In 1985, Wu went to the United States to do geological research, which he gave up in 1987 so as to enter the Hoover Institution and undertake political research instead. He spent four years completing his book Laogai--The Chinese Gulag, the recent publication of which has caused quite a stir in the West, including reports and reviews in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Spectator and all the main news media. Sinorama especially asked Chou Yu-shan of National Cheng chi University's Institute of International Relations to write a review.

The year 1992 has been a fruitful one for Harry Wu, with the publication of the English and Chinese editions of Laogai--The Chinese Gulag and the establishment in California of the Laogai Research? Foundation. Wu is the executive director of the foundation and its painful opening announcement was like a short summary of his work:

"The Chinese Communists established the reform-through-labor brigades some 40 years ago. Their inmates still include so-called counter-revolutionaries, class enemies, those deemed to be against the party and socialism, religious figures, "historical" counter-revolutionaries and members of the Tienanmen democracy movement.

These inmates are forced to undergo "thought remolding" according to the political demands of the Communists, and compelled to renounce their political ideas and religious beliefs. In conditions of hunger and punishment they are pressed into hard labor and the products they make are sold in the domestic and overseas markets so as to bring in a profit for the authorities."

Starting from an academic angle: Harry Wu has used his experience of 19 years under-going reform-through-labor, along with the evidence he has been collecting since being set free and what he has garnered during two return visits to the hell of the camps, to compile the contents of his book.

The format of the Chinese and English editions is basically the same: The first chapter contains a general description, the second is about penal reform-through-labor, the third is on reform- through-labor training, the fourth is on the system of forced employment and the fifth is on the recent situation. The two versions have different appendices, both being of great reference value. The appendices of the Chinese edition include 16 plates, the names of a thousand brigades and 26 maps revealing their distribution. The book has been researched and has achieved its objective according to academic values. The evidence used has all been collected from mainland China, without the use of judgmental Western works.

Whatever people might get up to, they always find some way of explaining themselves away. With their massive propaganda apparatus, the Communists have used all the means at their disposal to try to whitewash reform-through-labor, insisting it is compassionate, reasonable, and that it creates wealth as well as remolded people.

The Nazi concentration camps were kept going for 12 or 13 years; the Soviet gulags decreased progressively over the years; it is only under the Chinese Communists that, from their start right up to today, millions of compatriots have continued to lose relatives and will go on doing so in the future. Wu has survived this bitter sea and taken upon himself the responsibility to write with the aim of drawing the attention of the world, enabling understanding, and encouraging thought and action over the problem of the Chinese gulag.

A human miracle? A human purgatory! In fully affirming the value of reform-through-labor, the Communists have provided us with the following such gems: "Reform-through-labor is not only supported and applauded by the masses of the people, but in comparisons made by people in the circles of international law it is thought that 'the Chinese reform-through-labor system is the best system,' 'a penal system that makes people envious,' 'a system that has been completely successful,' which 'the whole world should take as a model.'" It is even held that the achievements of the system are "a human miracle."

Such words are very moving and not without precedent: The Soviet Union under Stalin was once lauded by Western writers, and the Cultural Revolution was once lauded by some China watchers as the best thing that happened to China in three hundred years. We had to wait until Stalin was dead and the Gang of Four had been removed from the stage before Western academics awoke from their dreams and spoke with a different voice.

Harry Wu read geology at university and never thought he would end up a writer. Similarly, his Russian counterpart, Solzhenitsyn, was a graduate in mathematics. How did the latter first become a writer? After being decorated in the front line he was arrested in the winter of 1945 and imprisoned for nine years, then released in central Asia and went on to shake the world with his testimony that the whole of the Soviet Union was honeycombed by a "gulag archipelago." As for Harry Wu, he spent much longer undergoing reform-through-labor--from the age of 23 to the age of 42--after which he now tells us that he witnessed far more horrors than did Solzhenitsyn.

Who does the constitution protect? Article 28 of the constitution of the People's Republic of China states that the nation upholds social order, suppresses anti-national and other counter-revolutionary activities, suppresses activities that threaten the stability of society or damage the socialist economic system and other criminal activities, and punishes and remolds criminal elements. Such is the legal basis of the re form-through- labor system and such is the basic task of the people's democratic dictatorship.

What then is a "counter-revolutionary?" Clauses 90 to 104 of the Communist penal code tell us that "aiming to overturn the dictatorship of the proletariat and the socialist system and actions endangering the PRC, are all counter-revolutionary crimes."

On March 25, 1979, during the period of Peking's Democracy Wall, the young dissident Wei Jingsheng was arrested four days after he published a criticism of Teng Hsiao-ping. Convicted as a "counter-revolutionary," he was sentenced to 15 years and is still lingering in a labor camp today. Because the order for Wei's arrest came from Teng himself, there can be no parole and he will never be rehabilitated while Teng is alive. Mainland China today is still stuck in the situation of being a despotic country.

The battle for democracy: What is needed is a discussion of the basic nature of the power of the Communists. They claim to rule a country led by the working class, under a system of democratic dictatorship based on an alliance of the workers and peasants. The meanings of what they call "the people" and "socialism" thus have rather special ramifications.

For example, "the people" have been defined as the working class, peasant class, petite-bourgeoisie, national capitalists, and those who have have been brought over from the counter-revolutionary classes. This is a broad interpretation still strongly flavored by the period of the united front, but one that certainly does not include all of the people.

Socialism in the eyes of the Communists is just an intermediate and necessary stage on the road to communism. This two-stage view has implications for both the law and the economy, both of which have to be monopolized by the Communist Party while all dissent is suppressed and the largest reform-through-labor system in the history of mankind is created.

We should not be overly pessimistic about the future, however. Much of history has been made by small numbers of people, whose strength has at times shaken entire regimes. The Communists say that a fortress must be destroyed from the inside. Well, Harry Wu has already escaped from inside the fortress and gone back in again. Such altruism reveals the highest respect for human life.

As evidenced by events in both China and the world, the ideas of freedom, democracy and human rights have already penetrated deep into people's hearts and become an unstoppable torrent. Harry Wu has turned his bitter experience into literature His harvest will be reaped on the day that the reform-through-labor system is finally disbanded.

[Picture Caption]

Author: Hongda Harry Wu Publisher: Westview Press Price: $34.95 Pages: 247

Harry Wu went back to mainland China twice last year to gather evidence about the reform-through- labor camps there and the export of prison- made goods. (photo by Pu Hua-chih)

Harry Wu went back to mainland China twice last year to gather evidence about the reform-through- labor camps there and the export of prison- made goods. （photo by Pu Hua-chih）