[The emergence and development of the working class in China] The invasion of foreign capital began with the establishment of shipyards, shipping companies, silk reeling factories, brick tea factories and printing houses in coastal cities such as Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Wuhan, Chongqing and Tianlv. These foreign enterprises produced the first batch of industrial workers, mainly seafarers and shipping workers. The development of capitalist enterprises in China began with the military industry. Due to repeated defeats in foreign wars, Qing government bureaucrats began to establish military industries, as well as mining, ironmaking and textile industries in the 1960s. Since 1970s, some businessmen, landlords and bureaucrats in China have begun to invest in modern industries such as cotton spinning, weaving and silk reeling. These factories and enterprises have also trained a number of workers. It is estimated that in the first 50 years of the Sino-Japanese War, 1894, foreign businessmen set up more than 34,000 factories in China, more than 47,000 government-run factories and more than 34,000 private factories 100 workers. * * There are more than 240 factories and115,000 workers. 1At the end of the 9th century and the beginning of the 20th century, imperialism expanded the scope, scale and speed of economic aggression in China, and made great progress in investment in railways, mines and industries. Foreign direct investment in Yunnan-Vietnam, Middle East, Ji Jiao, Han Jing, Jingfeng, Jinpu, Shanghai-Nanjing, Jingsui and other railways. By 19 13, foreign capital has built a railway of more than 1 10,000 kilometers in China, and more than 20 large mines and various processing plants have increased to 166. Foreign investment in shipping and municipal industries, such as electricity, tap water and public transportation, has also developed greatly. During this period, China's national industries were mainly coal and iron ore mining and textile industry, and the number of commercial industries also increased gradually. In these newly established Chinese and foreign enterprises, a number of workers have emerged. Before the First World War, there were more than 600,000 workers in industrial and mining enterprises in China, plus more than one million seafarers and railway workers. 19 14 to 19 18 During the First World War, British, Russian, German, French and other imperialists were busy with the war and temporarily relaxed their aggression against China. China's national industries, mainly textile and flour industries in light industry, have developed rapidly. From 19 13 to 1920, 675 new factories were built in 23 industries of automobile and light industry. In the flour industry, 1900 has only two factories, and 1928 has increased to 86. During this period, Chen Ying and France still maintained their original forces of aggression against China, while Japan and the United States took the opportunity to expand their economic aggression against China. In addition to seizing all German factories, mines and railways in Shandong by force, Japan also took the opportunity to increase industrial investment in Shanghai, Qingdao and Wuhan and built a large number of cotton textile mills. During the seven years from 19 14 to 192 1, the Japanese set up 223 large factories and mines in China (not including those plundered in China), and American investment in China also increased greatly. With the rapid development of China's national capitalism and the large number of Japanese and American imperialists setting up enterprises, the proletariat in China has developed rapidly, reaching about two million people at 19 19. [Characteristics of the working class in China] Compared with developed capitalist countries, China's capitalism is underdeveloped. Although the industrial working class in China is small in number, it is the representative of the new productive forces. Besides the basic characteristics of the proletariat, it also has some unique characteristics, that is, it is organized and disciplined in connection with mechanized industrial production. First, a large part of the working class in China originated from foreign-funded enterprises, so it is older and more qualified than the bourgeoisie in China, with broader social forces and social foundation. Second, the working class in China is oppressed by imperialism, bureaucratic capitalism and feudal forces and leads a miserable life. Workers work long hours, usually more than one day 12 hours, and more than 16 to 20 hours. The wages of workers in China are very low. Around 19 19, workers' daily wages are one or two cents to three or four cents. At that time, the price of rice was usually about ten yuan per load. This wage level was only one seventh of that of similar workers in Britain at that time and one quarter of that of Japanese workers. Many factories calculate wages by the day, and holidays are deducted by the day. Accidents stop work, wages are calculated on time that day, prices rise, real wages fall, and it is difficult for workers to maintain even the most basic living. In China, there are no laws to protect workers, no unemployment benefits, no minimum living guarantee for workers, and no due subsidies for diseases and work-related injuries. Generally speaking, the safety equipment in factories and mines is very poor, and the number of accidents is amazing. According to the statistics of 19 13, there were 29 18 disasters in Fushun coal mine controlled by Japanese imperialism, with 3 148 casualties. Only one gas explosion in 19 17 killed 92 1 person. According to the preliminary survey of Tangshan Kailuan Coal Mine 1920, accidents such as suffocation, water permeability, tile fire, casing collapse or coal seam caving often occur in this mine. In the mine, the average number of deaths in these accidents is 4 per month, and the number of injured people is twice that of deaths. Coal is dug by hand and transported by horse. In case of landslide or other accidents, the mine is busy saving horses, regardless of the miners' lives, because a dead horse is worth 180 yuan, and a dead worker only gives 40 yuan a pension. In modern enterprises, various feudal exploitation systems are also widely implemented, including contract labor system, bonded labor, bonded labor and so on. The contract system is that the big foreman contracts some jobs to capitalists, then subcontracts them to the small foreman, and the small foreman contracts them to employees, exploiting them layer by layer. For example, the coal in Kailuan Coal Mine and Mining Bureau was dug by foremen. According to the regulations, people who hire kilns are hired by big workers, and then hire small workers. Hired coolies go underground for eight hours every day, and their salary is only twenty copper coins. Foremen also use methods such as luring gambling and lending to make workers poorer and poorer and become lifelong laborers. Contract workers are young workers (mostly rural girls) exploited by capitalists and contractors. The foreman signs a contract with his family at a very low package fee, and the package period is generally three years. During this period, the workers completely lost their freedom. Under the oppression of capitalists and foremen, heavy labor is carried out, and the wages are all owned by the foremen, only a little money is given to maintain the workers' own accommodation. Trainers are child laborers employed by capitalists. They only provide accommodation for three to five years, but after two years, they still have to work for capitalists with extremely low wages. In addition, workers can be dismissed, fined, beaten, deducted from wages and searched at will. Capitalists and foremen can even set instruments of torture to torture and torture workers. As for female workers and child workers, they are exploited more seriously. They work the same hours as adult male workers, and their wages are only half that of adult male workers. They are also insulted and bullied from time to time. Workers in China have no democratic rights in politics. There is no strike and freedom of speech. Imperialist and warlord governments have enacted the Provisional New Criminal Law, the Regulations on Public Security Police and other laws and regulations, refusing the just demands of workers and arbitrarily beating and shooting them. For example, in 19 13, the strike of Hanyang Arsenal workers and Beijing Post workers was suppressed by warlords, and some strike leaders were executed or forced to commit suicide. 19 15, strikers in Anyuan coal mine were actually treated as bandits. The oppression and exploitation suffered by the working class in China is rare in the world, so it is resolute and completely revolutionary. Especially capable of playing. Third, the working class in China is highly concentrated. Although there are not many industries in modern China, they are mainly distributed in a few big cities, so the industrial proletariat is concentrated in a few big factories and mines. According to incomplete statistics of thirteen provinces, during the period from 1900 to 19 10, there were 156 factories and mines with more than 500 employees, and there were * * * 240395 employees, of which 40 foreign factories and mines accounted for almost half. 156 factories and mines, of which 65 have 1000 employees or more, and 152452 employees. More than ten thousand people have two, * * * twenty-five thousand and ninety people. According to 1934 survey of Shanghai, employees working in enterprises with more than 500 employees account for 57% of the total number of employees in Shanghai, and most of them are concentrated in textile, coal, iron ore, fertilizer and transportation enterprises. Geographically, several large industrial cities, such as Shanghai, have concentrated hundreds of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of workers. According to the survey of Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions 1925, there are 500,000 industrial workers in Shanghai alone, and there are about one million industrial workers in several nearby industrialized cities such as Wuxi and Nantong. There are 400,000 workers in Wuhan, 300,000 in Tianjin, 250,000 in Hong Kong, 0,000 in Guangzhou/KLOC-0,000, and 600,000 in cities and industrial and mining areas in three northeastern provinces. Although the industrial proletariat in China is a minority in the national population, its concentration is not only conducive to the unity of the whole class, but also conducive to fighting, and it is easy to form a powerful political force in the revolutionary struggle. Fourthly, the working class in China, besides the industrial proletariat, has about 12 million employees and shop assistants of small industries in cities, as well as the vast rural proletariat (that is, farm labourers) and other urban and rural proletarians. If you add the semi-proletarians in rural areas-poor peasants, the number of proletarians and semi-proletarians in the country will greatly exceed half of the national population. Their oppression and exploitation are very cruel. At the same time, because most of the industrial proletariat in China came from bankrupt farmers, they formed a close alliance. These characteristics make the working class in China the most advanced and revolutionary class in the China Revolution. 【 Early spontaneous struggle of the working class in China 】 Since its birth, the working class in China has been fighting against exploitation and oppression. In 1950s and 1960s, the earliest porter organization, Guangzhou Packers Federation, appeared in Guangzhou. 