The recent protests in China against the government’s anti-pandemic policy have been greeted with enthusiasm in the West, even to the point of comparing them to the events at Tienanmen Square in 1989, inflating the magnitude of the current protests. China is an imperialist power aspiring to partition the world imperialist order anew, and imperialist rivals, led by the United States, seek to take advantage of every difficulty, from the protests in Hong Kong, to the Uyghur issue, and the question of Taiwanese sovereignty (which Beijing considers an internal affair). In a curious parallel, the Chinese security apparatuses claim that the protests are being led by foreign forces, a “color revolution” just like the Hong Kong protests, agitated in order to undermine the order set by the ruling Communist Party of China.

Since the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949, our Party has paid close attention to news of the social movements that have shaken the vast and populous country, trying to analyze them according to the correct Marxist doctrine, the enemy of both Eastern “deniers” and Western “falsifiers” of Marxism.

Protests against "zero-COVID" policy

At the recent CPC congress, of October 16-22, Xi Jinping’s report, reviewing the achievements of the past five years since the 2017 congress, devoted only a few words to the counter-pandemic policy, stating that the “dynamic zero-COVID policy” would save lives and prevent the spread of contagions: “an all-out people’s war to stop the spread of the virus.”

The government’s imposed zero-COVID policy, based mainly on mass testing, quarantines and isolation, yielded better results in the fight against the spread of the virus than other countries, especially the Western capitalisms, but at the same time it hit China’s economy hard, so much so that for the first time since the 1990s growth was lower than the Asian average. The worrisome performance of the national economy is prompting the government to change course. But easing of measures has led to a surge in contagions, particularly dangerous in a country with such a massively concentrated population.

All over the world, the imperative not to stop the infernal machine of capitalist production and the need to avoid an uncontrolled spread of the virus, which would overwhelm national healthcare systems and result in large numbers of deaths, have led to contradictory policies from governments. Even in China after the 20th CPC Congress, signs of reversal in COVID containment policy emerged, while, by early November, its symptoms were described in the CPC press as mild and short-lived, foreshadowing to prepare the population for an easing up of the zero-COVID policy.

But the easing of anti-COVID measures soon saw an increase in the number of infections, and as a result, local authorities once again imposed COVID-containment measures on a population now tired after nearly three years of harsh restrictions. Within days, protests against these government impositions were staged in the streets of several cities.

On Nov. 5, isolation had been introduced in some areas of Guangzhou (Canton), such as in the Haizhu district with 1.8 million inhabitants, mainly migrant workers. On the 14th there were street protests in the district with protesters destroying isolation barriers; on the 22nd, protests by Foxconn workers in Zhengzhou; on the 24th, a fire in a building in Urumqi, Xinjiang caused the death of a dozen people, provoking strong outrage among the population; and, from the 26th, street protests over how the containment blocks supposedly hindered rescue and escape.

After these incidents, protests spread throughout China, inside major Chinese metropolises – Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan, and Nanjing.

The government responded with some concessions. At the local level, “unnecessary” quarantines were abolished, the possibility of home quarantine introduced, less frequent nasal swabbing, and so on. At the same time, arrests and deployment of law enforcement against gatherings were intensified.

The protests seem to have subsided, but the situation remains volatile. Contradictory policies in this new phase of viral containment are expected, as the government is unable to reconcile the economic needs of capital, which push for the end of restrictive measures, and the risk of generating an uncontrollable health situation, where within a few weeks there could be tens of millions of contagions, hospitals taken by storm, and hundreds of thousands dead. What worries the capitalists are not these deaths but the possible spread and generalization of the revolt to the working class.

Workers’ protests at Foxconn

The protests in China certainly took place under a strong anti-government sentiment, but they were mainly about its anti-pandemic policy and only demanded greater individual freedom of movement, without any class connotation, as has been the case in other countries where discontent and social malaise have expressed themselves in a diverse movement against the governments’ health lines.

But even the capitalists cannot tolerate stoppages of production and the movement of goods, and they’re forcing millions of proletarians around the world to work without the slightest protections from contagion.

It’s the re-emergence of the proletariat’s class struggle that the Party expects from China, of which the recent protests by Foxconn workers are a significant episode.

The Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou is a gigantic plant where some 200,000 workers work, often referred to as “Iphone City” due to its size and the fact that Apple has about 70% of its phones assembled there. The plant was already hell for workers, but its depravity has been further compounded by the dangers associated with the spread of COVID. The imperative of production has prevailed even in the face of contagion. Managerial despotism has further intensified by forcing workers to remain in the factory even after work.

Despite this, the virus spread(s) among the workers

In the face of these terrible conditions, there was a mass flight of workers from the factory toward the end of October. This resulted in a severe labor shortage, putting production at risk just as the consumerist hysteria of Black Friday and Christmas approached. To maintain production levels in early November, Foxconn promised bonuses for workers and launched a recruitment campaign for new staff.

However, the situation spiraled because, in addition to the spread of contagion among workers, the disbursement of these bonuses was deferred for 30 days and taken away in case of contagion. In addition, new hires were made to approach seasoned employees, increasing danger of infection.

Starvation wages, confinement in the factory, bad and shoddy food, poor sanitary conditions, danger of contagion, failure to meet bonus payment deadlines, combined set off proletarian anger. Between November 22 and 23, protests broke out. They were first confronted by factory security personnel, then, overwhelmed by worker resistance, police, including from nearby locations, stepped up in force to suppress the revolt. On Nov. 24, Foxconn issued a statement that the delay in payment was due to a “technical error”, offering in the same day 10,000 yuan to those among the newly hired workers who quit.

No matter how much the Chinese bourgeoisie tries to cover up the savagery of capitalist exploitation with a red flag and the name of socialism, in the so-called “factory of the world” that is China, the capitalist discipline that dictates the continued production of goods at the expense of workers’ health and for starvation wages is in force. The irreconcilable interests between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat result in the clash between classes, and China, where capitalism is fully developed, is not exempt. From the country that Chinese false communists say is based on “socialism with Chinese characteristics”, we see no national peculiarities that would make the path of the proletariat any different from that of its class brethren in other parts of the world.

The class war against the domination of capital, and for the dictatorship of the proletariat, awaits us everywhere.