Eagle, I don't want to form an alliance anymore.

Only a few Soviet delegates nodded.

In a country where "the proletariat is the leading class" is enshrined in the constitution, the nods of these people carry more weight than a capitalist's complaint.

On the wall, Lenin's portrait gazes into the distance.

Just as their mentors had taught them to do decades ago.

Chapter 137 Beating Up People's Entrepreneur Cao Dewang (Part 2)

At 6 a.m. the next day, the notice of the temporary Party branch at the main gate of Fuyao factory was already posted.

The notice was handwritten by the Party branch secretary in the middle of the night, using a black marker on a piece of white paper torn from the workshop:

"Announcement of the Provisional Soviet Party Branch of Fuyao (Far East) Factory"

Following a unanimous resolution by all representatives of the factory Soviet, the factory's provisional Party branch hereby declares that all documents concerning labor rights previously issued unilaterally by the factory's management are invalid because they have not been reviewed through Soviet democratic procedures.

The provisional party branch demanded that the management immediately engage in peaceful negotiations with the Soviet on the following matters:...

Then came the conditions that Cao Dewang had previously rejected: transparent production data, compliant working hours, improved treatment of Chinese workers, and equal pay for equal work.

Cao Dewang saw the notice less than an hour after it was posted, because he discovered that his people were being blocked at the door by the Soviets—the people he had sent to complain couldn't leave!

Cao Dewang's instincts as a people's entrepreneur immediately warned him that if he did not take action, he might pay a heavy price. He subconsciously touched his neck and thankfully found that the rope around his neck was hanging from a jade pendant.

"This is no ordinary strike; we must take strong measures! This is damaging Sino-Soviet friendship!"

He directly turned the tables. At eight o'clock in the morning, Cao Dewang convened an emergency meeting in his office with all the Chinese management and foremen of the factory. After the meeting, he had a translator translate his statement into Russian and broadcast it throughout the factory via the factory's public address system.

On the radio, Cao Dewang's voice came through a translator—

"The so-called 'provisional party branches' formed by Soviet workers are illegal and divisive acts! The factory's management is democratically elected through legal procedures, and management decisions are made by majority vote—majority rule is a fundamental principle of democracy."

Soviet workers refused to accept their defeat in the vote and started their own 'provisional party branch,' which is inciting national division and undermining the democratic system!

He also added a few big hats—

"This behavior severely damages Sino-Soviet friendship. Fuyao Group is one of the largest Chinese-invested enterprises in the Soviet Union, and the hostility of Soviet workers towards Chinese investors will seriously affect the confidence of Chinese enterprises in the Soviet investment environment!"

"I have a good relationship with officials at the Chinese Consulate General in Vladivostok. The Chinese side will certainly support the legitimate rights and interests of investors, and the Soviet side will certainly reject the unreasonable demands of your few workers for the sake of the overall Sino-Soviet friendship!"

The last sentence is the harshest:

"All Soviet workers who participated in the so-called 'strikes' and 'provisional party branches' will soon face the risk of disciplinary action by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Organizing illegal strikes and disrupting production order... these acts are punishable in any country!"

The broadcast has ended.

The factory was silent for a few seconds, then erupted in a torrent of anger.

"You betrayed the working class, fuck you!" "This isn't your average capitalist anymore, we have to crack down hard!" "Too arrogant, fuck it, take them down!"

Some of the younger Soviet workers, who were participating in a strike for the first time, showed signs of unease.

Expelled from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union? Disciplinary action? These words carried considerable weight in the Soviet Union.

The Soviet chairman listened to the broadcast from the workshop doorway, remaining as steady as a mountain.

"Don't panic! Every word he says is just to scare us! He's not a member of the CPSU, and the CCP can't control us! He can't expel us. The CPSU's disciplinary actions require investigation and review by the party organization—our temporary party branch is the party organization itself. The Far Eastern Special District government wouldn't dare to arbitrarily deny and dissolve the grassroots party organization. If you're so capable, take this matter to the Supreme Soviet of the Union! I don't believe his connections are greater than General Secretary Ivanov's!"

"Yes! General Secretary Ivanov will never be misled by this bourgeois enemy in red attire!"

However, Cao Dewang's words still caused confusion among some people. Radicals and moderates emerged in the Soviet strike team. The main force of the moderates were some young people who were inexperienced in the world. They advocated negotiation, did not want to make things too big, and hoped that the Far East Special District government would arbitrate.

The main force of the radicals consisted of older workers in their forties who had been engaged in production for decades and were very clear about how class struggle should be conducted. They advocated preventing Cao Dewang from making false accusations first and preventing him from leaking information to the outside world. The Soviet Union should take the initiative and not let the Chinese side come to question them first.

The radical opinion leader is the father of the former factory director. The current factory has absorbed another Soviet glass factory in the special zone. The former factory director's father is almost ninety years old. In his youth, he joined Lenin's army and fought in the Russian Civil War, fighting all the way east. He participated in the battles to eliminate White Army soldiers such as Kolchak and Semyonov. In the end, he stayed in the Far East to settle down and build a career. During World War II, he also fought against the Japanese. After the war, he lived in the dormitory building next to the factory. Everyone respected this veteran.

The old man, who had participated in the test server, was very surprised when he saw the workers were about to strike. But after hearing the workers' explanation, he immediately perked up, his legs and hands stopped shaking, and he took out his military uniform covered with medals from the wardrobe and put it on.

