2025/2/17-2025/2/18
The reason for the long gap between this and my previous diary entries is, subjectively, that I haven’t been involved in much ideological struggle lately. I’ve been daily immersed in the spiritual opium of capitalism, just like a thug wandering aimlessly. As a result, I had already written several diary entries before, but due to my laziness, I didn’t update them on the forum in time. However, living in such a dazed state for too long, because I was once influenced by Marxism for a long period, and this influence was quite profound, I have indeed thought about doing something meaningful to enrich my life. Although I haven’t succeeded due to the spontaneous nature of petty bourgeoisie, I still have some subjective desire for this. On the other hand, through communication with others, I learned that leftist circles are wildly slandering the forum, attacking Marxism with various revisionist fallacies, hindering its dissemination. People told me I should think more about the significance and responsibility of my factory diary. After some reflection, although I can’t immediately rid myself of all capitalist spiritual opium, I shouldn’t lose my basic sense of right and wrong just because of my addiction, and indulge leftist slander of the forum for my own comfort. So I decided to record this major struggle during this period. On another note, technically, because this major struggle is a continuation of the last factory entry, writing it in this logical sequence seems more convenient for readers, so I prioritize updating this.
Let me first introduce my current situation. After being sent back by the previous factory, I planned to stay with this intermediary company, waiting for compensation, then conduct labor arbitration, and look for another job. I had the idea of fighting with this intermediary company, but on the other hand, I also had the idea of relaxing and slacking off. During the New Year period when I couldn’t find a job, I stayed in a youth hostel, and in this relaxed environment where I didn’t need to work, my thoughts immediately turned bad. Laziness increasingly took over my main thoughts. With everyone’s persuasion, I decided to give up my previous plan, because if I continued like this, my thoughts would only deteriorate further, possibly even giving up on working and choosing to live off my family. So I entered another factory through the intermediary.
On February 17th, I was preparing for my first night shift after coming to this factory. Since this factory operates on a weekly shift cycle, it was somewhat hard to adapt. Meanwhile, the wages from my previous job should have been paid, but I had already urged the intermediary to pay on February 14th. They claimed it was due to the holiday, so the payment would be postponed to the next working day. In fact, this was just an excuse, a delay to use our wages as flexible funds for loans and financial activities. So I waited until the following Monday, February 17th. I waited from morning until afternoon, checking my bank account periodically for the wages, but by 5 pm, there was no news. I then questioned the intermediary in the group chat we had recruited us in, asking why the wages hadn’t been paid yet. The intermediary was very scared, probably because they intended to delay the wages and feared my words would resonate with other workers and cause collective action. They immediately disbanded the group chat.
Seeing the group chat disbanded, I felt uneasy and angry, so I privately messaged the intermediary, asking: “What do you mean? You have time to disband the group but no time to pay wages?” They started to make excuses, saying the wages would be paid and the issue would be resolved today. I thought I would wait to see if they could resolve the issue in the remaining hours.
Then I went to work. During my shift, I felt unwell, anxious about the wage issue. I was angry at the intermediary’s behavior and felt guilty about my decadent lifestyle lately, wondering if I could still fight against the capitalist system as before.
At around 10 pm, I went to the bathroom and checked my bank account again, feeling distrustful of myself, fantasizing that I could get my wages without fighting if they just paid on time. When I saw the balance, I was so angry I trembled: ‘+393 yuan’. I had worked fifteen days, minus the 750 yuan advance, how could it be only this amount? Furious, I called the intermediary again about the wages. They continued to dodge, saying they would resolve it and that the wages hadn’t been settled yet. I asked: “So, is this 393 yuan wrong? Will you resend the rest later?” They refused to give a clear answer, just repeating that it would be resolved.
