A Rebel’s Confession

 A Rebel’s Confession

About 60 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a famous speech titled I Have a Dream, in which he cried out for the rights and freedoms of Black Americans. His cry made his dream seem noble and peaceful, radiant and grand. Meanwhile, I—an obscure nobody—also have a dream. My dream is to overthrow the Communist Party. Of course, I’m fully aware that no matter how I write this piece, it cannot change the fact that compared to Martin Luther King’s dream, mine appears narrow and violent, gloomy and insignificant. I also clearly understand that if my dream were to come true one day, it would undoubtedly come at a cost—perhaps even the cost of lives. Many would be hurt, including some innocents among the wounded. Yet, despite all this, I have no intention of abandoning my dream of toppling the Communist Party. Thus, I reckon calling myself a rebel isn’t too far off the mark. After all, a rebel in thought is still a rebel, isn’t it?

As to why I want to be a rebel—or rather, why I must be a rebel—I’ve written plenty about it in previous articles, and I’ll write plenty more in the future. I won’t dwell on it too much here. For now, I’ll just briefly say this: I firmly believe the Communist Party is a cancer to China, and even to humanity as a whole—a hopeless, irredeemable cancer that must be eradicated at all costs. This belief has become a matter of faith for me. And since it’s a matter of faith, it’s no longer about right or wrong, nor does it involve questions of morality. Whether I’m a good person or a bad person doesn’t even concern me much. The only pressing question I care about is: How can this faith of mine become reality? When will it become reality? Will I still be alive to see that day? What can I do to help make it happen? These are the practical questions that occupy me. For some, I have answers—like what I’m doing now, writing these little articles. For others, there are no answers—like whether I’ll live to see that day. Who can say? And for many more questions, it’s not about having answers or not; I only have rough, simple ideas—or for some, not even ideas, just a return to the dream itself. For instance: What would this country become if the Communist Party were truly gone?

What would this country become without the Communist Party? I think for most half-hearted communists, merely raising this question is already an act of treason. They’d say, “Without the Communist Party, what’s the point of this country? Would the Earth still turn without it?” To me, their thinking reveals nothing but hypocrisy and ignorance—I can’t interpret it any other way. If I could somehow tease out something more, like patriotism, from their stance, I wouldn’t need to write this little piece, nor would I need to aspire to be a rebel. As a rebel, I dream of a country without the Communist Party becoming democratic, even if that democracy has its flaws. As a rebel, I dream of it becoming free, even if that freedom comes at a cost.

As a rebel, I dream of it becoming open, even if that openness brings problems.

As a rebel, I dream that without the Communist Party, most poor people would still be poor, but even the poor should live with dignity. As a rebel, I dream that most rich people would still be rich, but even the rich wouldn’t want to flee this country. As a rebel, I dream that most officials would still be officials, but all of them would be subject to the constraints of elections. As a rebel, I dream that most bureaucrats would still be bureaucrats, but none of them could cling to their golden rice bowls. As a rebel, I dream that no one would ever again be criminalized for their thoughts, and that the so-called “patriots” like Hu Xijin, Jin Canrong, Zhang Weiwei, and Sima Nan—those traitors to humanity—should be locked up. Their actions have nothing to do with thought; they’ve committed crimes against humanity. As a rebel, I dream that words like “revolution,” “class,” and “struggle” would be swept into the trash heap of history, just like those “patriotic” traitors I mentioned. As a rebel, I dream that without the Communist Party, this country could start anew. As a rebel, I dream that without the Communist Party, this country would have hope.

As a rebel, I firmly believe my dream will one day become reality, though I genuinely don’t know how long it will take. Still, I’d like to share some rough thoughts on the ultimate question of how faith and dreams can turn into reality. I’ve boiled it down to three simple steps.

Step One: Establish a theoretical foundation that doesn’t need to be overly rigorous but must have some degree of logic, and promote it vigorously.

In previous articles, I’ve written that for communism, reshaping—or rather, controlling—people’s minds is the key to its virus-like spread. I’ve said that communism is a chameleon-like ideology, driven solely by the pursuit and control of power, a utopian trap. I’ve also said that it was born through propaganda and will inevitably die by propaganda—that’s the Communist Party’s fate. I believe these points are mostly sound. To sum it up here: the dung-like theory of communism is the Party’s foundation, while its relentless propaganda is its lifeline. Thus, any theory with even a shred of logic—even a small truth—can be considered a mortal enemy of communism. And propaganda—any propaganda rooted in pragmatism and truth-seeking—acts as the Party’s death knell. Aim for that hollow halo above the Communist Party’s head, expose the nonexistent banner at the core of communism, and as long as it’s grounded in truth and pragmatism, even the most extreme propaganda isn’t out of line. The poison of communism—or the Communist Party—is too potent; without strong medicine, it’s just scratching an itch through a boot, which only makes the Party thicker-skinned. But I must stress: no matter how fierce the medicine, it must remain unshakably rooted in truth and pragmatism. Otherwise, it won’t just fail to harm communism or the Party—it’ll devour itself. Does communism or the Communist Party even need to be smeared? Hardly—they’re already shining black with their own darkness. Scratching an itch through a boot won’t do; adding legs to a snake is equally unnecessary.

Step Two: Unite all rebels who can be united and take action. With self-preservation as a prerequisite, every rebel—just by lifting a single finger—could bring the Communist Party crashing down. And since many can do far more than that, its collapse is only a matter of time.

