Hu Yaobang and the Democracy Wall Movement

The big changes towards a reform policy, and the beginnings of the Democracy Movement and the dazibaos at the Xidan Wall, all coincide with the rise of the former Youth League official to the inner circle of the Chinese leadership.

Hu Yaobang served as Secretary General of the official youth organization between 1952 and 1966, before he was purged during the Cultural Revolution. He was publicly humiliated and eventually sent to a camp for "re-education through labor". His fate became closely linked then to that of Deng Xiaoping who had also been persecuted. When Deng was temporarily allowed back into politics between 1973 and 1976, Hu was also permitted to become active again, but in April 1976 he was deposed once more together with Deng Xiaoping, and only in 1977, when Mao had died, he was eventually rehabilitated - just as Deng Xiaoping.

Among other tasks, Hu became responsible in the party for the rehabilitation of Cultural Revolution victims, later he was head of the powerful Propaganda Department of the CCP Central Committee, in 1980 he was chosen for a seat in the Politburo Standing Committee (the highest party organ), and he became Secretary General of the Communist Party. The next year he was formally made its Chairman to follow Mao's originally chosen successor Hua Guofeng. But the real political power shifted more and more into the hands of Deng Xiaoping, although Deng had renounced to hold any formal top positions.

Hu and others from his reformist faction supported in various ways the new grassroot Democracy Movement and the right to publish critical posters. And they opposed or criticized the arrest of well-known dissident Wei Jingsheng. They viewed the dissidents as allies in their struggle against the old Maoist cadres who still occupied many key positions in the political hierarchy. At least between the end of 1978 and March 1979, there seemed to exist a possibility that the ideas of the "Beijing Spring" might take roots and embrace larger parts of the Communist Party to become the foundation of a Chinese reform communism. One reason that this has not happend, was Deng's political turnaround. The titular Party Chairman Hu Yaobang eventually had to give in to the authority of the de facto leader Deng Xiaoping.

Memories of an Exiled People's Daily Editor

Hu Jiwei who was chief editor of the main party newspaper People's Daily at that time, published in 2004, when he was already in exile in the US, some memories under the headline "Hu Yaobang and the Xidan Democracy Wall" (English translation thanks to Australian sinologist Andrew Chubb, minor corrections and notes by Helmut Opletal) where he tells how the party leader sympathized with the dissident movement, and how he came himself under attack for this. Hu Jiwei explains :

When the Democracy Wall first appeared, the central leaders all followed it very closely. Chen Yun issued special instructions for the People's Daily to send a reporter deep into the midst of the crowd to relay the movement's dynamics and situation. The paper dispatched Internal Political Bureau editor Wang Yong'an to perform this task. I repeatedly warned him to do no more than try to learn the situation, understand its direction and ask for materials, and to absolutely avoid declaring his own opinions. Wang Yong'an wrote numerous 'internal' reports for the central leadership.

I sent many reports about the Xidan Wall to Yaobang, and attended a small meeting he chaired.

In short, Comrade Yaobang was greatly interested in the Xidan Democracy Wall, having already indicated his admiration for it, and believed its big-character posters to be different from those of the Cultural Revolution and before. He believed that in the past they had mostly been used by leaders to punish and harm people. This time, the big-character posters were like those of the [1976] April 5th Tiananmen Movement, voices coming from people's hearts, a new people's awakening.

I related to Yaobang how people were rushing to Beijing to petition, how some were taking to the streets with their complaints, others writing big-character posters, and still more sitting outside government offices silently asking for their petitions to be heard. I told him how this had greatly shocked some leaders in power, who had called loudly for order to be restored at once. I said this was a positive effect of his political rehabilitation programme. Most of the severely wronged cadres and ordinary people had seen how the central government was now encouraging rehabilitations, and many were now rushing to county and provincial capitals, showing their trust in and dependence on the central government and their belief that, with the central government now doing what was right, there was hope that their problems could be solved.

Yaobang agreed. He said that the rehabilitations had only just begun, so all over the country much work had to be done on the incoming letters and petitions, and every effort made to solve local problems locally if possible, in order to avoid involving the central government. While Yaobang continuously enlarged the scope of the rehabilitations, he also sent instructions to Party, government and news organisations everywhere to work harder on incoming letters and petitions. ...