Feeling uneasy, I checked my bank account again at 11:50 pm before dinner, still no change. I called the intermediary again, asking: “You said it would be resolved, but it’s already the 17th. What have you done?” They kept giving empty promises, saying it would be resolved the next morning. I thought if it continued like this, I probably wouldn’t get the money back. I accused the intermediary: “You guys, delaying wages like this, now I can’t even afford to eat.” Unexpectedly, the intermediary shamelessly said: “Bro, if you can’t eat, what does that have to do with me?” I cursed: “What the hell are you talking about!” The untrustworthy and reputationless intermediary started to argue over the phrase “damn”. Hearing this, I was so angry I even considered bringing a fruit knife tomorrow to confront them. I said: “If you don’t pay wages, how can you justify yourselves? Are you out of your mind? I will go to your office tomorrow to find you. You deal with it.” Hearing my threat to go offline and confront them, the intermediary was scared and pretended to resolve the issue again, saying they would resolve it the next morning. But I no longer trusted their so-called promises.
That night, thinking about these things, combined with my irregular sleep schedule, I found it hard to endure. My petty bourgeois ideas were severe, and I was deeply addicted to spiritual opium, to the point of obsession. As I mentioned before, I was very fond of reactionary music in the virtual singer form, and out of my own sexual fantasies, I often imagined a spiritual relationship with virtual singers. But faced with the sharp class contradictions, no matter how much self-deception I engaged in, I couldn’t fool myself anymore. Thinking about the unpaid wages, I couldn’t think of virtual singers or reactionary music anymore. Instead, I thought about singing patriotic songs to boost my spirit.
I had to lament that probably virtual singers are only tolerable for those who don’t have to work, for those who don’t have to struggle against capitalism for their survival. When I thought of patriotic songs, my hope for the struggle was full, but whenever I thought of virtual singers, only despair remained. Because these things are ultimately about death and extinction.
Although I gained some correct understanding, I still didn’t want to give up these spiritual opiums at that time. I fantasized, talked to virtual singers, thinking if they were alive, they wouldn’t oppose wage disputes. Out of my petty bourgeois ideas, I also had an escapist thought: that I, as a person, was wrong to appear in such an era, and I might as well die. But when I thought about fighting the intermediary, I felt I couldn’t do so with this mental state, so I sang some red songs to strengthen my resolve.
The whole night, my mind fluctuated between despair and determination.
When my night shift ended and I returned home around 7 am, I charged my phone and planned to rest a bit, so I fell asleep. Although I didn’t set an alarm, I kept thinking about the unpaid wages, and I woke up around 10 am. I immediately took the subway to the car factory where I previously worked. Since it was far away, I planned to take the subway, which still took over two hours.
On the way, probably because of my resolute attitude yesterday, the intermediary was somewhat afraid, and they gradually settled part of the wages around 11 am. When I entered the factory, the intermediary forced workers to sign many unfair agreements, such as deducting 1,150 yuan for quitting without notice, reducing wages to 80% of night shift wages, and changing wages from 23 yuan per hour to 20 yuan per hour if not employed for three months. According to my situation, in their eyes, being sent back and quitting was no different; I hit all the landmines. However, in the end, they didn’t deduct a single penny from me. Still, one amount was deducted: due to attendance issues at the factory, 18.5 hours were missing, and there were two absurd deductions—one was a performance bonus, which could be negative, -80 yuan, effectively a penalty disguised as a bonus, which was ridiculous; the other was 37 yuan for labor insurance, meaning workers had to pay for labor protection supplies, which is completely illegal under current labor law.
Initially, when I saw that the wages had been fully settled, I hesitated. Old petty bourgeois ideas resurfaced, thinking since most of it was paid, I could resolve the rest legally. Reporting the wage arrears, I could go back to rest today, and it wouldn’t delay my current work. But this was just self-deception. I was just afraid of encountering difficulties, a leftover slave mentality. I then engaged in ideological struggle, thinking, I am already on the way, should I retreat? But I remembered my previous vows: “To expand the influence of Marxism among the working class,” “No matter the outcome, I will fight with them,” and I heard the mockery of the intermediary: “You can’t eat, what does that have to do with me?” I couldn’t stay calm anymore. I thought, I am already here, the intermediary is indeed disgusting me, and even if I can’t get this money, I won’t let them earn it so easily!
