Independent Chinese workers organizations took a leading role in the 1989 Democracy Movement. They also suffered heavily for their political dissent in the crackdown that followed, but attempts to form independent trade unions have continued into the 1990s. Jackie Sheehan traces the background and development of workers clashes with the Chinese Communist Party through mass campaigns such as the 1956-7 Hundred Flowers movement, the Cultural Revolution, the April Fifth Movement of 1976, Democracy Wall and the 1989 Democracy
Movement. The author provides the most detailed and complete picture of workers protest in China to date and locates their position within the context of Chinese political history. Chinese Workers demonstrates that the image of Chinese workers as politically conformist and reliable supporters of the Communist Party does not match the realities of industrial
life in China. Recent outbreaks of protest by workers are less of a departure from the past than is generally realized.
By:
Jackie Sheehan
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Volume: No.2
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
Spine: 25mm
Weight: 453g
ISBN: 9780415172066
ISBN 10: 0415172063
Series: Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia
Pages: 280
Publication Date: 24 September 1998
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
,
A / AS level
,
Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Preface, Acknowledgements, Introduction, 1. Chinese labour under ‘New Democracy’, 1949–55, 2. Contradictions among the people, 1956–7, 3. ‘Hard work and plain living’, 1958–65, 4. ‘To rebel is justified’: workers in the Cultural Revolution 1966–9, 5. ‘Long live the people’: unrest and dissent, 1969–76, 6. ‘Others are your masters’: dissent, democracy and reform, 1976–84, 7. ‘Let the whole nation know the workers are organized’, 1984–94, 8. Conclusion, Notes, Bibliography, Index
Reviews for Chinese Workers: A New History
Recommended for public and academic library collections, upper-division undergraduate and up. <br>-Choice, July/August '99 <br> This will be a popular book with undergraduates. It has a clear, radical thesis that engages all relevant current theories and approaches. It is outstanding. <br>-Gregory Benton, University of Leeds <br>
