Student Protestors

The leaderships’ response to the spring 1989 popular demonstrations before and after the night of June 4 was completely unnecessary and extreme. There is no justification for the slaughter of unarmed civilian protestors. The students and other protestors play a key role in the lead up to the events that unfolded, but the slaughter of hundreds if not thousands was completely uncalled for. But, no compromises were willing to be completely agreed on, multiple times, because there was always a small group of minority extremists that insisted to continue on. Declaring martial law and calling the student protestors counterrevolutionaries is too extreme of a measure to impose upon their own unarmed citizens. Thousands came to their neighborhood intersections …show more content…
After the death of Mao, new economic policies were brought in by Deng Xiaoping, and there was more granted freedom, and the press was able to report on issues they could never report on before. Students were able to debate on things that they were never able to before in the classroom. People were able to post political writings on the “Democracy Wall.” With economic prosperity came an increase in commercialism. Many business leaders followed “To get rich is glorious.” In the countryside an increasing gap between the rich and the poor was a result of the shift from communal life to individual family. A high inflation increase aggravated agricultural problems. China was filled with corrupt officials and party leaders. On top of these troubles, many party leaders were vested in the joint ventures China that had financed with foreign companies. To the general public is was as if the powerful were only steadily getting increasingly powerful. There was an opening of large public spaces, and numerous small networks of liberal thought began to spring up. An acceptance among intellectuals of the slogans of democracy and a loss of confidence in the party was becoming common as well. A movement was bound to begin soon, and soon there was a reason for students to …show more content…
Students didn’t necessarily help their cause by allowing great disorganization to occur, and a refusal to come to any agreements with the government time and time again, but this doesn’t justify the massacre that ensued. The government attempting to justify this slaughter by calling the students counterrevolutionaries attempting to overthrow the government was a poor validation for the events. There were major economic repercussions resulting from sanctions imposed by other countries, but how can you really account for the death of possibly thousands of unarmed