On the way, to boost my spirits, I kept listening to revolutionary songs, and I thought of Marx, Lenin, Chairman Mao, the tragic persecution of the Chinese people under the fascist system, my hometown Hebei, Hengshui students’ inhumane abuse. I felt a strength in my heart, no longer afraid, because Marxism is truth, justice, and will surely triumph.
With this mindset, I finally arrived at the factory. I saw those damn intermediaries again starting to deceive and recruit workers for this reactionary factory. I asked the intermediary: “Are you going to pay the wages? If not, I will go directly to the HR department.” He didn’t care and told me to go ahead. I immediately started to confront them. Another intermediary quickly stopped me, saying he would take me inside to resolve the issue, check the working hours, and promised that as long as the factory acknowledged the hours, they would pay immediately. From this, it’s clear that the previous indifferent intermediary (let’s call him Xu Dog) was actually afraid I would do this. He wanted to scare me off, deceive me into thinking that my actions wouldn’t affect them. But when he saw I was no longer just after wages, he had to prepare backup plans, sending another intermediary to block me and limit the extent of the struggle.
That intermediary immediately told me to take off my headphones. I asked why. He smiled and said it was a factory rule, another tactic to downplay the class struggle atmosphere. In fact, the headphones didn’t matter, but he emphasized it to see if I would obey, to judge my determination for struggle and decide his strategy.
At first, I resisted, but then I thought there was no need to show excessive hostility over this. I listened to him. He probably misjudged me, thinking I would obey his so-called rules and could still “talk”.
Then he started talking about reason, telling me to be reasonable, to avoid conflicts, and that we should clarify misunderstandings. After understanding, he promised to settle the wages immediately. I said: “If you are reasonable, I will be reasonable. But if you are unreasonable, don’t expect me to give you a good face.” The intermediary ignored my words and insisted I should speak properly at the scene. From what happened afterward, it seemed this was another of their schemes.
When I arrived at the workshop, the intermediary started messaging the factory’s HR managers. These damn HR people are like parasites, living in luxury, doing things that harm workers. The HR manager, named Yu, let’s call him Yu Dog.
We waited several minutes. Yu Dog came down from the second floor leisurely. I explained the situation clearly, especially the issue with working hours. I initially thought they knew I just had a punch card problem and would correct the hours, so I could end it there. But unexpectedly, she started to spout nonsense. She said, “I told you to correct your punch card before, but you didn’t. We have no way.” Actually, she never told me to correct my punch card. Their management just handled this matter perfunctorily, saying I had reported the correct hours, and I should reflect the issue to the labor service company.
I pointed this out. She then started to argue, saying that reporting the correct hours didn’t affect my punch card, and whether I corrected it or not was useless (they had never mentioned correcting punch cards before). I said: “When I told you about this, you said the supervisor would verify the hours with me and call me. You took my phone number, but never called. How am I supposed to verify? How can I correct it like this?” Seeing her excuses were insufficient, she changed the subject, talking about the so-called correction of punch cards, implying that it was my right not to do it, and because I didn’t, my hours were not counted, leading to less wages. This meant that the unpaid wages were entirely my fault!
I immediately retorted: “Then, what is the point of the attendance system?” I had evidence that I actually worked those hours and that they acknowledged my work hours. Why, when they knew the attendance data was wrong, didn’t they correct it and pay me? Yu Dog continued to argue, saying that the factory’s rule was that if the attendance didn’t match, wages wouldn’t be paid! Only then did I realize that the so-called attendance system was just a facade. I angrily said: “Isn’t the purpose of attendance to accurately calculate workers’ working hours and pay accordingly? Or is it to use workers’ forgetfulness to punch in as an excuse to underpay wages?” I completely exposed the falsehood of the attendance system. At this point, Yu Dog smiled and told me not to say these useless words. Then another senior manager, probably in charge of production, let’s call him Gao Pig, came up. He initially claimed to have reported the correct attendance. After failing to argue with me, he completely ignored me, pulling Yu Dog aside and saying, “Don’t argue with him.” Or something like that. I was furious. I cursed: “Do you believe I will punch you to death?!” I said: “The so-called 400-500 yuan, I don’t want it anymore. I just want to see what medicine I can buy with this money, maybe as medical expenses for you!” Gao Pig, although a coward, was probably used to bullying workers. When he came to push me, I fought back, pushing him away. Seeing the conflict escalating, the intermediary immediately came over to separate us.
