The 1989 democracy movement was not a single organization and should not be reconstructed as one. This directory separates the principal student, worker, dialogue, hunger-strike and Square-command bodies by name, documented lifespan, leadership, mandate and source state.
Each organization profile links to relevant people, events, archival sources and research records. Where titles, dates, authority or succession remain disputed, the profile preserves those disputes instead of collapsing different organizations or phases into one narrative.
Organization profiles
- 外高联 / outside-Beijing student federation — formation, the 192-university participant account, leadership, and relationship to the first joint Square command.
- 北高联 — Beijing student federation / autonomous-student organization.
- 天安门广场临时指挥部 — May 19–22 joint temporary command / execution body.
- 绝食团 / 绝食团指挥部 — hunger-strike action and command structures, kept distinct by phase.
- 48-hour transitional command structure — working research entity; formal source name remains unresolved.
- 保卫天安门广场指挥部 — later Square command organization, kept separate from the May 19–22 command.
- 北京工人自治联合会 — Beijing Workers’ Autonomous Federation.
- 对话团 — student dialogue / negotiation delegation structures.
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