Wild Lily, Prairie Fire (ebook)

Argumento de Wild Lily, Prairie Fire (ebook)

Gregor Benton and Alan Hunter provide here a source book of documents of democratic dissent under Chinese Communism, most of them previously untranslated and difficult to find in the West. Ranging from eye-witness accounts of a massacre to theoretical critiques of Chinese Marxist thought, these essays are among the most powerful and important works of Chinese dissident literature written in this century. An extensive introduction maintains that the documents reveal a tradition of democratic thought and practice that traces its descent to the New Culture Movement of the 1910s and the founding generation of the Chinese Communist Party. Far from being a late twentieth-century import (along with capitalist economics) from Europe, Japan, and the United States, this tradition of dissent is deeply embedded in the experience of China's revolutionary movements.

The story of Chinese Communism has often been reduced to uniformity not only by political bureaucrats in China but by Western scholarship derived from official Chinese histories. Wild Lily, Prairie Fire paints a far richer picture. The book calls into question many of the usual beliefs about the relation between democracy and communism, at least in the Chinese case, which may now be seen to depart from the Soviet model in yet another crucial respect.

"The core of this book is a brilliant 84-page introduction to the editors ... who seek to uncover a tradition of democratic dissent in the Chinese Communist Party from Yanan days to Tiananmen."--Choice0Foreword Preface Acknowledgments A Note on Pronunciation Abbreviations Introduction 3 Ch. 1 Wild Lily, 1942 69 Wild Lily 69 Politicians, Artists 75 Thoughts on March 8 (Women's Day) 78 It Is Still the Age of the Zawen 82 Ch. 2 The Hundred Flowers, 1957 85 Forum of Democratic Parties and Groups on the Rectification Movement 85 Symposium of Scientists 88 What Is the Fundamental Cause of the Trade Union Crisis? 89 Distressing Contradiction 92 Rebellious Journalists 93 Excerpts from a Speech Made at a Debate Held at People's University on May 30, 1957 94 On the New Development of "Class" 98 Heaven, Water, Heart: Democracy? Party Rule? 99 I Accuse, I Protest 100 Seven Theses on Socialism and Democracy 101 Ch. 3 Cultural Revolution, 1966-1976 104 What Have Song Shuo, Lu Ping, and Peng Peiyun Done in the Cultural Revolution? 104 Red Guard Statements, 1966-1967 108 "Revolutionary" Power-holders 120 Whither China? 124 On Socialist Democracy and the Legal System 134 On the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution" 145 Ch. 4 China Spring, 1979-1981 157 Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution 157 China: A History That Must Be Told 175 Democracy or a New Dictatorship? 180 Interview with Xu Wenli 185 A Reform Program for the Eighties 189 A Statement of Clarification 194 Democracy and Legality Are Safeguards of Stability and Unity 196 A Guangdong Youth Forum on Wall Posters 199 The Wind Rises from among the Duckweed: Elections at Beijing University 202 Election Scandal in a Rural Commune 210 The Election Movement Is in the Ascendant 213 The Student Movement in Hunan 217 Youth Disturbances in China's Far West 221 Advertisement: Modern Clothes 227 The Reawakening of the Chinese Working Class 228 In Memory of Wang Shenyou, Pioneer of the Democratic Movement, Teacher, Comrade 229 Interview with Yang Jing 234 Eyewitness Account of the Arrest of Liu Qing 239 Liu Qing Is Innocent! 244 Sad Memories and Prospects: My Appeal to the Tribunal of the People 247 Women Are Human Beings Too 257 China and Solidarnosc 259 Ch. 5 Prairie Fire, 1989 264 Proposal to Resign from the Party and Prepare an "Association to Promote China's Democracy Movement" 264 Letter of Petition 266 Speech in Tian'anmen Square 266 A Worker's Letter to the Students 269 A Choice Made on the Basis of Conscience and Party Spirit: An Open Letter to All Party Members 270 Hoist High the Flag of Reason 271 Where I Stand 274 The Socialist Multiparty System and China 275 A Letter to the People 278 Preparatory Program of the Autonomous Federation of Workers of the Capital 279 Workers' Declaration 280 Open Letter to the Students from an Army Veteran 281 Smart Thieves' Voice 282 Provisional Statutes of the Autonomous Federation of Workers of the Capital 283 Statement 284 Statement 285 The Massacre in Tian'anmen Square 286 Account of the Beijing Massacre 291 The Square 295 Open Letter to the Chinese Communist Party 296 Ch. 6 The Intellectuals' Critique 299 Proposals for Reform of the Political Structure, 1986 299 The Theory of Two Cultural Factors 305 Problems of Modernization 307 In Defense of Humanism 312 On Political Reform 317 The Bureaucratic Paradise 327 Appendix: Sources of the Texts 333 Index 343