William Hinton, Joan Hinton and Erwin "Sid" Engst: A tribute to true proletarian internationalists and anti-imperialists
On August 1, the International League of Peoples' Struggle paid tribute to beloved comrades William "Bill" Hinton, Joan Hinton and Erwin "Sid" Engst. They received the highest tribute as loyal proletarian internationalists and anti-imperialists. They have devoted more than 50 years of their lives advancing socialism in China and resisting US imperialism.
They were only in their twenties when they left the US to go to China in the 1940s. There, Bill, Joan and Sid became known as Han Ding, Han Chun and Yang Zao. They took part in the great socialist revolution and construction of China.
Their huge contributions to the implementation of agrarian reform, the advancement of socialist cooperation and the mechanization of agriculture are undeniable.
Comrade Bill wrote the books Fanshen: A Documentary of Revolution in a Chinese Village and Shenfan: The Continuing Revolution in a Chinese Village (accounts of experiences in waging revolution in a Chinese village) and The Great Reversal: The Privatization of China, 1978-1989 (a critical study of capitalist restoration in China).
Early in his stay in China, Comrade Bill became intensely interested in waging agrarian reform. He proposed to become an observer and take part in agrarian reform in a community where he integrated with the peasantry. He contributed much in teaching correct farming methods and the mechanization of agriculture.
Comrade Sid, on the other hand, went to China on the invitation of his close friend Comrade Bill. He witnessed the corruption of the Kuomintang government that wrought widespread hunger and poverty among the Chinese. When the Chinese people overthrew the reactionary Kuomintang government, Comrades Bill and Sid decided to live in China to contribute to socialist revolution and construction.
Meanwhile, Comrade Bill's younger sister Comrade Joan used to work in Los Alamos, New Mexico as one of the scientists contracted by the US government to build the atom bomb. She was angry when the US dropped atom bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in 1945, killing about a million civilians. She was among the scientists who organized themselves to oppose military control over nuclear bombs. Upon her brother's invitation, she went to China in 1948 and likewise decided to stay. There, she married Comrade Sid. | They devoted more than 50 years of their lives advancing socialism in China and resisting US imperialism. |
During the socialist construction under Comrade Mao Zedong's leadership, Comrades Sid and Joan took part in designing and constructing equipment needed by the Chinese people. Comrade Joan became a dairy and poultry technician and designed agricultural machinery.
When Deng Xiaoping initiated the government's pro-capitalist policies at the end of the 1970s, they did not hesitate to assail the restoration of capitalism in China. Even if the bourgeoisie now dominate China, the three comrades remain true to socialist aspirations and proletarian internationalism.
PHILIPPINE revolutionaries and progressives maintain close relations and cooperate with them in the fight against imperialism. The three were among those who signed the General Declaration on Mao Zedong Thought in 1993 that endorsed the theory and practice of continuing revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat to defeat revisionism, block capitalist restoration and consolidate socialism.
In 1996, Comrades Bill and Joan actively took part in the People's Campaign Against Imperialist Globalization that was held in the Philippines. They contributed much to the discussion on imperialism during this gathering, which started off a series of protests in various areas of the globe against imperialism and agencies such as the IMF, World Bank and the WTO.
Comrades Bill, Joan and Sid have vast experience in advancing socialist revolution and construction. They are living witnesses to its correctness and that of Maoism. Despite many opportunities for living luxurious lives, they chose to serve the ordinary people of China and the whole world. With full courage, they, along with other revolutionaries and progressives the world over, wage resistance against US imperialism.
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