Comrade Yaobang also saw the petitioners' hanging of big-character posters, the formation of people's organisations and the emergence of people's publications as greatly important, and directed all news organisations to be sure to reflect this situation in their reports. The People's Daily published at that time special editions of the "Situation Summary" [Qingkuang Huibian 情况汇编] for the central government that included a selection of Xidan Wall big-character posters and excerpts from some longer posters and articles from the people's publications. We also published an 'F.Y.I.' loose-leaf anthology for a small number of leaders. Other newspapers, periodicals and related work units in Beijing also specially published this type of internal reference material during this period.

For a period of time, the Guizhou people's organisation called the "Enlightenment Society" was very active in Beijing. In order to understand the Enlightenment Society's circumstances, Yaobang got the People's Daily to send a reporter to investigate. The office sent commentator Comrade Zhou Xiuqiang to Guiyang. After Zhou returned from his investigation, Yaobang summoned him specially to his office to hear his findings. ... (Hu Jiwei: Hu Yaobang and the Xidan Democracy Wall)

It has been known from other sources as well (such as the memories of party historian Li Honglin) that Hu Yaobang opposed Wei Jingsheng's arrest in March 1979, but that he eventually had to give in to Deng Xiaoping's orders. Hu Jiwei: 

After the arrest of Wei Jingsheng at the end of March 1979, Comrade Yaobang indicated his disagreement in a speech to the Second Session of the Fifth National People's Congress in June. Yaobang said: "I support anyone exercising their democratic rights under a socialist system. I hope everyone can enjoy the greatest freedom under the protection of the Constitution. Despite the numerous comrades criticising me by name or otherwise during the Central Work Conference and this People's Congress, saying I was going behind the central government's back, supporting a so-called democratisation movement that violated the Four Modernisations, and encouraging anarchy, despite all that I still maintain my views." Regarding Wei's arrest he said: "I respectfully suggest that comrades do not arrest people who engage in struggle, still less those who merely show concern. Those who are brave enough to raise these problems, I fear, will not be put off by being thrown in jail. Wei Jingsheng has been held for more than three months, and if he dies he will become a martyr of the masses, a martyr in the hearts of all." (Hu Jiwei: Hu Yaobang and the Xidan Democracy Wall)

Hu Yaobang apparently also initiated articles in the big party media to support the rights of free speech and debate. On November 14, 1979 (just a few weeks after the harsh verdict of 15 years in jail against Wei Jingsheng), the People's Daily carried an article advocating that one should be able to speak out without being threatened by punishment. But Politburo member Hu Qiaomu complained to Deng Xiaoping that the People's Daily were supporting Wei Jingsheng by downplaying his "crimes". But this article had been edited and authorized personally by Hu Yaobang, says Hu Jiwei.

Hu Yaobang's Continued Support for Big-Character Posters

A People's Congress session in November 1979 and the following session in September 1980, eventually passed several measures that implied a closing down of the Democracy Wall, such as the removal of "Four Big (Freedoms)" (that included the right to write big-character posters) from the Chinese constitution. Hu Jiwei reports that Hu Yaobang had originally supported the idea to establish a "Democracy Park" in the Workers' Cultural Palace in the center of Beijing, but eventually agreed to move the Democracy Wall to the more distant Yuetan Park. Nevertheless, despite the abolishment of the Four Big (Freedoms), Hu Yaobang wanted to retain some possibilities to publish big-character posters:

Thus, I suggest that if a poster is signed and taken responsibility for, presents the facts and talks reasonably, it should be allowed to be posted within the author's work unit. This is completely different to the Four Bigs, representing instead the right to free speech that the people should have and that no person can deprive them of. The rules of the Four Bigs and Big Democracy have been deleted from the Constitution but that absolutely does not mean that all hanging of big-character posters now violates the Constitution." My view was that only the indiscriminate hanging of big-character posters on the street should be prohibited, and that they should always be allowed in appropriate places within the grounds of government departments. Our newspaper should run more mass opinions, I said, and our publishing unit's internal publications had to run more letters, petitions and complaints in order to provide more opportunities for the masses to express their opinions. I discussed these opinions with Yaobang and he agreed with all of them. (Hu Jiwei: Hu Yaobang and the Xidan Democracy Wall)