Chinese Communist Party: May 4th with “science” but without “democracy”

By Wang Zhicheng

May 04, 2009

Members of the Politburo exalt the Party as heir to the modernisation demanded by the movement 90 years ago, but say nothing about democracy. Students are asked to “study a lot”. All demonstrations, outside official ones, are banned.

Beijing (AsiaNews) – Upwards of 3 thousand people, drawn from every region of China, were in the Great Hall of the People today to commemorate the May Fourth Movement which 90 years ago spread the foundations for the modernisation of the nation urging “science” and “democracy”. During official commemoration ceremonies, party leaders expounded on the “science” of modernisation, but they totally forgot to mention democracy. According to some intellectuals, there is a clamp down on freedom of thought today in China, contrary to the spirit of May 4th.

The Movement was born on this date, when in 1919 an estimated 3 thousand students from the University of Beijing led demonstrations in Tiananmen Square, first and foremost to criticise the conclusions of the Versailles Treaty – which ceded control of Shandong, under German authority at the time, to the Japanese – and secondly to demand a stronger Chinese nation, capable of countering Western powers. It went on to develop and ponder what was necessary to render China a stronger and more modern nation. The solution was found in the distancing of imperial traditions and the promotion of science and democracy (along western standards). From this foundation the Communist Party was born and spread (in which Marxism was seen as the most modern science of the time) and a movement of transformation called “New Culture”.

For some time now the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) has taken possession of the May 4th ideals and considered itself its direct heir.

Commemorating May 4th in the Great Hall of the People, member of the Political bureau Li Changchun, exalted their inheritance and underlined how the CPC leadership was a guarantee of modernity: “As long as we uphold the leadership of the CPC, the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation would certainly be realized”. In reference to the youth, he urged them to embrace “patriotism”, “diligence”, “devotion”, by studying hard and cultivating high moral standards. But no mention of democracy.

Numerous intellectuals are denouncing the Communist Party’s hijacking of May 4th for political gains. According to Prof. Zhang Ming, an expert on the Movement, the influence of May 4th is far wider. It inspired demonstrations against the Band of 4 in 1976, as well as those of Tiananmen in '89, which ended in massacre. All of these protests were spurred on by the element of “democracy” and demanded political reform. Even the intellectuals of the Charter 08 of 26/01/2009 (ref. AsiaNews.it, Charter 08, a plea for human rights in China complete text) recalled the May 4th Movement and the betrayal of its ideals by the CPC, which transformed the ideal of the “sovereign people” into the modern reality in which the “party has all the power”.

The “stymied” memory of May 4th is also highlighted by another factor: the government refused permission for any organisation outside the CPC to commemorate the anniversary.