Creation: Proletarian Liberation Struggle Association Historical Materialism Group
Recently, reports of Chinese tennis player Zheng Qinwen raking in huge prize money have been circulating online again. Her season prize money is 30.81 million yuan, and her career earnings are nearly 60 million yuan. Various reports are full of admiration and envy, but does such a person truly deserve praise? In reality, many athletes are pursued and celebrated; what attitude should we take towards them? Why can people with “talent” earn such high bonuses after just a few matches?
There is a viewpoint that defends bourgeois athletes, claiming that their high salaries come from their “hard work” and “genius” skills. Since their skills are so “high,” they deserve to earn large sums of money, even to the point of being astonishing. Such a view not only shallowly believes that more effort should mean more reward but also exaggerates to say that their annual salaries of several million are a result of their “superior level.” From the perspective of some who hold this view, since bourgeois athletes are high above the masses, engaged in “efforts” that ordinary people cannot reach, their earning such large amounts of money is just their “reward” for “hard work.” For example, one news report boldly claims that Zheng Qinwen’s annual income of 30.81 million yuan is “won” through her “strength and effort!”
This viewpoint is not only extremely reactionary politically but also absurd economically. It defends the theory of genius and bourgeois rule politically, and openly violates one of the most basic common sense of political economy economically. As Marx pointed out: “The particularity of the material studied by political economy is that it calls into the battlefield the most intense, most despicable, and most vicious feelings in people’s hearts, summoning the revenge goddess representing private interests to oppose the science of freedom.”[1] To defend such a ridiculous conclusion, they do not hesitate to use even more absurd vulgar economic theories as weapons.
Some say that the income of bourgeois athletes all comes from their “strength and effort.” This statement inevitably reminds people of what the bourgeois say when explaining their huge incomes. The notorious bourgeois vulgar economist Say claimed that the source of capitalist profits is generated by capital itself; another equally infamous bourgeois vulgar economist, Sinel, explained that capitalists’ rewards are the result of their “sacrificing desires”; many bankers also claim that their income comes from interest that “grows” from their money itself. If we replace “capital” with “effort,” nothing would change—the idea that bourgeois athletes’ “effort” can “generate” money is just as absurd.
Did Zheng Qinwen really rely on her own “strength and effort” to earn this money? Ironically, this very news exposes the truth with self-contradiction. According to the report, Zheng Qinwen’s over 30 million yuan income comes from the prize money of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), whose revenue mainly comes from TV broadcasts, ticket sales, and advertising sponsorships, as detailed in its tax filings with the U.S. IRS. What does this have to do with athletes like Zheng Qinwen? Nothing but the vulgar idea that “effort” alone can bring money. Without capital, no matter how “hard” one tries, one cannot produce a single cent—just as capitalists, without capital, cannot produce wealth no matter how frugal or diligent they are. But capital itself cannot produce money either, as it is fundamentally a relation of exploitation—capital only extracts surplus value from the labor of workers who create it. More specifically, Zheng Qinwen’s earnings are not created by her own effort but by all the workers—workers building tennis courts, producing tennis equipment, cleaning and maintaining courts, manufacturing electronic devices for broadcasting and viewing matches—who sustain the competition through their labor, feeding her like a parasite with their sweat and blood!
Of course, some stubbornly believe that even if Zheng Qinwen’s income is indeed excessive, her tennis career still requires “strength,” and she has brought entertainment to the public. Therefore, even if she doesn’t earn 30 million, her income contains “reasonable” components, and her high earnings are partly “self-earned.” As long as she is “hardworking,” her income being far higher than that of ordinary workers is justified. This not only promotes the idea that workers can achieve high income by “working hard” like Zheng Qinwen, but also shifts the issue from Zheng Qinwen’s exploitation to her “insufficient effort.” This is also illogical in political economy. It’s just a different way of saying that “more effort should mean more reward,” with “labor” (represented here by the service labor of bourgeois athletes) as the source of wealth. But over a hundred years ago, Marx sharply criticized such views. In Critique of the Gotha Program, he explicitly pointed out: “The particularity of the material studied by political economy is that it calls into the battlefield the most intense, most despicable, and most vicious feelings in people’s hearts, summoning the revenge goddess representing private interests to oppose the science of freedom.”[2] To defend such absurd conclusions, they do not hesitate to use even more absurd vulgar economic theories as weapons.
Some say that all bourgeois athletes’ income comes from their “strength and effort.” This reminds us of what the bourgeois say when explaining their enormous wealth. The notorious bourgeois vulgar economist Say claimed that profits come from capital itself; another infamous bourgeois economist, Sinel, explained that capitalist rewards are the result of “sacrificing desires”; many bankers also claim their income comes from interest “generated” by their money. If we replace “capital” with “effort,” nothing changes—the idea that “effort” can “generate” money is just as absurd.
Is Zheng Qinwen really relying on her own “strength and effort” to earn this money? The very news exposes the truth with self-contradiction. According to the report, her over 30 million yuan income comes from the WTA prize money, which mainly derives from TV rights, ticket sales, and advertising. What does this have to do with Zheng Qinwen? Nothing but the vulgar notion that “effort” alone can bring money. Without capital, no matter how “hard” one tries, no money will come out—just as capitalists, without capital, cannot produce wealth no matter how frugal or diligent they are. But capital itself cannot produce money either, as it is fundamentally a relation of exploitation—capital only extracts surplus value from the labor of workers who produce it. More specifically, Zheng Qinwen’s earnings are not created by her effort but by all the workers—workers building courts, producing equipment, maintaining facilities, manufacturing electronic devices for broadcasting—who sustain the competition through their labor, feeding her like a parasite with their sweat and blood!
