Six Years Ago This DayMay 31, 1989:

 

May 31, 1989:

Worker Activists Arrested; Government Sponsors Farmers Rally in Daxin County.

Thousands of workers and students held demonstrations protesting the arrests of labor leaders.

A million youths in Taiwan "hand-in-hand" supported democracy movement in Beijing.

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Source: Compiled by Zuofeng Li from the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, May 31, 1989

BEIJING - China's conservative leaders stepped up attempts to drive a wedge between the demonstrators and this nation's workers by announcing the first arrests in connection with the pro-democracy movement.

In addition to offering bonuses of 100 yuan ($27) to railway workers and other government employees for staying away from the huge pro-democracy demonstrations, the government began fining those who left their jobs to attend the student rallies. Early Tuesday they arrested 14 activists as part of an official crackdown on public support for the democracy movement.

Three of those arrested belonged to a new illegal union, the Beijing Workers' Autonomous Federation. This is a plucky band of workers who say they organized spontaneously during pro-democratic protests and dream of building something akin to Solidarity, the Polish independent labor union. The new union has voiced support for the students.

The 11 others belonged to the hundreds of teams of motorcyclists who had roared nightly through the streets of Beijing carrying messages and relaying information about the movements of the 200,000 troops that surround China's capital.

As word of the arrests spread throughout the square, it seemed to ignite hope in the student leadership that the public might rally behind them again as it did a few weeks ago, when more than a million people jammed the vast area in front of the Forbidden City.

Several hundred students gathered outside the Beijing Public Security headquarters a half-mile away to protest the arrest of the three workers.

Most of the crowd dispersed after several protesters were told the police would officially announce the arrests. Later the official New China news agency did just that, saying those arrested had been under investigation for several days for "starting rumors," inciting workers to strike and for beating traffic police officers.

The students in Tiananmen Square, meanwhile, appeared emboldened by the enthusiastic public reaction to their statue [of the Goddes of Democracy] and the government's inability to purge moderates, including Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang, from this nation's political hieracrchy.

Members of the illegal Beijing Workers' Autonomous Federation acknowledge the danger of their actions.

"I've made an oath on the flag; I'm putting my life on the line," said Liu Qiang, 27, a printer who wandered down to Tian An Men Square on May 19 to help protect students on a hunger strike from the threat of military intervention -- and has not been back to work since.

"What we're doing represents the voice of the people," Liu said. "There must be someone who stands up first for worker rights and democracy."

How many have joined the union, which seems to have its strength among state railway workers, is not clear. Liu, one of the founding members, estimated that a core of about 100 are attempting to build a base. He noted that Poland's Solidarity, the first major independent trade union in the Communist Bloc, also started small.

China's paramount leader, Deng Xiaoping, appears to be unable to win enough backing to resolve the power struggle within the Communist Party leadership or to replace party General Secretary Zhao Ziyang.

According to one Western diplomat, provincial and municipal Communist Party officials who had gathered in Beijing over the weekend returned to their hometowns without taking any official action against Zhao or the reform leaders allied with him.

The ruling 47-million-member Chinese Communist Party is still formally headed by Zhao, its party secretary. Yet the head of China's ruling party has not been seen for 11 days now, is widely reported to be under house arrest and has reportedly been branded a counterrevolutionary in internal party meetings and documents.

A government-sponsored rally was held in Daxing country outside of Beijing, with 4,000 people attending an chanting slogans supporting Premier Li Peng. Effigies of astrophysicist Fang Lizhi, an outspoken dissident who has campaigned for democracy, were torched at the rally. Many participants said officials told them to attend the rally.

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Excerpt from a Tsinghua Student's Diary:

~{⊙　１９８９年５月３１日　星期三~}

~{　　今天一早起来，带坚坚去吃了早饭，就送他出西门去坐公共汽车。坚坚今天要到~}
~{颐和园、香山去玩。~}

~{　　回到校内就看到大字报和筹委会的公告，又听到广播，通报了三位工人代表被抓~}
~{的事情，并号召同学们上午骑车到公安局门口去请愿，要求放人。~}

~{　　又看到一份传单，介绍昨天上午９点“工自联”去和公安局交涉的情况。说“工~}
~{自联”请的律师李进进与工人代表一起到了公安局，李进去问：１）是否抓了人，２~}
~{）抓人程序是否合法，３）是什么罪名。~}

~{　　接待的人则说：１）工自联是非法组织，２）戒严期间请愿是非法的，３）对提~}
~{到的抓人的事不清楚，他只管接待。~}

~{　　李则说：我们组织是否合法另作别论，不是今天的问题。不管怎样，你们非法抓~}
~{人应有个交待，你负责接待就有义务了解情况向我通报。~}

~{　　那人就说：律师不能代表工自联，让“工自联”的代表进来说话。~}

~{　　李于是退出，交涉就此中断，没有结果。~}

~{　　看完大字报和传单就去找林冉。中午在林冉的宿舍里聊天。到了下午，林冉说要~}
~{去中关村的中科院生物所，她父亲的一个学生在那里工作，打电话让她去。~}

~{　　我于是和林冉来到生物所，她父亲的学生和她到另一个屋说话，我则和那里的几~}
~{位职工聊天。我说政府现在采取的是“围而不打”、慢慢把网收紧的战略，先从外围~}
~{入手，控制住各单位的群众，打击“工自联”和市民组织，等学生失去了支援，自己~}
~{疲劳涣散了，最后可能再来一个有力的结束。那几位听了就说，哎，看来你们学生还~}
~{是挺清醒的啊。~}

~{　　过了一会儿林冉回来跟我说，那人讲她父亲委托他一定要把她劝回家，说她也不~}
~{用回学校了，就到他家去住，后天就回沧州去。林冉说现在这里也没什么事可做，也~}
~{想回家了。~}

~{　　于是我陪林冉在中关村买了点东西，就独自骑车回校。还没到学校，一场雷雨就~}
~{降了下来。~}

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