The fatal weakness of the mass petition by hunger strike starting from 13^th May 1989 was that its initial influence basically relied on its deep impression in respect of its organization and discipline on the society since mid-April, while in practice it did not possess a good organizational foundation to be replied upon, and thus in nature it did not possess an effective control on its acts and strategies. And all the subsequent contentions about whether or not to draw back were in fact contentions about the capability to control the acts, which developed into a scramble by various factions for the control over the masses.

The fact that such a dangerous and actually uncontrollable act could have successfully started and changed the budding student organization into hostages for radical acts was inseparable with the overall political mentality of ‘propelling the reform’ of the Chinese intellectuals throughout the 1980’s.

Although frequently frustrated in their advocacy of the procedure of the reform in the 1980’s, the intellectuals, as a whole, were basically optimistic and self-confident in the decade’s reform. Such optimism and self-confidence were based on the possible cooperation between the intellectuals and the ruling class. And the foundation for their cooperation was their consensus on the lesson learnt from the Cultural Revolution. ( Such a consensus no long exists after 1989 ) The simulacrum of such optimism and self-confidence covered up the fear and subservience of the intellectuals towards the Chinese Communists’ power apparatus. In fact, in their so-called outcries in the 1980’s, the intellectuals seldom directly touched upon the illegalities of the rule of the Chinese Communists, and they also rarely mentioned how citizens, in their struggle against authority, could strive for their constitutional rights and interests on the basis of insisting on principles. ( Wei Jingsheng and Fang Lizhi were outstanding exceptions ) Such artificial optimism and self-confidence, when transmitted to the students in the 1980’s, had caused the students lack of a sense of urgency to consolidate their autonomous organization. Thus in practice, they could not rid themselves of the Communist style of mass popular mobilization, and were obsessed being unable to transform the temporary ‘military’ drawback into a ‘political’ achievement. Such artificial optimism and self-confidence also explained why most of the active intellectuals were at that time willing to try to persuade the students to draw back but in vain—because for the past decade, apart from compromising themselves, they did not achieve a sustainable spirit for struggle or a preparation for its implementation. They then had lost the chance and ability to transmit the sense of fear towards the dictatorial apparatus.

Therefore, I consider that the hunger strike on the 13^th of May was a decisive turning point in the development of the pro-democracy movement in 1989. Based on the complete disruption of the feeble pro-democracy campus organization, the eventual bloodshed confrontation had passed a point of no return. This is an important lesson that the future pro-democracy movement in China must learn.

26^th March 1999