In my humble view, whether inside or outside the country, inside or outside the Party, anyone who can’t see the hollow halo above the Communist Party’s head, anyone who can’t recognize the nonexistent banner at communism’s core, anyone tied to the Party in any way—they’re all rebels. At the very least, they’re rebels in thought, like me. Even within the Party, there are countless people who can’t see the halo—how can they be true communists? If they can’t grasp the banner, how can they understand communism? There are so, so many rebels in thought. And in most cases, turning from a rebel in thought to a rebel in action only requires a spark, a chance, or certain conditions—what I call timing. Timing must be waited for, timing must be created, and timing must be built on pragmatism and truth, promoted with relentless effort. Of course, I must add: the so-called “patriots” like Hu Xijin, Jin Canrong, Zhang Weiwei, and Sima Nan have no humanity. They don’t deserve to be rebels—they’re only fit to be sacrifices, not just for the Communist Party but for all rebels. Sacrifices often don’t deserve much pity, but I’d still like to borrow a line from Chiang Kai-shek’s Lushan speech: “Sacrifice should not be spoken of lightly until the final moment.” This is a warning to all rebels—inside or outside the country, inside or outside the Party, including myself: self-preservation is the prerequisite. “Dying before achieving victory” might just turn you into a laughingstock. Before moving even a single finger, ask yourself this: The Communist Party has no底线 (底线,底线), but are you willing to pay a price? That price could be steep, because the Party has no底线 (底线) when it comes to power.

Step Three: Fill the gaps—rebel corruption and military intervention.

Within the limits of my shallow understanding, compared to the first two steps, this one is undoubtedly the most dangerous and uncontrollable—for this country and nearly everyone in it, even including the “patriotic” traitors like Hu Xijin, Jin Canrong, Zhang Weiwei, and Sima Nan. So even discussing this issue requires extra caution.

On rebel corruption, I’ll start with my own limited perspective. I often think that if you look purely from the angle of the state and power, morality is a laughable concept—even humanity itself is fragile as a bubble. If rebels preach morality, why not just join the oh-so-moral Communist Party? There’d be no need to be a rebel. By the same logic, if humanity were reliable, wouldn’t the rise and existence of the Communist Party defy reason? So, when the Party falls, rebel corruption will inevitably trend upward—it’s human nature, like seeking gain and avoiding harm. The best counterweights to this instinct are freedom, democracy, openness, and the rule of law. I’ve already touched on freedom, democracy, and openness in my dreams, so I won’t repeat them here. As for the law, I’ll add this: the legal frameworks of the US, UK, Germany, and France offer ready-made models for restraining power that we could borrow heavily from. Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan have legal blueprints with plenty worth adopting directly. I don’t know how good they are, but I know they stand in stark contrast to the Communist Party’s laws—and that alone is enough.

On military intervention, this truly exceeds my understanding. Even so, I know that without the Communist Party, this would be a massive landmine—a lingering disaster from an era where the Party still fervently preaches “power grows from the barrel of a gun.” From this angle, the Party treats the state-funded military as its private property, just as it treats nearly everything in the country—including human lives—as its own. The military is its most crucial asset, yet also the one it trusts the least. As a rebel, I don’t trust it either, and my distrust stems entirely from fear. I only have one life—so do all rebels—while the military has plenty of bullets, far more than one per rebel, I’d wager. That’s a fact. But here’s the logic behind it: if the military wiped out all rebels, who’d sustain it? Worse yet, an unsustained military would turn its guns on itself—there’d be no other way out. So I think not turning on the rebels might be the military’s own path to self-preservation. After all, just like those “patriotic” traitors have their weaknesses, most soldiers do too. I have nothing to say about those traitors, but as a rebel, I sincerely plead with the military: raise your barrels an inch higher. I believe most people—even rebels—hold a basic respect for soldiers deep down. Even the Party’s praetorian guard has aspects worthy of respect, as long as they can raise their barrels an inch. A prayer to the heavens!

Having shared these rough thoughts, this piece is more or less finished. But before I wrap up, I’d like to add a few self-justifying words—purely out of fear. Even admitting I want to be a rebel, I don’t want to be arrested, let alone tortured. What’s most terrifying is the thought of being caught and tormented for no purpose at all. I’m digressing again—back to the Communist Party. When they do things, they only dare—or can only—shoot in the dark. That’s the Party’s nature. To that, I say: Don’t give me a chance. If I get one, I’d shoot in the dark too—as long as the barrel’s aimed at the Communist Party.

As a rebel, I admit I’m not exactly a good person. Given the chance, I might do plenty of bad things, as long as it topples the Communist Party. Good or bad doesn’t matter much—but I don’t admit to being guilty.

As a rebel, I admit I harbor deep hatred for the Communist Party. Given the chance, I’d eradicate it without hesitation—but I don’t admit to not loving my country. I deeply love this land, its history, its script, and so much more about it.

As a rebel, I scoff at communism and despise the Communist Party as a whole—but I don’t admit to holding personal malice against most individual Party members. My malice is more about the facts than feelings. Of course, this “most Party members” absolutely excludes the likes of Hu Xijin, Jin Canrong, Zhang Weiwei, Sima Nan, and their ilk of “patriotic” traitors. They’re devoid of humanity; the evil they’ve done in this life won’t wash clean in the next, or the one after that.

As a rebel, I admit my language can be sharp, sometimes flawed, even veering into sophistry at times—but I don’t think my words are extreme. If anyone sees extremism in them, I can only express regret; I’ve got no other explanation, and I certainly don’t take responsibility for it.

As a rebel, I call on all rebels to protect themselves. No matter how tough it gets, stay alive—even living like a dog isn’t shameful. Logically speaking, as the Communist Party’s private property, the difference between a person and a dog isn’t that big to begin with. If they respected human rights, they wouldn’t be the Communist Party.

As a rebel, I’ll say something brash: I firmly believe my dream will one day become reality, and I’ll hold that belief until I die.

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May 31, 2023, Wednesday