After 12 weeks of Economic History, I hereby declare I am officially class conscious.
Capitalism, the very economic system by which we live in, is an exploitative system. Up until now, I have believed that work hard and you will be rewarded. In fact, from the traditional economic system that China has sustained until the revolution of 1912, we have been taught as Chinese that study hard, work hard, and you will be rewarded with wealth and a good life.
Yet I see so many of my peers at my university, the wealthy ones, who contradict that very belief. Those who have not worked one sweat to obtain their status, yet enjoy and spoil money as if it were paper. I once thought life as unfair, and that their way of life was not sustainable. Now I understand it is the system of Capitalism that have made them so, and it is unlikely that their way of life will crumble.
The factory owners in China, those Capitalist that control and own capital, who exploit fellow workers and extract very bit of surplus value they produce. It is them! The Capitalist! It is them who enjoy the vast wealth created not by themselves, but the workers they employ! They own and organize capital, but it is those workers who produce wealth for them. Yes, the very workers who work for less than 2 dollars a day while the products created are sold for 100 fold. Who does that money go to? The Capitalist! The very enemies that Chinese Communist Party declared war against 80 years ago. Now not only are we back to Capitalism, their children’s spoiling of wealth mocks our very existence. Why should we work as slaves, while the children of capitalist enjoy the fruits of our work and toil?!
Nay! I say. Over my dead body! I will become one of them! I will become a Capitalist. I will gather interest from Capital! I will accrue returns from investment, earn money simply because others are borrowing my money! I will be paid, without one sweat from my eyebrow, for work that I did not do. I will no longer be chained in front of a computer programming 9 hours a day. I will no longer that machine of work, I will have no part of that!
Only when I am economically independent and free from that chains of having to earn wages just to survive, can I truly be free. I will be free! Free to do whatever I wish, free to devote my mind to whatever I see fit.
But of course, before becoming a Capitalist, I must have Capital. That means I must rent out my intelligence and body to earn a wage in order to accumulate Capital. Nine hours of programming a day for god knows how many years is a start. Hopefully, not for long. Now that I am class conscious, I know where I must go to be free.
。
