Two weeks ago, I started working at a factory mainly engaged in parts assembly. This factory primarily produces mechanical transmission components, so it is equipped with lathes and grinding machines, mainly producing inner and outer rings of special-shaped bearings. I am an assembly worker, mainly assembling bearing parts. The work is quite boring, and can be summarized in one sentence: assemble the cage with ball bearings, the shaft and outer ring, then move on to the next process; last week, I changed positions, mainly operating a punch press for spinning and riveting (which is fixing the bearing), specifically loading material, pressing the switch, and unloading material. Since my contact with workers is somewhat fragmented, I wouldn’t write much even if I did every day. Here I mainly want to share some thoughts and interactions with workers. Due to limited time at work, I plan to update weekly. I think on my rest day, I will spend some time summarizing the situation so that everyone can see a more systematic view.
First, let me talk about my feelings about participating in labor: tiring, really very tiring. After participating in factory work, I developed a skill: I can fall asleep quickly, even dreaming after ten minutes of sleep. Because I need to frequently bend over to take the shaft out of the frame, I often feel back pain after work. The wage system here is also very unreasonable. We are new employees, hired through labor dispatch, not directly under contract with the factory. The working hours are six days a week, from 8 am to 5 pm (with a one-hour lunch break). After formalization, the pay is piece-rate, and it’s quite absurd that the next day, a worker who has been here for half a year asked me how the collective piece-rate calculation works, and neither of us knew. I found it very ridiculous—this is essentially the capitalists wanting to pay as much as they want, paying more when there are orders, and not paying when there are none. On the second day of my employment, I learned that there had been a production accident here: a worker’s hand was caught in the punch press when the laser sensor (which detects whether the hand is inside; if detected, the machine cannot start) failed, and he was pressed by the machine. There is no further news yet. Yesterday, during safety training, I felt very disgusted. The instructor said that all accidents are caused by workers’ short-sightedness. I think, if you don’t crazy increase production, don’t force workers through piece-rate wages to increase labor intensity, and don’t set rules that workers can’t leave until they finish their quota, would workers still have work-related injuries?
My position is not far from others, but I can’t talk often. However, in the first week of employment, I discovered an opportunity: because my assembly speed is faster than the machine processing speed, materials often pile up, and the line leader would then assign me to help other workers. So I made friends with another new worker, and after finishing my materials, I helped him with bolts, from calling him over to proactively helping later (though this also has a downside: the line leader might mistakenly think I am stealing work and thus treat me very well, which feels surreal). I also hesitated about whether to help, mainly because it’s too tiring, and it’s helping the capitalists get goods. Later, I remembered the story in “Unforgettable Battles,” where the PLA helped the mill workers, and through helping, understood the situation, which made me feel I could do these things. I call him Su. He graduated high school and started working, met his wife at a factory, and they have a daughter. He doesn’t seem like a feudal patriarch; from how he calls his daughter and happily talks about her biting her earphones, he still loves his daughter very much. Over the past two weeks, I’ve chatted with him intermittently, talking about his previous unpaid wages on construction sites, where bosses used unilateral tactics—leading a few workers to confront the client, but only to cause trouble for themselves while waiting outside. We also talked about his night shift at a large city’s battery factory, where workers collectively engaged in passive resistance, forging data in quality checks, etc. Once, when discussing wages, I said the government actually helps capitalists, as shown by the Jiashi workers’ movement. Workers, based on union documents (the face project of Zhongxiu), wanted to form a union, but the greedy capitalists refused. The workers then went on strike to pressure the capitalists, but the Zhongxiu police immediately beat and detained the workers, violently dispersing the Jiashi support group. He said, “If only Chairman Mao were still alive, society wouldn’t be so bad.” I immediately got excited and said China’s capitalism was restored this way. After Chairman Mao’s death due to illness, Hua Guofeng’s revisionist group launched the Lianhe Hall coup, arresting the Central Cultural Revolution Group. But even within the revolutionaries, there were problems, like Zhu Yongjia from the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee’s writing group, who initially advocated armed struggle and the Paris Commune of the East, then went to Japan, leading to the lack of organization among workers nationwide. Although there was an armed uprising, it was suppressed. I wanted to further say that only the Communist Party leading the workers’ struggle could achieve victory, but I didn’t continue because I had to go back to work. As a proletarian who participated in many struggles, he also has flaws—being poisoned by bourgeois spiritual opium. He likes to watch anime and has talked with me about the anime he watches, bourgeois novels (Yu Hua), and entertainment on Tieba.
