Quelling the People: The Military Suppression of the Beijing Democracy Movement

Lawrence T. Woods is an assistant professor of political science at
Bishop’s University in Lennoxville, Quebec.

“‘I have the Army behind me,’ he is reported to have boasted.
‘But I have the people behind me,’ Zhao replied. ‘Then you have
nothing,’ retorted Deng.” This exchange between Chinese political
leaders illustrates the broader conflict at the centre of this excellent
book. The tension is also apparent in the book’s title: “quelling”
is the terminology the Chinese government used to describe the military
suppression of June 3–4, 1989.

Timothy Brook, in an exquisitely presented critique, sides with the
people in viewing this action as a massacre that was carried out by the
army on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party, and that resulted from
errors and naked aggression, not from the strategic or human concerns
often associated with classical Chinese political/military thought. The
underlying assumption of the book is that the use of military force is
inappropriate for resolving political problems and represents a moral
failure.

A product of the China Documentation Project at the University of
Toronto, this book is also notable for the quality and passion of the
writing, its acknowledgment that “[e]yewitnesses do lie,” and its
concluding comments on the concept of civil society, imperialism as a
causal element in the massacre, and the role of Deng Xiaoping. As the
author observes, “We in the outside world ...share the burden of
having shaped a world in which the leaders of China could answer the
challenge of youthful hope only with violence and despair.” Students
of Chinese politics, comparative politics, military studies, and human
rights will want to take note.