專題報導

The Chinese workers developed their first independent organization in the 1989 democratic movement, the BWAF (Beijing Workers’ Autonomous Federation). It had repeatedly tried to persuade, without success, the students to win over the support of the workers and farmers in their fight for democracy. The BWAF was falsely accused for advocating restoration of capitalism in June 1989, when in fact it had called for the defending of public ownership of all state enterprises from the plundering and grafts of the corrupted bureaucrats. Only with the bloody crackdown on the 1989 democratic movement and the BWAF allow the Chinese Communist Party to successfully promoted privatization towards the end of 1990’s. There were anti-privatization struggles throughout China, but too weak to be able to turn around the tide. Partial victories had been achieved among some of the struggles, though. On the other hand, it was also the time when an entire new working class from the rural migrants emerged from the scene, followed by ever rising tide of spontaneous struggles among them.

This essay first looks at “enterprise democracy”, as defined by law, in China, and examines why it has never been genuinely implemented and how this relates to workers’ failure to resist the privatization of their enterprises at the turn of the century. It explores the crippling clauses in the laws, especially those relating to the ACFTU (All China Federation of Trade Unions), which also show the deep hostility of the ruling party towards any sign of autonomous movement from below. It links the party’s lack of incentive to respect the rule of law to the material interests of the ruling bureaucracy, and argues that this can be traced back to Mao’s period. It therefore does not agree with the notion, put forward by some, that the Chinese working class in the state sector was really the “master of the house” in that period. Precisely because of decades of atomization prior to the reform period, workers were left defenseless when the market reform attack started. Although they rose to protest in millions in 1989, the defeat of the movement paved the way for a second wave of attacks on workers, namely the privatization of state owned enterprises. The essay concludes with a debate on the lessons to be learned from the Chinese workers’ demise and the way forward for them.

　2011年10月20日清早，我們拜會了位於法蘭克福城區Rödelheim 的組織“Zusammen e.V”（“在一起”聯合會）。從聯合會工作人員的介紹來看，這是一個頗有激進色彩的左派組織。貼在門上的羅莎·盧森堡畫像，書架上的許多左翼書籍，例如《10 TAGE》（即約翰·裡德《震撼世界的十天》、弗羅姆和奧威爾的著作，甚至毛著等等，似乎也是證明。一位名叫菲力浦的男士為我們介紹他們的組織，另一位元女士則為我們講述了德國工人組織的傳統及其演變。

In the context of China’s economic reforms and realignment with global capitalism, this article examines the role of the All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) and its failure to act as a genuine trade union organisation. Rather than putting workers’ interests and the protection of their rights first, the ACFTU, as an organ of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has largely shifted its agenda in line with that of the Party. The article looks at how this has often meant prioritising the interests of business over those of labour and how subsequently the ACFTU faces a crisis of legitimacy in the eyes of many workers, who increasingly turn to alternative methods of struggle outside of the officially sanctioned union. While such struggle has alarmed the CCP and has led to apparent attempts at trade union reform, often this has meant little in reality. The article also addresses the changing relations of international trade unions with the ACFTU and challenges unions who are prepared to work more closely with it for giving the ACFTU a false credibility.

我不是反核運動家。這20年來，我一直在核電廠工作。社會上有聽不完的擁核反核理論，但我只想在這裡告訴大家：「所謂的核電廠是這樣一回事。」大部份的人 都不知道核電內部的實際情形。希望大家有耐心把這篇文章讀完。所謂核電，跟各位所想的或許有點出入。在那裡，每天都有遭受放射線污染的工人，以及嚴重的岐 視產生。 The industry of big energy has been at it again, pushing government officials to allow for more options that will put money in their pockets even though it will have a negative back lash for the country. With their new lobbying and ad campaigns pushing for this new energy that they claim will save us from of our economic and environmental ills, are they really dealing honestly with us? The truth is nuclear power is dangerous, costly, and will create more problems that it could ever hope to solve. Here is the truth about nuclear power and seven reasons why nuclear power is bad for the environment and for the nation.

(Editor's note: This is a report on an exchange between a delegation from China and some German radical labor activists. It includes a young worker Noni from Mercedes-Benz, Bremen, a young worker from the Free Workers' Union, a small anarcho-syndicalist union, and David from a Swiss socialist group. Their common theme is the passive role played by main stream union in defending workers and the need to protect undocumented migrants from being forcefully repatriated. The report is only available in Chinese.)

 Editor's note: This is a report on a Chinese labor activist's visit to two labor organizations in Koln, Germany.They were Friends of Nature and Unemployed in Action. The former…

Editor's note: This is a report of a Chinese activist visiting a democratic workers’ association in Cologne. The organization, called DIDF, was founded in December 1980 as an umbrella organization for Turkish and Kurdish workers. DIDF has been committed for 28 years to the integration of non-Germans living and working with others. Migrant workers in Germany are becoming more localized and want to live in the place they work. The problems of migrant workers in Germany are similar to that in China. The report is available in Chinese only.

On June 19-20, 2010, the Reclaiming Progressive Social Work: Social Welfare Conference 2010 took place in Hong Kong. The articles here were part of the contribution to the debate.

In August 2007 the UK media reported the tragic death of a 17 month old boy (who became known as “Baby P”). In November 2008 two people were convicted of causing or allowing the death. The court was told that Baby P had been used as a “punch bag” and that his mother had “manipulated and lied to social workers and health visitors”, even smearing him with chocolate to cover his bruises. The baby was eventually found dead in his blood-splattered cot just 48 hours after a doctor had failed to notice that he had a broken spine.