ABSTRACT
A democratic movement of immense scope swept from the capital through the entire country. This democratic movement was not simply a continuation of the April Fifth movement of 1976. But in spring 1989, on Tiananmen Square, there was only an alliance of totalitarianism and corruption, and their adversaries were dispersed. Certain "democratic movement leaders" have said in their exile that "the defeat of the 1989 democratic movement was inevitable because China hasn't any private property and the middle class wasn't powerful enough." The critical regrouping of conservative political forces in the Chinese Communist Party at the beginning of 1987 laid the foundation of power for the June Fourth slaughter. Social democratic forces outside the Party gained unprecedented strength. The democratic reformers within the Party lost support from the social democratic forces and were weakened by joint assaults from the dogmatists and militarists.
