"Black & White" and Social Change Symposium Minutes (Part II)

Meeting Time: April 21-22, 2025
Meeting Format: WeChat Group Discussion
This Session's Topic: Exploring Gu Xiaole's Identity and Experiences
Moderator: Changrong Dashuai Group Leader (Yun Kai)
Participating Readers: Yun Kai, Xin Lixin, Liu Xiaoqiang, Wang Yajun
Compiled by: Yun Kai
Revised and Reviewed by: Mai Rui

Yun Kai: Hello everyone! You all know this discussion's topic, so let's get to the main content. Gu Xiaole's identity is that of a worker at the state-owned enterprise Donggang Steel. This doesn't seem like much to discuss, but is that really the case?

First, why is "state-owned enterprise" used as a prefix for "worker"?

Let's first look at a set of data from 20 years ago:

[Note: The original appears to reference data that isn't fully visible in the text]

So the question arises: is today's "state-owned" still the same as the past "state-run"? Some people equate state-owned with public ownership, but actually public ownership ≠ state ownership. Don't think state-owned enterprises only exist in socialist countries—capitalist countries also have state-owned enterprises, but their nature is completely different.

Xin Lixin: This can lead to the question of state nature. When the nature of the state is different, the enterprises it owns are naturally different too.

Yun Kai: Right, though those who think the state's nature hasn't changed and only a few leaders have "gone bad" find this hard to accept. They view the state as an abstract concept, so they can't understand the essence that "the state is a tool of the ruling class, used to oppress other classes."

Marxism holds that politics is the concentrated expression of economics. The economic rise of the emerging bourgeoisie inevitably demands corresponding political status and power. For instance, in "Black and White," didn't Zong Tianyi receive a series of titles after becoming a "young entrepreneur"? (See "Black and White" Part I, pages 138-139)

Since the Party is the leading core of all China's endeavors, capitalists entrepreneurs inevitably demand entry into the Party—this is unavoidable.

Correspondingly, workers, who were originally the leading class, experience not only economic decline but also loss of political status and power.

So Gu Xiaole goes from initially "inheriting" his father's position as a worker, to later participating in the XX incident [note: likely referring to political unrest] as a worker, to eventually injuring Qiu Dongliang out of class sentiment after thinking about the humiliation his wife Cheng Lei suffered, and finally discussing "That Place" with Wang Sheng in prison and giving his own views.

From Gu Xiaole's experiences, we can see that as a worker, his fate is tightly connected to the times. Although his class is no longer the master of the country but has become a vulnerable group or even "low-end population," what he demonstrates is precisely the working class's political enthusiasm and fighting spirit.

(Specific content: "Black and White" Part I page 385, Part III pages 92-106, pages 296-300)

Moreover, from Gu Xiaole, we can still see that the working class remains the most advanced class.

They don't own means of production (like factories, land, machinery) in capitalist society and can only survive by selling their labor power. This economic position makes them core participants in capitalist production relations while placing them in an exploited position. Their living conditions directly expose capitalism's contradictions (like exploitation, wealth disparity), giving them the strongest motivation to demand change and the potential for thorough revolution.

Liu Xiaoqiang: Today's "state-owned" isn't the past "state-run"—one word difference, but the nature has fundamentally changed. It's a big deception! Now it seems state-owned is really official-owned.

Yun Kai: I notice Teacher Liu didn't directly describe the moral character of people like Cheng Guojun, Gu Xiaole, A Mao, and A Ying, but through their words, actions, and psychology showed that their character is incomparable to those well-dressed, human-looking Du Wei, Lang Tao, and Luo Baozhang.

Liu Xiaoqiang: Especially A Mao.

Yun Kai: Yes, though this is so, the working class's advanced nature doesn't stem from moral superiority but is determined by their economic position, historical role, and social function. They are both socialist laborers and capitalism's gravediggers.

I believe the theory that "the working class is the most advanced class" has undergone complex testing in historical practice. As long as social structure remains unequal for even one day, and humanity's pursuit of liberation continues, this theory hasn't become outdated and still has profound practical significance.

Gu Xiaole, as an individual, gradually formed his class consciousness in the process of fighting for deserved rights. Thousands upon thousands of such Gu Xiaoles can surely become organized revolutionary subjects.

Xin Lixin: Comparing father and son, father Gu Zhizhen was born around 1928 in old China. When New China was founded, he should have just started working, supported frontier construction, received honors from his factory, and finally retired gloriously. The father had strong master consciousness, took pride in his working-class identity, and scoffed at his son Gu Xiaole's initial idea of wanting to become a cadre working in an office.

At the end of Part I, Gu Xiaole participated in the XX incident as a worker, showing that although he didn't become an office-working cadre, he gladly accepted his worker identity and actively threw himself into the movement. This transformation is very good, showing he personally underwent ideological transformation. There are no people who are born a certain way—compared to some red second-generation who claim they had people's sentiments from the beginning, I think this transformation is more precious.

The fates of these two generations also illustrate social change—workers' transformation from masters to abandoned children.

Yun Kai: Excellent!

Moreover, after Gu Xiaole was arrested for injuring Qiu Dongliang, his father-in-law Cheng Guojun, who came from Cultural Revolution rebel background, specifically sought out his ex-wife Song Xiaofan to plead for him—truly ironic to watch. Former masters actually had to bow down and plead to parasites for their fate, and Song Xiaofan's current husband was precisely Bai Shouhe's son Bai Wen, representative of Duke Company that was acquiring Donggang Steel.

And that Qiu Dongliang—his name is quite blackly humorous. For his master's complete interests and the bone his master threw him, he was actually beaten into serious injury. How is this not a kind of "pillar" (laughing)?

Xin Lixin: Song Xiaofan's romantic history also shows the changing times—husbands (lovers) from rebel Cheng Guojun to rightist writer Li Xin to military intelligence officer Bai Shouhe's son Bai Wen.

Yun Kai: When she went to the countryside, she truly loved an excellent young man, Guo Liang. That was her first love, probably also her most pure relationship.

Actually, unlike what some literati say about the early 1980s after reform and opening up, the Cultural Revolution period actually produced many pure and beautiful relationships. Look at how sincere and intense the feelings were in those moving love letters that Chen Yimeng's prototype wrote to his ex-wife. His ex-wife treasured the iron box containing those letters—what it held appeared to be love on the surface, but was also an ideal, and even more, a bygone era.

Liu Xiaoqiang: Cheng Guojun closely resembles "Wang Xingang" [note: famous Chinese actor]. Who was Wang Xingang? By today's standards, the entertainment industry's number one national heartthrob. Everyone loves beauty—if not for being "one of the three types of people" [note: Cultural Revolution reference], this marriage might well have succeeded.

Xin Lixin: Gu Xiaole, a second-generation worker, whose main experience was participating in "besieging" the company building to protect Donggang Steel workers' rights, thereby disrupting the signing ceremony between Donggang Steel and Duke Company, and being sentenced to three years for injuring factory leadership. Law is the expression of the ruling class's will. Since reform and opening up, the working class changed from leaders to the led, so naturally they're not protected by law when conflicts of interest arise with the ruling class. Duke's acquisition of Donggang Steel was only suspended, not completely terminated, due to that "sabotage incident." Chen Yimeng, who upheld the principle that "reform cannot affect the majority's interests," was also powerless and ended hastily. Individuals or unorganized teams simply cannot contend with the ruling class's violent machinery.