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Nanjing Massacre

2025-09-19T01:36:45Z

77.74.100.114: Added information on the donation of a photo album documenting Japanese war crimes

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'''The [[Nanjing]] Massacre''' (Chinese:南京大屠杀 Pinyin:nán jīng dà tú shā) is the six-week-long organized, planned and premeditated massacre, rape, arson, looting and other bloody atrocities committed by the invading [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] army in [[Nanking]] and nearby areas during the War of Resistance against Japan from 1931 to 1945, after the [[Republic of China]] lost the Battle of Nanjing and the capital city of Nanking fell on December 13, 1937, under the command of the Commander of the Central China Dispatch Army, [[Matsui Iwane]], and the 6th Division Commander, [[Hisao Tani]]. The Prosecutor's Office of the Nanking Capital District Court was ordered to investigate the report of enemy crimes: 294,911 massacred by the Japanese army, 403 killed arbitrarily, and 203 killed by bombing, totaling 295,517.

== Bombing ==
On September 19, 1937, [[Kiyoshi Hasegawa]], commander of the Japanese Third Fleet, ordered the "indiscriminate" bombing of Nanking and other areas. Some historians believe that this was the start of the Nanking Massacre in the broader sense. On this day, Japanese Third Fleet Commander Kiyoshi Hasegawa ordered his 2nd Combined Air Force to carry out "indiscriminate" bombing of Nanking. At 8:15 a.m., the alarm was raised and the watchtower at [[Jiangyin]] Fortress reported that a large number of enemy planes were coming from downstream toward Jiangyin.

== Massacre ==
The Japanese army entered the city with a strength of about 50,000 men, but only 17 military police officers were deployed to enforce military discipline. In addition to killing the residents of Nanking individually or on a small scale, the Japanese also carried out several large-scale "massacres" of Chinese people, especially the disarmed military and police personnel. The methods of mass killings included machine gun shooting and mass burying alive, which were extremely cruel.

December 15 (the third day of Japanese occupation): More than 3,000 Chinese military and police personnel who had laid down their weapons were taken to the Hanzhong Gate and machine-gunned intensively, and many were killed on the spot. On the night of December 15, more than 9,000 Chinese civilians and disarmed Chinese soldiers who had been taken to Camp were massacred by the Japanese. Another 30,000 people were massacred in the area of Baota Bridge. 200 people were shot and killed near the anti-aircraft trenches on North Zhongshan Road.

December 16 (4th day of Japanese occupation): More than 5,000 Chinese men and women refugees who had taken refuge in Chinese guest houses located in the safety zone of Nanjing were taken en masse by Japanese troops to Zhongshan Pier, with their hands tied behind their backs and arranged in rows. Among the 5,000 people, only Bai Zenrong and Liang Tingfang were shot and wounded and swam to the other side of the Yangtze River to avoid death. The Japanese massacred more than 400 people at Sijo Lane and more than 100 people at Yingyang Camp.

December 17 (the 5th day of Japanese occupation): More than 3,000 Chinese civilians were taken to the river downstream of Meitan Harbor and shot en masse by the Japanese. More than 400 Chinese refugees who had taken refuge in the Fangsheng Temple and the Salesian Home were shot and killed en masse.
[[File:南京大屠杀2.jpg|thumb|Text: ??战线(？？ front) 参考写真（Reference Photos) 胡山附近(Near Hushan mountain) 不许可(Not allowed) 上と同じ（ibid）]]
[[File:南京大屠杀.jpg|thumb|Text:不许可（Not allowed）]]
On the night of December 18 (the 6th day of Japanese occupation), in 下关草鞋峡. The Japanese tied all the Chinese refugees who had escaped from Nanking and were detained in Mufu Mountain, including 57,418 men, women and children, except for a few who had been starved or killed. Afterwards, all the corpses were incinerated by pouring kerosene on them to destroy them. Only one person, Wu Changde, survived the massacre without being burned. The Japanese shot and killed more than 4,000 people in the Dafangxiang refugee area.