Then another dog came down from the second floor, probably Yu Dog’s superior, perhaps unhappy with my aggressive wage claim, fearing it would influence other workers.
He immediately insulted me: “Get this kind of person out of my workshop. My workshop doesn’t allow such people.” I retorted: “You’re shameless!” This pampered boss had probably never been cursed at before. Hearing my words, his face twisted in anger. I continued: “Your workshop? The factory is built by workers, the machines are made by workers, and the workers working in the factory are also workers. What right do you have to say it’s your workshop?” The dog saw this and immediately shouted, calling security to expel me. Gao Pig, seeing his boss insulted, probably wanted to show loyalty, pushed me to try to throw me out. I asked him: “Are you going to fight?” He arrogantly said: “Do you think I dare to fight you?” I was provoked and immediately rushed forward, but was stopped by the intermediary and security.
Gao Pig, seeing this, also started to fight. He saw that the intermediary was blocking me, so he took advantage of the gaps, pushing me several times. When he challenged me, I suddenly aimed my head at his hand, ready to bite his finger. He immediately retracted his hand. I shouted: “You said you dare to fight? Come again and see if I don’t bite your finger off!” Gao Pig was frightened by my determination and dared not approach further.
At this moment, the security arrived. They spoke peaceably, saying that now is a civilized society, no more fighting to resolve issues. I roared: “A society where workers don’t get paid and those who don’t work get paid—that’s your so-called civilized society! As the Chinese saying goes, ‘The wronged have a root, debts have an owner!’ Pay back what you owe, or pay with your life! Today, you owe me wages and dare to expel me, this is your civilization!” The intermediary, seeing the conflict had escalated beyond control, was very scared and immediately said they could pay immediately, promising to settle the wages themselves without factory verification.
I agreed. I calculated the total as 425.5 yuan. The intermediary, seeing the amount was large and reluctant, still paid immediately given the situation. After settling the wages, he started to say something. Initially, he had promised to discuss things properly. I said: “I’ve given you enough face. You are the ones who are shameless, forcing me to do this. If I had known it would be so easy, I wouldn’t have bothered to discuss reason with you.”
Then, the intermediary hurriedly tried to take me out of the factory. I thought this matter couldn’t end so simply. If I just wanted the wages, I would give up promoting Marxism among workers and spreading the ideas of struggle and revolution, which would be a defilement of Marxism. After all, I said from the beginning, I didn’t come for such a simple matter as wages.
First, I wanted to humiliate Gao Pig. I hated this pig especially because he often publicly insulted workers at company meetings, never treating workers as human beings. So I had to humiliate him fiercely, taking advantage of the victory in wage dispute to uphold the dignity of the working class. I shouted: “Gao X (his real name), you didn’t even graduate from high school (I mention this specifically because I don’t have much education myself; I only graduated from high school. I mention this to show that his current position isn’t due to any talent, even the openly recognized capitalist morality is completely incompatible), can’t use a computer, can’t type, can’t use a browser, a useless parasite who lives off workers and sucks their blood! Damn dog!”
Gao Pig, after hearing this, didn’t immediately refute me (I guessed he didn’t graduate from high school, and it seems I guessed right…), but lowered his head, looking terribly ashamed, as if in self-doubt. Probably, this pig, after becoming a capitalist factory dog, lost all self-awareness. These people are just like right-wing petty bourgeoisie and bourgeoisie, lacking talent, looking down on the working masses, and constantly deceiving themselves with some supposed superiority to justify their class existence. I think these words hit the core, openly declaring that this fat pig is a useless waste with no use at all, which had this effect.
Then I shouted to other workers: “Everyone see! This black factory is insulting us workers like this. I came today just to get back my wages. But this damn factory, based on so-called attendance, still wants to deduct wages from us even though everyone knows I actually worked. Why do they dare to do this? Because we workers are not united enough!”
