Recently, on major social media platforms in China, the so-called “resignation bloggers” topic has soared in popularity, even sparking numerous domestic media reports and analyses. The initial popularity of these resignation bloggers often stems from a so-called “worker’s declaration of saying no to involution,” followed by calls for “pursuing a wilderness of life” and seeking various so-called “free lives” after resignation, immediately garnering likes and shares. Some media or bourgeois scholars even interpret this phenomenon as “young people’s dissatisfaction with traditional workplaces and work models,” as if resignation bloggers have already become “opponents of capitalist corporate order.” In fact, topics related to “work” are not new on the Chinese internet. Due to the brutal exploitation of the broad working people by the bourgeoisie of the Zhongxiu (中修) class and the increasingly harsh labor conditions, exposing labor situations and capitalist oppression is common. Using the internet as a tool to resist the brutal oppression of Zhongxiu is also not uncommon, including some outstanding individuals, such as “Takeout Alliance Leader” Chen Guojiang, who has posted promotional videos on short video platforms like Kuaishou, calling workers to join the alliance, quickly forming a group chat of hundreds of people in just a few days, which later grew to over ten thousand[^2]. Their great appeal is precisely because they are members of the proletariat, constantly under the brutal oppression of capitalism. Zhongxiu has always regarded these people as thorns in the flesh, as splinters in the flesh, eager to eliminate them. However, these “resignation bloggers” who loudly claim to “say no to involution” are different from the above situation. For the “opponents of large factories and capital,” the Zhongxiu authorities have not expressed any opposition. On the contrary, they highly praise the slogans like “life is a wilderness” used by resignation bloggers and tacitly approve of the bourgeois intellectuals’ propaganda of them. What is really going on here? Chairman Mao once said: “If you are not opposed by the enemy, then it is not good; it must mean you are colluding with the enemy. If you are opposed by the enemy, then it is good; it proves that we have drawn a clear line from the enemy.”[^3] The attitude of the bourgeoisie towards resignation bloggers has partially exposed what kind of people they really are. Let’s take a look at their true nature. First, who are the people acting as resignation bloggers? When searching for resignation bloggers on major social platforms, many claim to be “workers at big factories,” but these so-called big factories are not actual factories, but refer to monopolistic internet companies like Tencent and Alibaba. Those who like to call these companies “big factories” are usually bourgeois intellectuals within these companies. According to statistics, among participants in the “I resigned” topic on Xiaohongshu, many are employees of Chinese internet monopolies such as ByteDance, Tencent, Alibaba[^4]. They look down on industrial workers with their high-and-mighty intellectual attitude and are dissatisfied with their current situation, thus belittling themselves as “workers at big factories” as if they just entered a factory. What are the “resistance” methods of these resignation bloggers? Traditionally, workers who fought against oppression were “in-service bloggers” who worked while promoting their views. These resignation bloggers’ “resistance” method is simply to voluntarily resign. In capitalist society, because the supply of labor often exceeds demand, widespread unemployment among workers is common, especially during economic crises. The proletariat has nothing but their labor to sell; once unemployed, they lose all income sources. Therefore, workers must fight against capitalists to extend working hours and increase exploitation, and also oppose the crisis-induced layoffs by fighting for better conditions. Some may say, aren’t these resignation bloggers fighting “involution” by not working? But workers’ strikes are aimed at improving economic working conditions and political rights, opposing oppression and injustice by Zhongxiu. Look at how these resignation bloggers operate: they usually follow a posting routine on major platforms—first posting a “like count target before resignation,” then announcing resignation, then sharing post-resignation life plans, declaring they are “free,” and can now “live the life they dare not live” or roam freely in the “wilderness of life.” Facing unemployment and oppression, they are not fighting to force capitalists to improve working conditions or raise wages, nor to prevent arbitrary layoffs. Instead, they voluntarily give up work for personal freedom, merely fantasizing about escaping the intense class struggle and finding a utopia where they can indulge in personal life. The upper-class members among them already possess economic conditions for parasitism, so their pursuit is purely escapism, not opposing capitalist oppression. This results in scenes where Zhongxiu brutally suppresses strike struggles of in-service workers, while resignation bloggers leisurely enjoy their “wilderness.” After escaping work, what kind of freedom are they pursuing? Top resignation bloggers on major platforms have given the answer. The most famous one, Meng Yutong, was once the secretary to the chairman of Gree, and capitalists even applied for a trademark in her name. After resignation, she became a internet celebrity by selling so-called workplace experience and even plans to start her own company[^5]. Another top blogger, “Senior Sister Many Money,” not only sells interview experience to graduates aiming to enter “big internet companies” but also launched a program promoting bourgeois wealth accumulation called “Wilderness Life,” featuring interviewees who are either live-streaming influencers or capitalists[^6]. Top blogger “Fei Fei Won’t Fly” interviewed 100 people who left the workplace, including bourgeois “earning X thousand a month” or “traveling with dogs” to indulge in luxury and leisure experiences[^7]. Clearly, this kind of freedom is actually wealth and pleasure freedom. These resignation bloggers, while disguising themselves with the false identity of workers, are in fact pursuing wealth and pleasure, creating a deceptive and sedative anti-revolutionary public opinion. From the above analysis, it is evident that these resignation bloggers’ “resistance” methods are beyond the reach of ordinary workers. Their post-resignation lives are also not accessible to ordinary laborers. Their class essence is mainly right-wing bourgeois intellectuals, living comfortably and worry-free, choosing between workplace life or “resignation life” as a gamble for wealth—completely not opponents of capitalism. So, who is actually watching these resignation bloggers and bringing them traffic? As already seen, their entire lifestyle of casually detaching from work and then enjoying wealth is built on parasitic economic conditions. Do the workers, constantly struggling on the brink of hunger, believe in such deceptive talk? Do the six hundred million impoverished people earning less than a thousand yuan a month in China have any interest in such lies? The easiest to deceive are only students with serious petty-bourgeois ideas and intellectuals. Students in Zhongxiu society are confined to campuses, extremely detached from labor and social class struggles, and due to their parasitic economic status, they harbor mistaken ideas of pursuing personal enjoyment. Today, China’s youth unemployment rate has exceeded 20%[^8], and these students face unemployment worries upon graduation, making them highly susceptible to the reactionary public opinion stirred up by these resignation bloggers, and thus harbor illusions about the so-called “free life without work.” But the freedom pointed out by big V (influencers) who resigned is a dead end for them. According to statistics, the number of participants in the “I resigned” topic on Xiaohongshu increased by over 20,000 in half a year[^9], but the number of top bloggers with a certain following is only over a hundred[^10]. Once the path of resignation collapses, “big factory workers” can find new ways out and pursue another “wilderness,” but the petty-bourgeois who are deceived will pay a heavy price. Their pursuit of the “wilderness of life” ultimately leads only to dead ends. They fantasize about not working and relying on being streamers to support themselves, but due to hunger and illness, they ultimately fell in early 2021, when Zhongxiu announced the realization of “a moderately prosperous society”[^11]. Therefore, resignation bloggers are nothing new; they are merely another sugar-coated shell cast by the Chinese bourgeoisie in response to increasingly sharp class contradictions, attempting to deceive and lure petty-bourgeoisie. In capitalist society, personal freedom from wage labor outside the bourgeoisie is nonexistent, but socialist freedom for hundreds of millions of workers is real and can be achieved by overthrowing the reactionary Zhongxiu regime. Do not pursue the “wilderness of life,” but seek “broad heaven and great achievements”—this is the true freedom that China’s youth should pursue.
2 Likes