Tiananmen Square Massacre and the Communist Betrayal !

The world is changing rapidly as never before. The exponential rise in the global networks and ensuing interconnectedness across the globe has resulted in a deluge of information; some embarrassing and some even pulling out skeletons from the closet. Be that as it may, not surprisingly, few communist countries like China has successfully transformed itself as the “great firewall of China”, making it almost unnavigable. It has successfully managed to dispense its lies and propaganda to its domestic population to such an extent that even after three decades of the worst student massacre at Tiananmen Square, in the modern world, it has to date evaded the ire of its domestic population and the International community.   

The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting ~ Milan Kundera

In the 1980s, China was going through huge changes. The ruling communist party ushered in few reforms particularly allowing private companies and foreign investment. Along with it came rampant corruption, but the new reforms raised hopes for greater political openness. Political openness as a rare commodity in a Communist state was too much to ask for and therefore it led do a massive crackdown on thousands of people gathered, mostly students among them. On 3rd and 4th June, troops opened fire; crushing and arresting the protestors. Witnesses told horrific stories of tanks driving over unarmed protestors and soldiers shooting indiscriminately into crowds. Is that surprising in a Communist state? The question is not hard to answer even for an individual with a modicum of understanding of International relations and political theory.  

As Kundera said: The first step in liquidating people is to erase its memory. Destroy its books, its culture, its history. Then have somebody write new books, manufacture a new culture, invent a new history. Before long, that nation will begin to forget what it is and what it was. The world around it will forget even faster. 

The statement illustrates the Modus Operandi of a Communist state or a Communist ideologue, operating in a domestic system with a little red book by his/her side. China guided by their “red little playbook” has successfully orchestrated this “great act of forgotten”. There are no official acts of remembrance for the events of 1989 in Beijing. In fact, “The cultural amnesia of Tiananmen” is deep in Chinese society, and no one wants to talk about it without inviting the government angst. 

Reactions of the Indian communist, the Ideological cousins of communist China was more tragic. CPIM (Communist party if India Marxist) defended the crackdown. The CPIM had been the only party in the world to pass a resolution hailing the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. The same CPIM in its 20th congress document titled- “Resolution on some ideological issues”, downplayed the Tiananmen massacre by calling it an “internal turmoil” in China and instead of calling it a massacre, preferred to call it “Tiananmen Square development”. Moving much closer to Universities and communist student politics at JNU, the students union at the time of the massacre was led by the students wing of the CPIM, which backed the Tiananmen square massacre and glorified the Chinese regime. The top CPIM leader Sitaram Yechury came to the campus and from here he branded the students at Tiananmen square as “CIA stooges and bourgeois delinquents”. The same Sitaram Yechury in an interview to Barkha Dutta said “When I entered St. Stephens, you had on the chapel written, CHAIRMAN MAO IS OUR CHAIRMAN. 13 students were expelled. Those were the great Maoist of the time. Some of them are eminent academicians now”. The statement illustrates that how the vested interests in the academia has nurtured this ecosystem of Communist intolerance.  

Communist in the campuses have repeatedly espoused their faith in disrupting the opposition voices, be it disrupting the ABVP speakers during a GBM meetings or a pre-planned and neatly executed violences on the ABVP sympathizers and office bearers. Their thirst for violence increases exponentially particularly in states where they have state patronage, culminating in torture rooms for the students opposing them (Case in Kerala). The communists have repeatedly proven their double standards by espousing liberty, freedom, diversity while in opposition, whereas encapsulating the Orwellian style of governance while in power. Ironically, the communists in the campus who likes brandishing their communist virtues at freedom square dodges any discussion on “Tiananmen Square Massacre”. On this fateful day, when thousands were brutally massacred, let us remember those who gave their life for an ideal and downright reject any idea of revolution, as “revolution is all sunshine till it knocks at your door”. 

Alas, we pay our tribute to the brave souls who protested against communist tyranny and took a stand for freedom by sacrificing their lives in front of the PLA's assault rifles and tanks at Tiananmen Square. Their sacrifice will never be forgotten. This massacre should serve as a wake-up call to everyone who believes communism is a libertarian worldview. Let this tragedy be a reminder that communism denies liberty, promotes oppression, and preaches despotism, murder, and, most importantly, deprivation of citizens' democratic rights.

(This article was contributed on 4th Jun 2023, by ABVP JNU unit on the occasion of 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre)