[...] In the old days it was argued that industrial action was a counter-revolutionary act under the dictatorship of the proletariat. Today, the prohibition is the bald expression of a fearful, authoritarian state that dares not allow its aggrieved industrial workers the right to organize. There they were, several hundred workers in the centre of Xianyang. Most were women. They sat in two semicircular arcs to either side of a factory entrance gate over which hung a large sign that read tianwang textile company. Smaller, hand-lettered signs below it proclaimed protect workers’ rights and give us back the funds we worked hard for.

A cheerleader with a megaphone was leading a chant that, as I watched, gave way to a playful rendition of the childish Maoist anthem of the Seventies—’I love Beijing’s Tiananmen’—and then moved on to the ‘The Internationale’. Uniformed and plain clothes police stood by, waiting for an identifiable transgression that would permit them to use force against a group of female factory workers who were unhelpfully singing socialist and patriotic songs.

Another woman offered a clean tissue as she began to explain their grievances. Their factory had been sold, she said, and new contracts had been issued to the workers that would slash their wages and remove their pensions. Experienced workers were being asked to accept a probationary period at less than a quarter of their normal salary and nobody knew whether they would have a job at the end of it. When they had seen the contracts, all 7,000 of them had downed tools. Now they had resolved not to give in until their grievances were addressed.