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May. The demands put forward in the "Call" immediately turned into the students' political demands and, through the mass media, a serious situation was created in which the students on hunger strike were used as hostages to put pressure on the party and government.
On 15th May, he led some people in holding the first demonstration by what they called "China's intellectual circles". he also went to Tiananmen Square to make speeches and support the students in continuing their hunger strike.
On 16th May, he again took the lead in joining the demonstration held by some people in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in support of the students on hunger strike. Together with some people, he issued a "16th May Statement", again calling on the party and the government to recognise the "legitimacy of the students autonomous organisation" and to admit that the 26th April editorial "was erroneous".
On 17th May, he again initiated and drafted a “17th May Declaration", in which he launched a vicious personal attack against Comrade Deng Xiaoping, saying that "because the dictator wields unlimited power, the government has forfeited its responsibilities and human nature", that "the Qing dynasty has been dead for 76 years, but in China there is still an emperor without the title of an emperor, a dictator who is old and muddleheaded", and that "yesterday afternoon, General Secretary Zhao Ziyang publicly announced that all China's policy decisions must go through this old and useless dictator". He also clamoured: "The gerontocratic politics must end! The dictator must resign!"
Through the aforesaid activities Yan Jiaqi reflected Zhao Ziyang's intentions at the top, and extended his sinister hand to the students and the intellectual circles at the bottom. Importantly, these activities reflected the basic process of the turmoil from its deliberation to its launching and gradual escalation to a high tide. They also brought to light the basic locus of the plotters from preparations of public opinion to the organisation, instigation and direct command of the turmoil. When the "17th May Declaration" was issued, their reactionary plot and the political essence of this turmoil were completely revealed.
On 17 May, the members of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee Political Bureau discussed the issue of imposing martial law in some areas in Peking. On 19th May, Comrades Li Peng and Yang Shangkun delivered important speeches at a rally for responsible party, government and military cadres, and martial law was declared on 20th May. Comrade Zhao Ziyang opposed the correct decision of the Central Committee, and openly split the party; he exposed his attitude of splitting from the party before the whole party, the whole country and the whole world. Working in conjunction, the small handful of people who plotted and organised the riot, attacked Comrades Deng Xiaoping, Li Peng and Yang Shangkun all the more frantically, and engineered the convening of an emergency session of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee in an attempt to annul martial law and to impeach Li Peng. They organised large- scale demonstrations against the imposition of martial law. Thus, the riot inevitably developed into a counter- revolutionary rebellion. At this juncture, Yan Jiaqi not only
5 Aug 89
played the leading role in agitation, but emerged on the stage and played the role of the direct organiser and conductor. He displayed unprecedented counter-revolutionary fervour in pushing forward the evolution of the riot into a rebellion.
On several occasions in the wake of 19th May, he organised and presided over the joint meetings of "Peking Federation of the Intellectual Circles" and "Peking College Students Autonomous Federation" with the participation of Su Shaozhi Wang Dan and Wuer Kaixi, to make plans for unified actions to counter the imposition of martial law.
On 20th May, Bao Tong realised that he was doomed to failure, and concluded that "a solution cannot be found inside the party; and the NPC has to be relied upon”. On that day, Yan Jiaqi said to some people: "Li Peng should be overthrown; it is imperative to impeach him through an emergency session of the NPC Standing Committee." He also took part in the grand demonstration to oppose the imposition of martial law, and issued the "Pledge of the Intellectual Circles" together with some people, asserting that they would "never cross their own conscience, never bend their knees to totalitarianism, and never subject themselves to the last emperor of China in the 1980s".
On 21st May, Yan Jiaqi and some people engineered the organisation of a federation of the intellectual circles. The first step would be organising the intellectuals in Peking and the second step would follow and, "the general goal is to overthrow Li Peng”. On the same day, together with some people, Yan sent a cable to the leading members of the NPC Standing Committee, demanding that they immediately call an emergency session of the NPC Standing Committe.
On 23rd May, the "Peking Federation of the Intellectual Circles" was officially founded, and Bao Zunxin was in charge of overall affairs. Some people said that once the national federation of intellectual circles was established, Yan Jiaqi would be responsible for its overall planning. A full-text duplicate of "Declaration of the Founding of the Peking Federation of the Intellectual Circles” was carried in Taiwan's 'Lien-ho Pao' at the very same time. The "Declaration" attacked the decision-making of the Central Committee and the State Council as being perverse, and appealed for the "prompt" convening of a meeting of the NPC Standing Committee” to “deliberate the bill to impeach Li Peng”. They called members who joined the federation to launch a sit-in in Tiananmen Square that very evening, and distributed the 'Xinwen Kaixun' ['Express'], which they edited in Tiananmen Square. They cursed Comrade Li Peng, and said they would "send him to the guillotine of history".
On 24th May, the "Tiananmen Square Headquarters” and the "Joint Conference of People of All Circles in Peking" announced their founding. Thus, the "Federation of the Intellectual Circles", organised by Yan Jiaqi and others, officially formed a "Holy Alliance" for concerted counter- revolutioanry actions with the "Peking College Students' Autonomous Federation", the "Peking citizens' Autonomous Federation", the "Peking Workers' Dare-to-die Squad", and the "Peking Workers' Pickets”. Thus the so-called “cultural elite" colluded with the scum of society. In their common pledge, they screamed that they "feared not bloodshed" in overthrowing the Chinese government.