Last night, I had dinner with Su and briefly shared my views. I told him that the factory’s system is very unreasonable, but he said it’s too difficult because there are many people working in this factory. I said, having many workers is normal, but their lives conflict with capitalism. I then talked about my line leader, who initially forced us to work overtime without pay, but later owed me a year-end bonus, and I was uncomfortable participating in labor and working overtime arranged by the capitalists, feeling exploited. Many workers in factories are like this, and we need to persuade them to realize the problem themselves. He agreed, saying it’s like awakening. We also discussed how to fight back. I said, Lu Xun once said that dissatisfaction with reality and the desire to change it start from oneself. I shared how I decided to give up low-level pleasures and study Marxism. I used to watch a lot of gaming videos on Bilibili and played games myself; my Steam account has been active for ten years (by the way, I plan to figure out how to delete my Steam account soon and post about it). In September last year, I interned at a research institute in a provincial capital, doing clerical work. During that time, I had to revise a very long report, which I could only do after work. Because I worked late every day, I could only go back to the dorm after clocking out, but I was caught by the foolish dean. Later, because I needed to renew my internship contract, the dean used this to make me apologize. The apology was scheduled for December 26, Mao Zedong’s birthday. After apologizing, I felt very humiliated and started thinking about what kind of path I should take—whether to give up these low-level pleasures and transform myself or stay here and be a dog for such people. I decided I want to be a person, not a dog. So I resolved never to indulge in low-level pleasures again, stop watching videos and playing games. I also had a quarrel with my family over this, and eventually, I left and started working here. He said, “You’re quite impressive.” I said, it’s not that hard; although sometimes I still want to watch videos or play games, thinking about my goals and what kind of person I want to be keeps me from doing that. I also advised him not to watch those anime after work, because capitalists aren’t afraid of such people; they are most afraid of those who can transform themselves, and we should be the ones capitalists fear. We also discussed China’s capitalism. I said China is different from the US. The US fought the War of Independence, established a joint dictatorship of the bourgeoisie and slaveholders, then the Civil War abolished the slaveholder class and established a democratic state. But China’s bourgeoisie usurped the party and established a savage capitalist state, so the degree of the state’s alliance with monopoly capital is higher, and the government always sides with capitalists. (This point wasn’t well explained and was somewhat abstract.) Finally, before parting, because he watches YouTube, I recommended him the YouTube promotional account of the forum. On the way home, I was thinking about why I didn’t explain well—mainly because I didn’t think enough about Marxism at work. Sometimes, I feel spiritually empty and indulge in lewd content (I also plan to review the anti-worker movie “The Annual Meeting Cannot Be Heard” I watched several times). Or I feel too tired and listen to red songs to pass the time. I still study Marxism too little, think too little, and use it too little.
I also interacted with some others, but since the conversations weren’t deep, I’ll just briefly mention. First, there are two line leaders here. One (Zho) is my mentor who brought me into the factory. He is a mechanic and production worker, working together when machines are good, repairing when they break. I feel he is very reserved, and we didn’t chat deeply. The other (Wb) is an experienced worker, probably responsible for production scheduling. He has been here for eight years, but due to a six-month break, his actual seniority is six years. I think he is quite good because he also worked here as a worker before, so he has good relations with other workers, but his mind is all about output, always saying “Come on!” (I initially thought he was trying to numb other workers, but now I think he is trying to numb himself). I also talked with two aunties. One thinks the factory is tiring but encourages others to work harder (unfortunately, I worked with her yesterday, but I have a rest today). The other is the auntie who installs the balls in the cage; she is very kind to me. One day before leaving work, I had finished my tasks, and she called me over to help, mainly because she was afraid I would be idle and be seen by the leaders. We also talked about her son, who refused to do anything when he was in high school, just parasitizing. During her son’s summer job in college, he didn’t want to go to night shifts, so she asked me to go instead. He then hesitated and said, “Mom, I’ll go,” because he couldn’t do heavy physical work. I said, work is necessary; if people don’t work, they become bad. I also shared a story about a relative whose factory closed in a certain year, but he still received a minimum wage and laid-off compensation, then started indulging in pleasure every day and became morally corrupt. It’s hard to imagine a forty-year-old man, with wife and kids, spending every day in internet cafes. I believe that if people don’t work, they will become bad. The auntie agreed, saying such people are irresponsible.
