Free the Fujian Six!

The website chuangcn.org writes on the matter (extracts):

(you can find the full text here: https://chuangcn.org/2022/01/free-the-fujian-six-open-letter-from-a-young-maoist-awaiting-prison/)

(…)

Below is our translation of a letter released on January 4th, 2022, by Maoist writer Yu Yixun (余宜勋), announcing the news of his formal arrest and the sentencing of five other young leftists based in Fujian who were arrested last spring. The sudden loss of a group of Maoists is itself a testament to the years of heavy repression against dissidents of all stripes, especially targeting leftist and labor-oriented organizations, networks and affinity groups. (…)

With the significant risks of public exposure preventing any attempts at open organizing, China’s underground left (which remains dominated by various types of Maoist groups) has been thoroughly marginalized––so much so, in fact, that the arrest of the Fujian Six took us and many on the Chinese left by surprise. (…)

Let it be perfectly clear to anyone who defends Xi’s administration: China’s nominally Communist Party has always sung the praises of Mao and Marx, while at the same time systemically hunting down and persecuting the most ardent Maoist and Marxist activists in the country. (…)

It is likely that we would have never heard of the six Maoist prisoners from Fujian were it not that one of them published the open letter translated below. Any other information we have today about the Fujian Six is fragmented at best. (…) These show that five young associates of Yu were all detained by police in Pingdingshan, Henan on May 3, 2021, on suspicion of the crime of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, formally arrested on June 1, and finally sentenced on December 30 to up to two years in prison. (…)

Yu’s letter suggests that the case of the Fujian Six is only the tip of an enormous iceberg of anti-left repression that has continued quietly, even as international media lost interest in the fallout from the 2018 Jasic Incident* and subsequent arrests of other leftists, labor activists and feminists in 2019. (…)

* see also: Resolution of the 4th ICOR World Conference: Solidarity with the persecuted comrades in China (https://www.icor.info/2021-1/solidarity-with-the-persecuted-comrades-in-china)

Here the open letter by Yu Yixun:

Six Comrades from Fujian Arrested: An Open Goodbye Letter from a Young Maoist

Dear comrades,

Good evening, everyone, my name is Yu Yixun. (…)

Today is December 31st, 2021 (8:35 PM). It is with deep regret that I write this letter, saying goodbye to my comrades throughout China for the time being.

This morning, five of my six employees were sentenced, the heaviest sentence being two years in prison, and the others being under one year.

Ever since I stepped onto the path of propagating Mao Zedong Thought in 2019, I knew that this day would come. There’s nothing wrong with propagating red culture, so maybe the problem was that we were “politically incorrect.” Why do I say this? Friends who often read my writings may have guessed a few reasons, since while propagating Mao Zedong Thought, I also contrasted Chairman Mao with the second generation of leaders. (…)

According to the state, I am guilty of a series of crimes including “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” “distorting history,” and “white-washing negative personages.”

Looking back, at first it was because I read many old articles by Deng Liqun that I became attracted to Mao Zedong Thought and developed a great yearning for Mao-era socialism. I began attempting to understand Mao and to learn from him. During these three years of study, I got together with several other young people who were also interested in red culture.

(…) For me, two years in prison may not be so scary, since I can read books in the detention center, and in prison I can write. But the others are still children, so it will be much harder for them to handle it psychologically.

(…)

All of them are from poor families. Two of the girls are from a family officially designated as “impoverished,” their home in the mountains. Because of my ideals about propagating red culture, now they’re in prison. Their [the six employees, of which five were arrested] names are: Zhang Zhijing, Qiu Pingqin, Yu Chaoquan, Qiu Pinghui, Huang Yao, and Huang Xiaochun. Four of them are girls, the youngest, Huan Xiaochun being only 18. Qiu Pingqin and Qiu Pinghui are sisters from rural Zunyi in Guizhou—the household officially designated as “impoverished.” Qiu Pinghui and Yu Chaoquan are married with two children at home. Both of their children are still minors, so now they have to be raised by their elderly grandparents, who are not in good health. (…)

In a similar case this year in the nearby city of Xuchang, four comrades were each sentenced to either ten months or six months, so why are our sentences so long? All we did was publish our views online. Even if that was wrong, was it worth two years?

(…) Although my opinions led to our current predicament, since I criticized a certain core leader of the second generation [i.e. Deng Xiaoping], after all this can only be considered an internal contradiction among the people. (…)

Chairman Mao once said, “Let the people speak, the sky won’t collapse.” (…)

Today I have to write out all these things so everyone can know our situation. At least a few years from now, someone will know that there were a few young people in Fujian who loved Mao Zedong, that they were full of vitality, that they dared to speak the truth, and that they went to prison with dignity.

I also hope that the broad masses of red friends assess what is meant by “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”—is that what we did? What is written in the third article of the Constitution? If you can’t take care of a problem, should you take care of the people who caused it?

By the time this letter is published, I will probably be cut off from communication. Next stop is the detention center, then after that, the prison. But I’m not afraid! (…)

Take care, broad masses of red friends! It’s hard to avoid setbacks on the road of propagating red culture. Everyone, relax. Even if it’s in the detention center, I’ll continue studying and researching Mao Zedong Thought (…)!

See you in a few years, comrades. Now I’m off to prison.

Yu Yixun

December 31st, 2021