Chinese Workers - A New History

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.

List of contents

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

About the author

Sheehan, Jackie

Summary

This book provides the most detailed and complete picture of workers' protest in China to date. It locates their position within the context of Chinese political history and the role played by Chinese workers in radical political movements.

Product details

• Authors: Jackie Sheehan, Sheehan Jackie
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 19.12.2018
• EAN: 9781138970571
• ISBN: 978-1-138-97057-1
• No. of pages: 288
• Series: Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Ethnology > Folklore; China, History of Ideas, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Process / Political Advocacy, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Ideologies / General, HISTORY / Social History, Social & cultural history, POLITICAL SCIENCE / World / Asian, Revolutions, uprisings, rebellions, Revolutionary groups & movements, Social and cultural history, Pressure groups, protest movements and non-violent action, Far-left political ideologies and movements, Demonstrations & protest movements, Marxism & Communism, Revolutionary groups and movements, HISTORY / Revolutions, Uprisings & Rebellions