At this moment, I saw the former worker who told me that if I made mistakes at work, I would be fired, again, I shouted: “Let’s see if those obedient dogs in this factory dare to say what I just said!”
At this point, the intermediary and the security captain, who looked like a thug, couldn’t stand it anymore. They thought that if it continued, it would cause a bigger impact among workers. So they fake-invited me to get in the car, saying it was faster to leave. Because my thoughts were not fully organized and I didn’t plan to continue talking, I got in the car and left.
Outside the factory, I saw dozens of people gathered, all temporary workers recruited through the intermediary. At first, I was a bit timid, thinking that since I had already received my wages, protesting now and confronting the intermediary might not be good. This was a typical petty bourgeois selfish idea, only thinking about myself and not about whether others working in this factory might also be exploited. After hesitating for a while, I decided I couldn’t go on like this. I first ran into their crowd and told a few people: “Do you want to work in this factory? This factory owes wages! Don’t work here.” As I spoke, my voice grew louder, and I became more determined. I then turned into a protest against this reactionary car factory.
I said: "Workers brothers! Don’t enter such a factory. I am here today just to demand my wages. Let me tell you about my experience over this period!"I came to this factory for a job interview on January 8th last month. I guess everyone is the same as me, brought in through an external agency promising high wages, but that is completely not the case! They tell you that they only pay 23 yuan per hour here, and the rest of the promised fees from other agencies must be compensated by you through the agency that introduced you, but this money is entirely at their discretion—they can pay it if they want and refuse if they don’t! Moreover, this is not the end. When I entered this factory, we didn’t sign any contract at all; it was only after we had worked for two days that they signed what they called a labor contract, which contained more ‘rich’ provisions than the promised 23 yuan per hour, including strict rules on wage deductions! They said if you don’t work for three months, your wages will be paid at 20 yuan per hour. They also said that if you resign voluntarily, they will deduct 1,150 yuan from your wages and only pay 80% of your wages! None of these conditions were mentioned when we first planned to work here!
In this factory, the labor intensity is very high. Moreover, the management has no manners; they can and often do insult and verbally abuse us workers! In such a factory, we not only endure inhumane labor but also suffer mental insults and humiliation!
I was deceived and insulted for half a month under these circumstances. How did I finally leave this factory? One night, while working normally, I accidentally broke a plastic handle. The so-called supervisor here demanded over 200 yuan in compensation without any basis, which is equivalent to a day’s wages! After I legally and morally challenged them, they couldn’t refute me, so they sent me back to the agency.
After that, I hoped to receive my wages on the 15th of this month (February). On the 14th, I asked the agency about my wages. They said that because the 15th and 16th are holidays, the payment would be postponed to the next working day. But yesterday, I waited all day for my wages, yet they didn’t pay until 5 pm! I immediately asked in their recruitment group chat, and they immediately disbanded the group! Workers, what does this mean? It shows they are scared! They fear workers’ struggles, especially the united struggles of workers! They are afraid my words will resonate with other workers with wage disputes, changing the nature of the issue and forcing them to pay wages normally!
They are clever but also very stupid! Their cleverness lies in using various means to divide and deceive us workers, but their stupidity is the same—they always use negative tactics to prove their fear of workers’ unity and struggle! Because they are afraid of workers’ unity and struggle, they disband the chat groups! Because they fear workers’ unity and struggle, they only pay part of the wages during wage disputes and shout, ‘Your wages have been paid, what do you care about others (the workers owed wages)?’ Because they are afraid of workers’ unity and struggle, they divide temporary and permanent workers in these factories and give certain privileges to permanent workers to lure them into becoming accomplices!