== Rape ==
The Japanese raped thousands of women during their invasion of Nanking, day and night, and in front of the victims' families. Some women were raped several times by the Japanese and often died from the torture. In addition to this, the Japanese forces forced acts of incest. It is estimated that there may have been more than 20,000 cases of rape at the time.

== Cultural Plunder ==
The Japanese seized a large number of Chinese cultural relics and books in Nanking and shipped them to Japan.

== Robbery and arson ==
Looting and arson caused serious property damage. The Nanking International Relief Committee reported, "Thirty-one percent of the buildings in Nanking were burned; an even higher percentage of stores were destroyed; rural areas along the roads around Nanking were looted and plunged into a shortage of seeds, livestock, labor and tools, with only 10 percent of the usual year's food crops sown.

As for the serious consequences of arson by the Japanese in the whole city, according to the statistics of the survey made by International Committee member Smyth: 24% of the houses in the city were destroyed by arson; 62% of the houses outside the city were burned, and up to 78% of the houses outside Tongji Gate were burned; in the five counties of Jiangning（江宁）, Jurong（句容）, Lishui（溧水）, Jiangpu（江浦） and Liuhe（六合）, a total of 300k houses were destroyed, accounting for 40% of the total houses in these areas, most of which were burned down.

== [[Nanjing Killing Contest|Killing Contest]] ==
[[File:百人斩.jpg|thumb|Coverage of the Killing contest]]
Two Japanese army officers conducted killing contest in and around Nanjing and were widely publicized by Japanese newspapers.

== Legacy ==
In 2022, American pawn shop owner Evan Kail donated a historical album documenting Japanese war crimes and atrocities in Nanjing to the Chinese Consulate General in [[Chicago]]. This led to an outpour of gratitude from Chinese people and support from others around the world, as well as threats and harrassment from American and Japanese nationalists.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=People's Daily|title=美国小伙埃文：“捐出日军罪证两年了，我还在被网暴”|date=2024-12-01|url=https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1817223412847223515&wfr=spider&for=pc|retrieved=2025-09-19}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[CGTN]]|title=WWII album witness: The story of U.S. pawnshop owner Evan Kail|date=2024-12-30|url=https://news.cgtn.com/news/2024-12-30/WWII-album-witness-The-story-of-U-S-pawnshop-owner-Evan-Kail-1zKQcAyF1ni/p.html|retrieved=2025-09-19}}</ref> Kail has pointed out that the Nanjing Massacre is rarely mentioned in the [[United States]] and the [[West]], and hopes that his gesture will educate people on the subject.<ref name=":0" />
[[Category:Genocide]]
[[Category:History of China]]

Bourgeois democracy

2025-09-18T16:09:44Z

77.74.100.114: Minor spelling and language edits for coherence

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'''Bourgeois democracy''', or '''liberal democracy''', is a means of setting up a [[Capitalism|capitalist economy]] in such a way that democratic institutions are composed of, accountable to and beneficial for the [[bourgeoisie]]. This allows the settlement of internal disputes between the [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] without disrupting the overall power structure of the state. These governments proclaim to be [[Democracy|democratic]], despite the fact that the control a citizen has over their government is minimal unless they are of the [[Ruling class|owning class]]. Bourgeois democracy does not benefit the majority of people and excludes the [[proletariat]] from power.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vladimir Lenin]]|year=1918|title=“Democracy” and Dictatorship|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1918/dec/23.htm}}</ref>

== Voting systems ==

=== First past the post ===
First past the post is one of the oldest bourgeois democratic systems, and is the electoral system used by the [[United States of America|USA]] and the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|UK]] among others. This system works on a winner takes it all basis meaning that if a party gets the most votes in a constituency they take control of the entire constituency, so a politician can get 100% of the control of a constituency with as little as 25% of the votes if the votes are sufficiently split. The party that controls at least 50% of these constituencies gains full control of the government until the next election. Although smaller parties can sometimes gain a seat, this system usually leads to an effective two party system as the population believes they have to vote for one of the two biggest parties or risk wasting their vote.<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=Proletarian writers|newspaper=Proletarian|title=What is really meant by the demand for a ‘general election now’?|date=2022-12-05|url=https://thecommunists.org/2022/12/05/news/what-really-meant-by-general-election-demand-sunak-tory-labour/|retrieved=2023-12-29}}</ref>

