In the early summer of 1989, the crisis of real existing socialism began in Eastern Europe, which was used by imperialism for counter-revolution. The Communist Party of China also engaged in discussions on the way forward to socialism through economic reform under the control and leadership of the party, which was opposed by a liberal faction based on capitalist restoration. Its leaders were students and members of the intelligentsia, many of whom, during the period of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution under Mao Zedong in the 1960s and 70s, were reprimanded as „right wing
members“ and banished to rural labor camps.
Intellectuals, especially university teachers, who had studied tens of thousands in the US and Western Europe in previous years, also took part in the protests that began in Tiananmen Square in Beijing in April 1989. In the United States alone in 1989, around 74,000 young Chinese visited universities and colleges. In the Federal Republic of Germany, trainees included about 8,000 students. Many of them, as it became known later, were recruited by the secret services of these countries.
The campaign culminated in calls for the overthrow of party and state leadership to pave the way for a capitalist restoration in China as well. It was, as the german Newsmagazine „Spiegel“ conceded on June 12, 1989, „whether China should remain a communist country“ or „whether it should become pluralistic.“ This was symbolized by the setting up of a larger than life „goddess of democracy,“ a dilettante replica of the Statue of Liberty in New York, on Tiananmen Square.
The West threatened to impose economic and commercial sanctions if the students‘ „legitimate demands“ were not met. The whole thing was accompanied by an international media campaign. Against this background, events escalated in the Western media as „popular uprising.“ It came to armed actions, army patrols were attacked, soldiers were lynched, captured weapons were used against state authorities. During that time, the German Press Agency published a photograph of a tank attacked and set on fire by the insurgents. Dozens of soldiers and policemen were brutally murdered and their bodies hung on bridge railings.
On May 19, Prime Minister Li Peng declared a state of emergency. The head of the Central Military Commission, Deng Xiaoping, said on May 26 that it was dealing with a counterrevolutionary coup involving the US-Intelligence Service CIA and Western states.
Nevertheless, the Beijing leadership still tried for more than a week to negotiate a peaceful solution. When the students refused to leave Tiananmen Square, the army and police were ordered to violently evict the crowd on June 4. There were bloody clashes with numerous dead, including many soldiers and police officers.
Had the Chinese leadership yielded to the counterrevolution 30 years ago, it could have led to a devastating civil war with millions of dead, destabilizing the world in unpredictable ways. In defending its independence and its independent path to a socialist society, the People’s Republic in Tiananmen Square has put a stop to this dangerous development at the international level. On this basis, it is now a safety factor for North Korea, allies in defending the independence of Cuba and Venezuela and other states in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Today, the People’s Republic is a bearer of hope, which puts a stop to the USA in its world domination ambitions.
Translation of an article in the German Daily „junge Welt“
https://www.jungewelt.de/artikel/356043.4-juni-1989-es-drohte-ein-b%C3%BCrgerkrieg.html