1858, more than 20,000 municipal workers and porters in Hong Kong went on strike and returned to Guangzhou in the struggle against the occupation of Guangzhou by British and French invaders. This is the earliest recorded general strike in China. According to incomplete statistics, during the 60 years from 1840 to 1904, there were about 30 recorded incidents of workers' protests, with an average of less than once a year. During the nine-year period from 1905 to 19 13, * * about seventy times, with an average of about eight times a year; From 19 14 to 19 19 in May, * * * 120 times, with an average of more than 20 times a year. In 19 18 alone, there were 33 strikes in the whole country, which increased to 67 in 19 19. The scale and form of the early spontaneous struggle of the working class in China continued to develop. At first, individual or a few workers rebelled by quarreling with their employers, complaining to the official hall, destroying machinery and equipment, robbing warehouses and burning raw materials or products. Later, it gradually developed to dozens, hundreds or even thousands of people, with some kind of organization and leadership. Especially during the First World War, Shanghai and Hong Kong began to see several strikes by enterprises and even the whole industry. For example, in June of 19 14 and 10, Ningbo seafarers of Shanghai Merchants, Swire and Jardine Matheson held an alliance strike to demand higher wages. In 65438+February of the same year, rickshaw workers in Shanghai held an alliance strike to oppose the increase in car rental fees. 19 15, Anyuan coal mine workers went on strike to oppose cruel exploitation and foreign engineers to protect the foreman who beat the workers. The strike was organized and led by the Gervais, but it failed because of the suppression of the army. 19 16, the workers of the printing bureau of the Ministry of Finance of Beijing government, the sand-turning workers in Shanghai and the workers of Shanghai Yingshang Cigarette Company demanded higher wages and went on strike. 19 17, 3,000 miners in Shuikoushan, Hunan Province and 3,000 workers in Shanghai Yingmei Cigarette Factory went on strike. 1965438+In March 2007, the printers of Shanghai Zhonghua Bookstore and Wen Ming Bookstore went on strike to support the struggle of the printers of commercial libraries. Handicraft workers in various places also held industry-wide strikes. These intensified strikes are mainly because the workers can't stand the inferior living conditions and cruel abuse, and they spontaneously waged an economic struggle against wage deduction and demanding higher wages. Some of them are obviously anti-imperialist and anti-feudal, thus promoting the improvement of the working class consciousness in China. However, at that time, the proletariat did not have its own political party and unified trade union leadership, and it was still in a state of freedom. In the struggle against imperialist aggression, the working class in China fought bravely. 1884, during the Sino-French War, Hong Kong Shipyard refused to repair warships for the French invaders. 1903, more than 10,000 miners in Mengzi, Yunnan participated in the Lin 'an Uprising initiated by capitalists. From 1907 to 1909, the miners in Tongguanshan, Anhui Province fought under the leadership of the mining union, abolished the mining contract of British imperialism in Tongguanshan and recovered the mining rights. 19 12 years, Anqing workers, with the support of Sun Yat-sen, took an active part in the opium burning struggle. 19 15, in the movement against the twenty-one unequal treaties proposed by Japan in its attempt to destroy China, China workers employed by Japanese factories in Shanghai, Hankou and Changsha held strike demonstrations and actively participated in the boycott of Japanese goods. June 4th, 200619165438+1October 65438 All workers in Tianjin French Concession, including porters, shop assistants, servants and policemen, went on strike. The struggle lasted until March 19 17, and finally they won. 19 19 winter, workers at Taochong iron mine in Fanchang, Anhui Province went on strike and opposed the control and exploitation of Japanese imperialism (each ton of iron was worth 20 yuan, and the Japanese only gave it to 5 yuan), and the struggle won. The early struggles of the working class in China were mostly concentrated in coastal cities, mines and railways, which were determined by the characteristics of imperialist aggression. At the beginning of the early struggle of the working class in China, it stood out against imperialism, but also against the feudal landlord class and bureaucratic bourgeoisie. The arduous and arduous task is rare in the workers' movements in various countries. In China, workers enter the class first, and then the bourgeoisie. China's working class was stronger than the bourgeoisie when it was born, which is also rare in the world. The early struggles of the working class in China were spontaneous and primitive, such as the guild of gangs. The working class in this period was in a comfortable stage, and most of the struggles were economic. Even if there are some political struggles, they are not independent political forces, but participate as followers of the bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie. It has neither its own political leadership nor a unified trade union organization, but relies on some private secret groups. These organizations can neither reflect the fundamental interests and demands of the proletariat, nor win the struggle and realize the historical mission of the working class. The growth of the working class in China and the development of the workers' movement laid a class foundation for the formation of their own unified organization-the trade union and its vanguard-the China * * * production party. As soon as its vanguard, the China Production Party, was founded, it strengthened its leadership over the class movement, making it gradually transition from a comfortable stage to a self-sufficient stage.