Little Red Book

FT: Beijing uses Little Red Book to tackle dissent

According to the Little Red Book, the party is confronted by “two types of social contradictions – those between ourselves and the enemy and those among the people themselves ... Since they are different in nature, the contradictions between us and the enemy and the contradictions among the people must be resolved by different methods.”

Looked at through Maoist eyes, the poorly attended “jasmine revolution” of peaceful gatherings in cities across China clearly constituted a “contradiction between us and the enemy” that had to be dealt with using the harshest possible methods.

In contrast, the truck driver protests, sparked by specific grievances over fuel prices and cargo-handling fees, obviously fall in to the category of “contradictions among the people” and so were handled very differently.

In a pattern repeated many times in recent years, authorities wait until most strikers or protesters have gone home or back to work and then quietly round up the ringleaders for punishment.

From Beijing’s perspective, the logic for doing this is clear. Once these whistleblower activist types have tasted victory they might be emboldened to ask for fresh concessions and wider reforms. At that point they become the enemy and must be dealt with as such.