After they disbanded the group chat, I immediately privately questioned them, saying, ‘You have time to disband the group chat but no time to pay wages?!’ They issued empty promises to resolve the issue, asking me to wait until that day was over. I waited, but the total wages for the whole month and half a month were only 393 yuan, plus the 750 yuan advance, totaling only 1,143 yuan. On average, 140 hours of work at less than 10 yuan per hour! I questioned the agency about this, accusing them of making me unable to afford food. But what did they say? They said, ‘Bro, whether you can eat or not has nothing to do with me.’ I believe many here rely on labor to earn a living. Listen to what these bastards say! Isn’t it because they don’t pay our wages that we are pushed to this point?
(To Xu Dog) Haha, you, with healthy limbs capable of normal labor, rely on your lying mouth to drain blood from others’ labor to maintain your decayed life. I tell you, no matter how we live, how our appearance and circumstances are, we will live with more dignity and cleanliness than you parasites and beasts!
It was at 6:30 am, right after my night shift, that I ran over to demand my wages. Because I fought like this, they already paid me 1,700 yuan on the road, but they still held 500 yuan.
There are also uncalculated attendance issues and other deductions, including what they call performance bonuses. We all know that performance should mean bonuses, but for the first time in so long, I saw it being turned into a negative number to deduct from wages! Plus, 37 yuan for labor insurance, which should be provided by the factory according to Chinese labor law, but they deducted this from our wages anyway! Even when we didn’t damage any labor protection equipment, they still took this fee!
Through struggle, I reclaimed these two amounts. When I went to the factory to negotiate wages according to their strategy, these scoundrel supervisors said that even if I worked, as long as there was no attendance record, they wouldn’t pay wages. They are really clever at withholding wages and eating our labor成果! I argued and debated with them, but they couldn’t beat me, so they refused to pay. I was so angry I almost fought them to get my wages out!
This is my experience at this black factory, comrades. Even if you enter a factory, at least it should be a factory that can pay wages!
During my complaint about this factory, some intermediaries were very disgusting, deliberately hiding among the crowd, pretending to be workers or passersby to insult me.
Ridiculous is a white-clothed intermediary, here called the White Skin Dog, who refused to admit he was an intermediary after I questioned him. Later, he couldn’t stand what I said, and before I could say why I was fired, he blurted out, ‘This person was fired, listen to what he says.’ I immediately asked him, ‘You say you’re not an intermediary, I never said how I left, how do you know?’ He was speechless, then started smiling and silent.
The White Skin Dog is probably a subordinate of Xu Dog. Seeing Xu Dog being insulted, he couldn’t help but, several times, find excuses, saying I shouldn’t affect Xu Dog’s work (referring to making money through scamming workers). I retorted, ‘If Xu Dog was truly honest and upright, he would show evidence to refute me. Wouldn’t that make people trust him more and be more willing to work through his agency?’ When he couldn’t argue, he resorted to violence, suddenly rushing at me, grabbing my clothes and trying to hit me. I immediately stood among the workers, spread my arms, and shouted, ‘Come on, let all Chinese workers see how Chinese intermediaries beat their fellow workers!’ Seeing the situation was bad, Xu Dog immediately scolded White Skin Dog, telling him to leave. White Skin Dog had to sit on a pillar, pretending to laugh foolishly. I scolded him, ‘If you dare do this, you are exploiting our workers’ disunity. If there were just two more people, you wouldn’t dare!’ He pretended to be confident, saying, ‘I dare a hundred times more.’ I sneered and said, ‘When the state-owned enterprise was restructured, Chen Jianlong of Jianlong Iron Factory said the same. During the restructuring, he used connections to embezzle three billion yuan of state assets and turned them into his private enterprise. He openly insulted, physically punished, and humiliated workers, saying workers are just talking tools. This angered workers, and eventually, over a hundred workers surrounded and beat him to death. His last words before dying were, ‘Please don’t kill me.’ The workers’ response was, ‘If you don’t die, we can’t live!’ and then they beat him to death.’ I don’t know if he was scared or what, but after I told these stories, he stopped talking.
Later, I felt I had exposed enough and left. At that moment, White Skin Dog smiled and said to me, ‘Brother, have a cigarette, let’s get to know each other.’ I glared at him and said, ‘I have nothing to talk about with you bloodsucking parasites!’
That is roughly how I went about demanding my wages.