=== Proportional representation ===
Proportional representation is an alternative electoral system that is used by most [[European Union|EU]] countries, it is claimed by liberals who accept the faults of first past the post to be a fairer electoral system. This system works on a basis of control of a constituency being divided by the percentage of votes each party receives meaning it is rare for any one party to have the 50% of seats needed to control the government. This system usually leads to coalition governments between parties with similar views banding together to reach the 50% needed to form a government, allowing radical parties a higher chance of gaining power, although communist parties are usually excluded from this.<ref name=":0" />

== Assessments ==
[[Vladimir Lenin]] characterized the bourgeois idea of "democracy" as a "democracy for an insignificant minority" and a "democracy for the rich". He highlighted "legal" restrictions on suffrage, the control of [[Bourgeois media|mass media]] by bourgeois institutions, and informal obstacles to exercising theoretical "rights" as examples of covert mechanisms intended to limit the genuine participation of the proletariat in democracy.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1917|title=The state and revolution|chapter=The economic basis of the withering away of the state|section=The transition from captialism to communism|quote=Democracy for an insignificant minority, democracy for the rich — that is the democracy of capitalist society. If we look more closely into the machinery of capitalist democracy... we see restriction after restriction upon democracy. These restrictions, exceptions, exclusions, obstacles for the poor seem slight... but in their sum total these restrictions exclude and squeeze out the poor from politics, from active participation in democracy.|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers}}</ref> Lenin also emphasized that [[Parliamentarianism|parliamentarism]] in a bourgeois democracy simply enables members within the [[ruling class]] to resolve their own power struggles more effectively, while the [[masses]] remain effectively repressed.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1917|title=The state and revolution|chapter=Experience of the Paris Commune of 1871. Marx's analysis|section=Abolition of parliamentarism|quote=To decide once every few years which members of the ruling class is to repress and crush the people through parliament — this is the real essence of bourgeois parliamentarism, not only in parliamentary- constitutional monarchies, but also in the most democratic republics.|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers}}</ref>

Writer [[Gore Vidal]] noted that there are no meaningful differences between the two major political parties in the United States, and that beneath their superficial distinctions, both are firmly committed to maintaining the interests of wealthy elites. He refers to this oligarchy as the "Property Party".<ref>{{Citation|author=Gore Vidal|year=1977|title=Matters of Fact and of Fiction: Essays 1973-76|page=268|quote=There is only one party in the United States, the Property Party... it has two right wings: Republican and Democrat. Republicans are a bit stupider, more rigid, more doctrinaire in their laissez-faire capitalism than the Democrats, who are cuter, prettier, a bit more corrupt... and more willing than the Republicans to make small adjustments when the poor, the black, the anti-imperialists get out of hand. But, essentially, there is no difference between the two parties.|city=New York|publisher=Random House}}</ref>

== References ==
[[Category:Stubs]]
[[Category:Political terminology]]

Bourgeois democracy

2025-09-18T03:37:58Z

77.74.100.114: Minor edits to improve flow in the lead + assessments of bourgeois democracy with corresponding sources

{{Message box/Stub}}

'''Bourgeois democracy''', or '''liberal democracy''', is a means of setting up a [[Capitalism|capitalist economy]] in such a way that democratic institutions are composed of, accountable to and beneficial for the [[bourgeoisie]]. This allows the settlement of internal disputes between the [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] without disrupting the overall power structure of the state. These governments proclaim to be [[Democracy|democratic]] despite the fact that the control a citizen has over their government is minimal unless they are of the [[Ruling class|owning class]]. Bourgeois democracy does not benefit the majority of people and excludes the [[proletariat]] from power.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vladimir Lenin]]|year=1918|title=“Democracy” and Dictatorship|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1918/dec/23.htm}}</ref>

