Volume 6, No. 10, October 2005

 

Chinese Coal Mines — A Virtual Death Pit

- Sharda

 

Chinese workers who were once masters of their own destiny are now getting killed in thousands in individual accidents as the new capitalist rulers have done away with all safety measures at the work place in order to maximize profits. This is particularly so in the Chinese coal mining sector.

The Chinese government itself admitted that 6,027 workers were killed in coal mine accidents last year. But according to reliable sources the death toll stands at around 20,000. This year, by August itself about 7,000 workers were killed in various accidents in coal mines all through China. 254 workers were killed in a ghastly gas explosion in February. 16 workers were killed due to poisonous gas in a mine in North China. 60 workers were killed due to a gas explosion on the 19th of August in a coal mine in Northern China. Around 6,000 were killed when water seeped into a mine in August. There seems to be no end to these ghastly deaths.

The Chinese coal industry is the largest in the world. It accounts for around 35% of the annual total world coal output. More interestingly, it accounts for 80% of the annual fatal accidents all around the world. The death rate due to accidents in coal mines in China is hundred times more than any other country.

With the restoration of capitalism in China and its subsequent integration into the imperialist world market, the Chinese industry has been facing more direct competition with the corporations around the world. Its inhuman labour policies make it the ideal place for all capitalists of the world to invest and make super-profits. The gigantic flow of foreign capital into the country each year is for this reason. The slave-like labour conditions is something that the imperialist developed economies cannot even dream of — except of course in US prisons. With this huge industrial growth the demand of fuel is increasing fast.

Coal accounts for about 70% of Chinese fuel resources and 80% of the total electricity generated in China is coal-based. With the demand of fuel going up the price of coal also went up by 40% last year. The demand for coal is expected to reach 21 billion tones by this winter.

With the restoration of capitalism, as in other fields, there was a change of ownership in the coal mines too. Thousands of coal mines which were under the public sector earlier went into private hands. There are 23,600 officially recognized coal mines in China. Another 40,000 coal mines are being operated illegally by private operators — ofcourse with the collusion of the state and the party machinery. The amount this private pillage of Chinese people’s natural resources can be gauged by the fact that, th largest chunk if he total of 1.9 billion tones extracted in China last year came from these privately operated illegal mines.

In China the workings of the free market are in full bloom with the restoration of capitalism in China — with all its brutalities and inhumanities. Today millions of people in China lie unemployed due to downsizing of industry and displacement of the peasantry. The huge army of unemployed is estimated at some 300 milion people who are serving as the main source of cheap labour for the capitalists.

As the demand for coal increased and subsequently its price skyrocketed the predatory drive for profits of the capitalist in both the private and public sectors led to the complete neglect of any safety measures for the workers whatsoever. Abandoned coal mines are being re-opened forcing workers to go deeper and deeper below the surface to extremely dangerous levels. These mines were closed during the socialist period keeping the health and safety of the workers in mind. It is these conditions that are leading to the death of thousands of workers each year.

It is not that laws are non-existent. But, in typical fake ‘socialist’ style these are there merely to fool the people and the world, the laws made during the socialist period are only on paper and never implemented due to the large capital expenditure it will entail. More important if the laws were to be implemented they would have to close down thousands of illegally functioning mines.

But all this is not going unchallenged. Each week is bringing news of at least one or two incidents with thousands of workers and/or uprooted peasants joining in pitched battles with the police. The Chinese government itself admitted that there were 74,000 mass demonstrations and riots during 2004. This has forced the government to take note of the horrifying situation and in order to pacify the anger of the workers they announced last March that $6 million will be allocated to improve safety measures in the mines and that two lakh Yuan will be given to the kin of the workers killed in accidents.

The coal miners of China have a great history of being the first to carry the communist ideology to various parts of the country. There is no doubt that they will in future restore the great legacy of a class conscious working class and as a vanguard force to overthrow the present capitalist usurpers from their throne.

It brings to mind the phenomena of the famous (earlier infamous) Kailan coal mines. Earlier, when controlled by the imperialists, it was like a hell hole swallowing up worker’s lives by the hundreds. Few miners survived into the new society in 1949. The imperialists had robbed 200 million tones of coal from this mine alone. After the revolution the communist government invested large sums in safety measures. Coal dust is a major killer even if accidents are not there. Huge amounts were invested in ventilation, dust-control pipelines, good labour protection conditions, proper clothing etc. Apart from safety personnel, there were those who were responsible for fire prevention, checking water, ventilation, tunnel maintenance, and examining dust and gas. And even when the horrifying earthquake struck this area in 1976, with the imperialist shouting that all the 10,000 workers would have been killed, not a single life was lost due to swift rescue operations.

Today the Kailan Coal mines are once again a hell hole under the new capitalist rulers.

 

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