A TRIBUTE TO WILLIAM HINTON
National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP)
May 22, 2004
The Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines convey their heartfelt condolences to the family, relatives and friends of William Hinton who died on the 15th of May 2004.
We join them and so many revolutionaries throughout the world in mourning the death of this great proletarian internationalist. William Hinton served the Chinese Revolution for more than half a century. He integrated deeply with the Chinese people, learned from their experiences as well as shared his own skills and experience. He participated in the daily revolutionary tasks. From his integration into the life of the people in Long Bow Village, he wrote his classic work, Fanshen: A Documentary of Revolution in a Chinese Village. He carried his voluminous Fanshen notes for months. He walked with Chinese comrades out of the Taihang Mountains in 1948, all the way to Chengding which was out in the Hebei Plain, about 150 miles, carrying those notes on his back.
When he returned to the United States in 1952, it was the height of the McCarthyite anticommunist repression. Customs officials seized his papers. He courageously faced the Senate International Security Subcommittee headed by Senator Eastland and fought lengthy court battles until he got back his notes in 1958. After six years of working on the manuscript, his book was ready for publication. But all the major New York publishers turned it down. Almost three years after, the Month Review Press eagerly published it. More than two hundred thousand copies were sold.
William Hinton wrote a sequel to Fanshen in 1971: Shenfan: The continuing revolution in a Chinese Village, as well as Iron Oxen: A revolution in Chinese Farming (1970), Hundred Day War: The Cultural Revolution at Tsinghua University (1972), Turning Point in China: An Essay on The Cultural Revolution (1972).
He sharply criticized the policies of Deng Hsiao Ping and came out with his book in 1990: The Great Reversal: The Privatization of China, 1978-1989.
At a conference in India in 1996, he was the keynote speaker sharing his rich experiences with over nine hundred Indian activists and mass leaders as well as international guests. His narrations on the victory of the new democratic revolution and the painstaking and complex twists and turns in the socialist revolution and construction achieved by the Chinese people under the leadership of Chairman Mao Zedong held the attention of his listeners. Deep into the night, the activists gleaned valuable lessons and drew inspiration from his first hand account of the Chinese Revolution.
William Hinton gladly shared his deep insights and rich experiences. In 1997 he joined the Anti-APEC Conference and mass actions in the Philippines, mingling with Filipino activists deeply involved in the struggle for national and social liberation. He demonstrated his firm support for the Philippine revolutionary movement.
William Hinton has left a potent weapon for proletarian revolutionaries. He has put down in written form the concrete details of the great achievements of the Chinese people in the new democratic revolution and socialist revolution and construction under the leadership of Chairman Mao Zedong. The impact of his writings is intensified by his exemplary life as a proletarian internationalist who was not only an outstandingly effective writer on revolution but most importantly was an active participant in the revolution. His life and works has had and will have far-reaching effects for present and future generations of proletarian revolutionaries.
The Communist Party of the Philippines, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and the entire Philippine revolutionary movement render the highest tribute and honor to William Hinton, a great proletarian internationalist.
Communist Party of the Philippines and National Democratic Front of the Philippines
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