Exclusive interviews with militants who believe that the leftist movement is doomed by its own fundamentalist Marxism and uncertain strategy.
by Xiao Ziqi
Article 3 of 3. Read article 1 and article 2.
The article written by “Xuexi China”—which I discussed in the first article of this series and was never intended for publication but was made public by the Maoist Communist Party of China—also mentions that the Jasic Workers’ Solidarity Group and the network of Maoist activists behind it had, from the outset, regarded intellectual workers and students as members of the petty bourgeoisie. However, because their own forces were too weak, they consistently engaged in United Front work with political factions that held differing views—including liberals opposed to Communism and Maoists who advocated for “preserving the Party and saving the nation” (保党救国), a Maoist viewpoint that advocates preserving the CCP’s current political system while supporting the rise of healthy forces within the Party to return to the planned economic model of the Mao era—to win their support.
To secure their backing, they concealed many of their core views and positions and repeatedly adjusted their United Front strategies based on actual circumstances. “Bitter Winter” has learned from multiple sources close to the Maoist Communist Party of China that, internally, the party actually regards university Maoist student groups—such as the Peking University Marxist Society—which are influenced by the “Unite with the Right, Oppose the Party” (联右反党) trend (a Maoist viewpoint that holds the CCP authorities to be the most reactionary fascist regime and advocates uniting with liberals to overthrow the CCP)—as targets of its United Front efforts rather than genuine partners.
At the height of the campaign, they pushed members of these Maoist student societies and the peripheral masses mobilized by related Maoist activist networks to the forefront to carry out the work. At the same time, they themselves remained behind the scenes conducting covert operations. This explains why, after the suppression of the Jasic Workers’ movement, Maoist student societies in Chinese universities that had participated in related solidarity activities were virtually wiped out. In contrast, only a few members of the Maoist Communist Party of China were arrested, and its organization suffered no devastating blow.
As for why the management style and public messaging of the Jasic Workers’ Solidarity Group’s website and online groups have changed significantly—no longer vigorously voicing solidarity with and support for rights-defending lawyers, the Hong Kong democracy movement, and ethnic minority rights activists, and even condoning their supporters’ attacks within relevant groups against protests associated with liberalism or led by nonmanual laborers—our sources do give an explanation. “This is because, during the height of the movement, the management of these groups and websites was handled by members of Maoist student societies—such as Peking University’s Marxist Society—that advocated for cooperation with liberal forces. Later, members of such Maoist student societies at universities were either summoned for questioning or arrested. “
“Around the same time,” our sources continue, “the Maoist Communist Party of China and the overseas remnants of Peking University’s Marxist Society split over whether to continue engaging in United Front work with the petty bourgeoisie, including intellectual workers and college students. Consequently, the personnel directly appointed by the Maoist Communist Party of China to manage the relevant websites, channels, and groups adopted a propaganda line that excluded all other political factions and any rights-advocacy activities they viewed as belonging to hostile classes—those they deemed not to be part of the manual-labor proletariat.”
Sources close to the Maoist Communist Party of China also told “Bitter Winter” that voices are now emerging within the party calling for a reevaluation of its decision—made on August 24, 2022—to completely abandon the United Front and instead attempt to expand its mass support base by relying only on its most militant supporters, a move that ultimately led to yet another shift in the party’s political line.
“Critics of the current line within the party,” we were told, “point out that the attempt to abandon the United Front strategy and expand the party’s mass support base by relying on its fervent supporters—primarily from Maoist QQ groups led by a Maoist feminist supporter known by the online handle ‘Moxin’—can be described as a complete failure. Not only has this greatly damaged the image of the Maoist Communist Party of China within leftist circles, but it has also attracted a group of low-caliber opportunists who merely follow trends and who pledge loyalty to the Maoist Communist Party of China.”
“However,” our informant continued, “since the detrimental effects of this erroneous line had already taken hold, the leadership of the Maoist Communist Party of China believed that publicly admitting their mistake would damage their image. Therefore, they shifted their focus from online propaganda to offline efforts—sending personnel to factories to build clandestine organizations and mobilize workers—in preparation for the next large-scale labor rights movement, such as the Jasic Workers’ Movement, and even the socialist revolution they believe is inevitable. Consequently, they have reduced public statements and activities within the groups they control, while tacitly allowing propagandists from other Maoist channels—which they previously regarded as pettybourgeois democrats—to carry out their propaganda, no longer banning all such content upon sight as they did in the past.”
Mr. Huang (a pseudonym), a democratic socialist who was once regarded by the Jasic Workers’ Solidarity Group as a key “United Front target” and who had participated in managing related subgroups during the height of the movement, commented to “Bitter Winter”: “Upon learning of the information you and ‘Xuexi China’ have gathered, I am not surprised—after all, Stalinists throughout history have always deceived and exploited their United Front targets in this way. Yet I still feel disappointed, because many of us—myself included—previously believed that this new generation of Maoists, who led the Jasic Workers’ Movement and defended Maoist student groups on college campuses, were different from the older generation of Maoists. That they would have more in common with democratic forces and might even show promise of shifting toward social democracy. Based on these expectations, we engaged in sincere cooperation with them. But I never expected their ideologies to have solidified so long ago, or that they had been conducting United Front work against us all along. Although I do not regret my decision to support this labor rights movement back then, I must say that I feel that many of my friends and I were exploited and deceived by this Maoist conspiracy group—the Maoist Communist Party of China.”
Uses a pseudonym for security reasons.