== Voting systems ==

=== First past the post ===
First past the post is one of the oldest bourgeois democratic systems, and is the electoral system used by the [[United States of America|USA]] and the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|UK]] among others. This system works on a winner takes it all basis meaning that if a party gets the most votes in a constituency they take control of the entire constituency, so a politician can get 100% of the control of a constituency with as little as 25% of the votes if the votes are sufficiently split. The party that controls at least 50% of these constituencies gains full control of the government until the next election. Although smaller parties can sometimes gain a seat, this system usually leads to an effective two party system as the population believes they have to vote for one of the two biggest parties or risk wasting their vote.<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=Proletarian writers|newspaper=Proletarian|title=What is really meant by the demand for a ‘general election now’?|date=2022-12-05|url=https://thecommunists.org/2022/12/05/news/what-really-meant-by-general-election-demand-sunak-tory-labour/|retrieved=2023-12-29}}</ref>

=== Proportional representation ===
Proportional representation is an alternative electoral system that is used by most [[European Union|EU]] countries, it is claimed by liberals who accept the faults of first past the post to be a fairer electoral system. This system works on a basis of control of a constituency being divided by the percentage of votes each party receives meaning it is rare for any one party to have the 50% of seats needed to control the government. This system usually leads to coalition governments between parties with similar views banding together to reach the 50% needed to form a government, allowing radical parties a higher chance of gaining power, although communist parties are usually excluded from this.<ref name=":0" />

== Assessments ==
[[Vladimir Lenin]] characterized the bourgeois idea of "democracy" as a "democracy for an insignificant minority" and a "democracy for the rich". He highlighted "legal" restrictions on suffrage, the control of [[Bourgeois media|mass media]] by bourgeois institutions, and informal obstacles to exercising theoretical "rights" as examples of covert mechanisms intended to limit the genuine participation of the proletariat in democracy.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1917|title=The state and revolution|chapter=The economic basis of the withering away of the state|section=The transition from captialism to communism|quote=Democracy for an insignificant minority, democracy for the rich — that is the democracy of capitalist society. If we look more closely into the machinery of capitalist democracy... we see restriction after restriction upon democracy. These restrictions, exceptions, exclusions, obstacles for the poor seem slight... but in their sum total these restrictions exclude and squeeze out the poor from politics, from active participation in democracy.|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers}}</ref> Lenin also emphasized that [[Parliamentarianism|parliamentarism]] in a bourgeois democracy simply enable members within the [[ruling class]] to resolve power struggles within themselves more effectively, while the [[masses]] remain effectively repressed.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1917|title=The state and revolution|chapter=Experience of the Paris Commune of 1871. Marx's analysis|section=Abolition of parliamentarism|quote=To decide once every few years which members of the ruling class is to repress and crush the people through parliament — this is the real essence of bourgeois parliamentarism, not only in parliamentary- constitutional monarchies, but also in the most democratic republics.|city=Moscow|publisher=Progress Publishers}}</ref>

Writer [[Gore Vidal]] noted that there are no meaningful differences between the between the two major political parties in the United States, and that beneath the superficial distinctions, both are firmly committed to maintaining the interests of wealthy elites. He refers to this oligarchy as the "Property Party".<ref>{{Citation|author=Gore Vidal|year=1977|title=Matters of Fact and of Fiction: Essays 1973-76|page=268|quote=There is only one party in the United States, the Property Party... it has two right wings: Republican and Democrat. Republicans are a bit stupider, more rigid, more doctrinaire in their laissez-faire capitalism than the Democrats, who are cuter, prettier, a bit more corrupt... and more willing than the Republicans to make small adjustments when the poor, the black, the anti-imperialists get out of hand. But, essentially, there is no difference between the two parties.|city=New York|publisher=Random House}}</ref>

== References ==
[[Category:Stubs]]
[[Category:Political terminology]]