of Four, who wanted a more dogmatically planned economy.
Within this was the deliberate influence of the CIA, who made contact with the leaders of the student protests. The students largely hated the workers that were protesting, and wanted liberalization. The workers were upset that the reforms increased marketization. They were not unified, and eventually the workers left, leaving the students. The student leaders then admitted to wanting the state to crush the protests violently, so as to turn the people against the socialist system.
In this context, it was a clear color revolt attempt, with far more blood shed than there would have been without the west’s involvement. It was good that the socialist state remained, considering the immense gains made by socialism, and it was good that the CIA did not succeed in overturning socialism. It was tragic that hundreds lost their lives. See Another View of Tian’anmen by Sun Feiyang for more.
What gets ignored by western media is that Taiwan had their own massacre. The Kuomintang murdered 10,000+ native people upon taking over Taiwan in an event called the White Terror. The Republic of Korea also murdered thousands in many massacres, such as the 1979 Gwangju Massacre against a pro-democracy movement protesting the South Korean dictatorship under Chun Do-Hwan. These events eclipse 1989 in scale, but are virtually unknown in the west due to being geopolitical allies.
This is what we communists are pointing out. We begin with class analysis, analyze the causes and effects historically from a materialist basis, and go from there. We point out the double-standards and seek truth from facts.
Hope that made sense!
Thanks for the write up. I’ll have a look at the sources you sent
No worries! Feel free to ask any questions you may have. I’ll answer to the best of my abilities.