Volume 36, Number 17 · November 9, 1989
Vengeance in China
By Merle Goldman
While China's leaders try to assure the outside world and themselves that 'everything is back to normal,' the national problems that existed before the June 4 crackdown have become much worse. China's students and intellectuals were already demoralized by the periodic ideological campaigns against them and official corruption as well as by increasing inflation and low salaries. They have now become more disillusioned than ever with the Party, with Deng and Company's leadership, and the Communist system itself. The political and military leaders who share power with Deng have become more deeply divided. Many of the city workers and the private entrepreneurs who owed their jobs to Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms recently have been complaining that inflation, corruption, wage reductions, and national economic controls have become worse. Such workers and business people, moreover, were the first to feel the force of the June crackdown, even before the intellectuals and students.
Feature, 4946 words
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