In the eyes of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders, the real players in the 1989 movement were not the students issuing calls from the Square; instead, they were the intellectuals behind the scenes. As Xinhua News Service published the words of Li Xiannian on May 27th, 1989: "An exceedingly small number of people behind the scenes are plotting, rumor-mongering, instigating, and inciting. They recklessly magnify the situation — they intend through the creation of chaos to achieve their political goals of negating the CCP's leadership and negating the socialist system."

Intellectuals were indeed among the ones in Chinese society calling and pushing most stridently for reform. In the 1989 people's movement, other than the students, the intellectuals were the ones who participated most actively in resistance. They put up many big-character posters, declarations, and proposals. They also marched and demonstrated in large numbers on the streets. After the June 4th crackdown, many intellectuals were imprisoned, and large numbers were exiled overseas. Suppressing, buying out, and remodeling intellectuals became some of the core modes of maintaining stability in post-June 4th China.

An incomplete list of intellectual actions and active groups in the 1989 movement includes: Fang Lizhi's letter to Deng Xiaoping; Fang Lizhi's "China's Despair and China's Hope"; Open Letter from 33 People in Beijing Cultural Circles; Open Letter from 42 People in Beijing Science and Educational Circles; 43 Intellectuals' Open Letter to the National People's Congress (NPC); Open Letter by Bao Zunxin, et. al to the CCP Central Committee/NPC Standing Committee/ State Council; Chen Mingyuan's speech at the Peking University Triangle; Twelve scholars' "Our Urgent Call Regarding the Situation Today"; the May 16th Declaration by Intellectuals; the May 17th Declaration by Intellectuals; the Three Institutes' and One Association's "Six O'Clock Statement Regarding Current Events"; 10 intellectuals' "Our Pledge as Intellectuals"; Yan Jiaqi, Bao Zunxin, et. al's Open Letter to the NPC Standing Committee; Yan Jiaqi and Bao Zunxin's "Resolving China's Issues on the Road to Democracy and the Rule of Law — Simultaneously Submitted to Li Peng"; the Four Gentlemen's Hunger Strike Pledge; "News Express"; China Communications Press; Central Institute of Education Sciences; Big-character poster by four scholars from Peking University Chinese Department; support from 20 authors in Guangdong; Sun Yat-Sen University faculty and staff; Guangdong Province Architectural Research and Design Institute; Anhui Literary Society; "Qingming" publishing house; "Baijia" publishing house; China Academy of Social Sciences; Ye Wenfu's letter of resignation from the CCP; Shanghai Literature & Art Publishing House; Literary Association, Shanghai Branch; Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai Branch; and the Guangdong Writers' Association.