Of course, some stubbornly believe that even if Zheng Qinwen’s income is indeed excessive, her tennis career still requires “strength,” and she has brought entertainment to the public. Therefore, even if she doesn’t earn 30 million, her income contains “reasonable” parts, and her high income is partly “self-earned.” As long as she is “hardworking,” her income being far above that of ordinary workers is justified. This not only promotes the idea that workers can achieve high income by “working hard” like Zheng Qinwen, but also shifts the focus from Zheng Qinwen’s exploitation to her “insufficient effort.” This is illogical in political economy. It’s just a different way of saying that “more effort should mean more reward,” with “labor” (represented here by the service work of bourgeois athletes) as the source of wealth. But over a hundred years ago, Marx sharply criticized such ideas. In Critique of the Gotha Program, he explicitly pointed out: “Labor is not the source of all wealth… Only when a person, as the owner of natural resources and means of labor, treats nature as his property and disposes of it, does his labor become the source of use value, and thus also the source of wealth.”[2:1] Under capitalism, isn’t all material wealth created by the people? Tall buildings, cars, planes, food, vegetables, even tennis rackets, sportswear, and Zheng Qinwen’s clothing and daily necessities—all created by workers and farmers. The prosperity of capitalist society is obvious, but such prosperity does not belong to the laborers who create it. If laborers cannot benefit from it, why can Zheng Qinwen, who relies only on “strength,” get such huge rewards just by “effort”? Even if Zheng Qinwen is an ordinary self-supporting worker, it cannot explain where such a disparity comes from. Today’s vast majority of workers fall into the tragedy of “clothed in fine silk but not raising silkworms,” not because they are less “hardworking” or “more diligent” than Zheng Qinwen, but because they do not control the means of production. Since their right to use the means of production to earn a living is decided by the capitalists who own them, they can only accept the plunder of the capitalists in the distribution of the fruits of labor. Conversely, because Zheng Qinwen is highly valued by capitalists, who exploit surplus value from workers, capitalists are willing to pay her a large part of that surplus to buy her as a bourgeois athlete. That’s why her “effort” can earn her an income that is ridiculously higher than that of workers. Just as capitalists can dismiss workers at will and refuse to pay them a penny, if capitalists want to discard Zheng Qinwen, she will get nothing—there is no reason why “more effort” should mean higher income. Either she is favored by capitalists and makes a fortune, or she is discarded and ends up with nothing. This has nothing to do with subjective effort or how much “labor” she has done; it depends solely on how the capitalists who own the means of production choose to distribute the wealth. The real reason Zheng Qinwen can earn money without labor while workers toil in vain is precisely because she is a parasite fed by the blood and sweat of the working people!
But here arises another question: why can Zheng Qinwen be favored by capitalists? This discussion does not aim to analyze her tennis skills specifically, but under the most ideal assumption that her skills are indeed “superior,” as previously mentioned, her skills alone cannot generate income. Tennis cannot bring money, but it is very useful for capitalists. Today, the rule of capitalist society is already shaky; capitalists urgently need an excuse to explain why a small handful of people can become billionaires while the vast majority of workers get nothing. This is especially evident in a country like China, which even dares not publish the Gini coefficient, with Premier Li Keqiang openly stating that about 600 million people earn only about 1,000 yuan per month. Meanwhile, the number of billionaires is world-famous, and even Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, is based in the U.S., which is not far behind. Therefore, the bourgeoisie of the “middle-revisionist” and “American imperialist” types, eager to rationalize the wealth gap, promote the theory of genius, claiming that their ability to sit above the masses and become billionaires is because they are “extraordinary,” possessing “superhuman strength and effort.” To prove this, they not only try to divert people’s attention from class struggle through sports and entertainment but also plan to buy a few “talented” bourgeois athletes with huge sums of money, creating myths like earning 30.81 million yuan in a year through “strength and effort.” Why does the “middle-revisionist” promote Zheng Qinwen’s “effort” so vigorously? Why does the U.S.-controlled WTA willingly award huge bonuses to bourgeois athletes like Zheng Qinwen? It’s precisely because they want people to believe this reactionary and absurd formula: effort = money! As long as you “work hard,” you can not only live without worries but also earn over 30 million yuan. With such “hope,” the capitalist society seems to give hope to workers—working hard but not getting anything turns into “more effort, more reward,” and no one will feel “there’s no way out,” thinking only revolution is the only solution… This is the only reason why the bourgeoisie is willing to spend millions to buy bourgeois agents like Zheng Qinwen from their own pockets.
Zheng Qinwen, willing to serve as a bourgeois agent, relies on selling herself to the bourgeoisie to become a parasite that amasses huge bonuses, seemingly attracting people to imitate her as a servant of the bourgeoisie in exchange for wealth and honor. However, such vulgar bourgeois schemes will only be despised by the broad masses of workers. For these bourgeois athletes who rely on flattering the bourgeoisie to amass huge wealth, gain parasitic status, promote the theory of genius, and deceive workers, we must resolutely oppose. Such servants have no future—once socialist society’s wealth is in the hands of the workers, these bourgeois athletes, bought with the sweat and blood of the workers, will have only one outcome: they will be thoroughly eliminated just like all other parasitic scum of capitalism! The most hateful are those poisonous pests and beasts that devour our flesh and blood! Once they are eradicated, the bright red sun will shine across the globe!