Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Friday, November 16, 2018

Communist, yes. Marxist, no.

This is going to take some fancy explanation.

Chinese campus crackdown on young Marxist activists expands in major cities

At least 16 of 22 Chinese labour activists – many of them recent graduates from elite universities – who disappeared in five cities over the weekend were still missing early on Wednesday, as authorities widened their crackdown against emerging grass-roots activism led by young Marxists.

Students at Peking University (PKU)… have been warned by the university over the past two days – in the presence of their parents and others who appeared to be plain-clothes police – to ignore the weekend purge.

But the group, which gave the estimate of the numbers of activists still missing, has vowed to keep fighting for their freedom.

The latest purge follows the earlier detention of about 50 activists after a labour rights protest that began in Shenzhen at the end of July…

“Many students were told the weekend incident was a law enforcement action by relevant departments targeting [suspects] of illegal activities,” a Peking University student, close to the activist schoolmates, said, refusing to be identified for fear of retribution.

“They also warned students against taking further radical actions as the university would no longer tolerate them…

The authorities had already stepped up their watch and control on Marxist student groups in universities after the Jasic campaign. But on Friday evening, in an organised effort, 19 people, including young Marxists recently graduated from elite universities, labour activists and workers were violently snatched in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen…

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