Creation: Political Economy Group of the Proletarian Liberation Struggle Association
ㅤㅤ Recently, the verdicts in the largest national security case since the enactment of the “Hong Kong National Security Law” — the Hong Kong Primary Election Case (also known as the 47 Democratic Party Members Case) — have been announced. Except for two acquittals, all 45 involved have been sentenced. In response, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee stated: “We cannot take this lightly; we must remain vigilant as events that threaten national security can occur suddenly.” The repression by the Chinese revisionist government has further intensified.
ㅤㅤ Since June 2019, the people of Hong Kong have taken to the streets to oppose the Chinese revisionist government’s attempt to turn Hong Kong into its sphere of influence through the amendments to the “Fugitive Offenders Ordinance,” which they see as a fascist move. Subsequently, these protests developed into demands for “universal suffrage” in Hong Kong. As a puppet of the Chinese revisionist government, the Hong Kong SAR government naturally does not allow the people to gain further political rights. Hong Kong police, like all reactionaries in history, took the lead in raising their bayonets. Faced with pepper spray, high-pressure water cannons, and even guns, Hong Kong citizens took up weapons, and the “Anti-Extradition” movement once escalated into violent struggle.
ㅤㅤ However, the fierce struggle did not cause the bourgeois liberalists — the leaders of this movement — to abandon their illusions about legal avenues. At the end of 2019, the main defendant in the 47-person case, Dai Youting, who was also the initiator of the 2014 “Occupy Central” movement, published an article in Apple Daily advocating that the pro-democracy camp should seize the opportunity of their landslide victory in district council elections to strive for a majority in the 2020 Legislative Council elections. To this end, they held a civil election in 2020 to select the most promising candidates. During this period, liberal leader Dai Youting proposed the “True Double Universal Suffrage” plan, claiming that after the pro-democracy camp gained control of the Legislative Council, they could dissolve the council and call for re-elections by vetoing all government budgets, leading to the resignation of the Chief Executive. This would allow the pro-democracy camp to regain a majority and veto budgets, forcing the Chief Executive to resign. This carefully planned parliamentary route to “true dual universal suffrage” seemed to bring Hong Kong’s democracy and freedom within reach, but they failed to see that the Chinese revisionist government, as an extreme reactionary fascist regime, would never allow Hong Kong people to have even a semblance of democratic rights, even in form. This movement involving broad participation of workers and petty bourgeoisie, with the goal of the “Five Demands” (Note: Full withdrawal of the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance amendments; withdrawal of the “riot” designation (including 612); withdrawal of all charges against anti-extradition protesters; establishment of an independent investigation committee to thoroughly investigate police abuse; immediate implementation of “true dual universal suffrage”) never escaped the scope of bourgeois formal democracy. Ultimately, under joint suppression by the Chinese revisionist government and the Hong Kong SAR government, it failed. The bourgeois liberals’ long-standing slogan of “I want true universal suffrage” and their illusions about “One Country, Two Systems” finally shattered under the iron heel of the bureaucratic monopoly bourgeoisie. On June 30, 2020, the 13th National People’s Congress Standing Committee passed the Hong Kong National Security Law, abbreviated as the Hong Kong NSL, establishing four major crimes including subversion of state power. The once “democratic rights” turned into illegal acts, and the veneer of “One Country, Two Systems” and formal democracy was further torn away by the Chinese revisionist government. At this point, the so-called primary election registration process by the liberal camp was completed, and the voting day was approaching. However, the bourgeoisie’s rule has never relied on parliament but on military, courts, prisons, and other violent organs. The legislative council election scheduled for September was postponed by the SAR government citing the pandemic… In early 2021, Hong Kong’s National Security Department arrested dozens of bourgeois democratic figures, and later charged 47 people with conspiracy to subvert state power, claiming they participated in an unofficial legislative primary election in violation of the Hong Kong NSL.
ㅤㅤ From indictment to sentencing, this case spanned over three years. During this period, many defendants attempted to defend themselves, claiming they disagreed with the “indiscriminate veto” of budgets or that they did not know it was illegal at the time. However, all these defenses were rejected by the judge, who ruled that participating in the primary election meant recognition and participation in “conspiring to subvert state power,” and that the “indiscriminate veto” of budgets was unconstitutional and an abuse of power. The so-called “Five Demands” legal struggle goals were also deemed by the SAR court as leverage for the liberals to force the Chief Executive to resign, thus establishing the crime of subversion. Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee stated: “The purpose of the (liberal primary) is to destroy, undermine, or overthrow the current Hong Kong SAR political system and framework established by the Basic Law and the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ policy. Those who commit crimes will use deceptive names or pretexts to engage in acts endangering national security.”
ㅤㅤ After the implementation of the Hong Kong NSL, over 90 Hong Kong political organizations disbanded or left Hong Kong, and more than six parties or political groups dissolved. In March 2021, China revised Hong Kong’s electoral system again, significantly reducing directly elected seats and imposing strict vetting procedures, allowing only “patriots” to run. Since then, voter turnout in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council elections has dropped to 30% in 2021 and 27% in 2023, and formal democracy in Hong Kong has effectively disappeared.
ㅤㅤ Confronted with the fascist machinery of the Chinese revisionist government, these liberals who once loudly promoted “democracy and freedom” quickly lost their backbone. Among the five primary election organizers, four pleaded guilty before trial, and three even became witnesses for the prosecution. Of the 45 convicted, 31 pleaded guilty before trial, and the remaining 14 were convicted after trial. The bourgeois democratic camp, attempting to gain any political rights or carry out so-called “political reforms” on the legal stage, is merely trying to replace one bourgeois dictatorship with another. Their weakness in the face of the fascist iron fist of the Chinese revisionist government is vividly demonstrated. The “47 Democratic Party Members” case does not mean that the Chinese revisionist government’s repression of Hong Kong has “eased.” The path of legal struggle will only narrow further and eventually be cut off. The only way for the Hong Kong people to seek true liberation is under the leadership of the Communist Party, engaging in organized violent struggle to ultimately overthrow the reactionary rule of the Chinese revisionist government.