"Have we lost our war of national defense? How come the capitalists have made a comeback? Let's take action! Comrades, quickly follow me to defend the Soviets and the dictatorship of the proletariat!"

After saying that, he immediately saluted the portrait of Lenin hanging on the wall in his house, grabbed a pistol from the cabinet, and was about to join the strike.

But how could a group of middle-aged men dare to let this nearly 90-year-old old man lead the charge against the tower? So they prepared a wheelchair for him. The old man sat in the wheelchair, holding a red flag in one hand and a pistol in the other, vowing to launch his final assault on this evil capitalist.

So, led by the veterans, the radicals took the lead. Within twenty minutes of Cao Dewang's broadcast, the radicals completed the following tasks with extremely high efficiency and organization:

First, they cut the factory's telephone line. The factory's telephone line entered the factory area through a junction box on the outer wall and connected directly to the factory's main control room. A Soviet worker, along with dozens of strong men, pushed aside the Chinese workers guarding the entrance, grabbed a pair of pliers, and cut the telephone line.

Cao Dewang can no longer make phone calls.

Second, seal off the factory gates.

Several workers parked a forklift across the factory gate, with several empty metal shelves piled behind it. Cao Dewang's black luxury sedan, parked in the factory area, had all four tires punctured with a screwdriver. Any motor vehicle not controlled by Soviet workers had its tires damaged.

Soviet workers have always been militant because during the Cold War, the entire Soviet Union was preparing for World War III, and they all received paramilitary training.

Most people participated in DOSAAF (All-Union Voluntary Assistance Association for the Army, Navy and Air Force) in their youth. DOSAAF had tens of thousands of grassroots organizations throughout the country, located in factories, schools and residential areas, responsible for providing various technical training from driving, radio operation, first aid to handling firearms.

The radicals immediately drove away the few tracked vehicles in the factory and used them to block the entrance.

Third, keep Cao Dewang and his cronies locked in a room as much as possible to prevent them from coordinating their actions.

They did something characteristic of glassworkers: they took a crucible of molten glass from the workshop and poured it into the locks and cracks of the doors in Cao Dewang's office and some management offices. After the molten glass cooled and solidified, the doors were frozen to the walls, and you'd have to smash them out with a sledgehammer.

However, despite their best efforts, the Soviet workers forgot that there was a ventilation opening above Cao Dewang's office. Cao Dewang climbed directly through the ventilation opening and ran to the main control room, which was still controlled by the Chinese workers!

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Seeing that the die was cast, the moderates couldn't say anything, so they went and did something else.

Several young workers who were skilled at using computers went to an internet cafe outside the factory and opened their browsers.

Step 1: Go to the government website. They found the labor arbitration portal on the official website of the Soviet Far Eastern Special District Management Committee and submitted a petition.

"The management of Fuyao (Far East) factory refused to implement the Soviet's legal resolution. The Soviet organized a strike in accordance with the law and requested the management committee to send someone to arbitrate."

Step 2: Go to the forum.

On the Vicher forum, they started posting everywhere, starting with the "Labor Rights" section.

[Urgent Help Needed] Soviet workers at the Fuyao Glass Factory in Nakhodka are on strike – Chinese capitalists refuse transparency, refuse to improve workers' conditions, and threaten to have the Soviet Communist Party expel the workers who are participating in the strike!

The post detailed the ins and outs of the incident, from the Soviet workers discovering the treatment of Chinese workers after entering the factory, to the formation of the Soviet, to the vote being rejected and the strike, to Cao Dewang's radio threats, to the cutting of telephone lines and the blockade of the factory.

The last paragraph of the post reads:

"Comrades, our treatment meets Soviet standards. We are striking for more than 500 fellow Chinese proletarians—they work more than ten hours a day, live in bunk beds in six-person rooms, their work injuries are not reported, and their overtime pay is withheld. They dare not strike because their contracts are in the hands of Chinese bosses; if they strike, they will be sent back!"

Comrades, please help them—help our proletarian compatriots! The proletariat has no country!

Posting time: 9:15 AM.

Within three hours of the post being published, its popularity began to rise rapidly. At 9:40 AM, the post ranked first in popularity on the "Labor Rights Forum." There were over two hundred replies, mostly in support.

"Support our working-class brothers!" "The proletariat must unite!" "Capitalists exploiting workers on Soviet soil? Absolutely not! Send them to Siberia!" "Where are the management committees? Where are the labor inspectors?"

At 10:15 AM, the post was featured on the homepage of the Vicher Forum. It garnered over a thousand replies, with some people beginning to post relevant articles from Soviet labor laws.

"According to Article XX, Section X, the Soviet has the right to organize legal strikes..." "According to Article XX, foreign-invested enterprises within the Soviet Union must comply with labor laws..."

At 11:00 AM, the post was forwarded to several other major forums, including "Soviet Population Forum," "Far Eastern Economy Forum," and "International News Forum." People began translating the post into English and German and uploading it to the international internet.

At 11:30, the post sparked debate. Most people voiced their support, but some criticized it, saying, "The workers' demands are reasonable, but cutting the phone lines and blocking the factory are too radical; this is kidnapping. We need peaceful means, not violence!" "Slashing their tires and breaking into their locks—what's the difference between this and thuggish proletarians?"

Others retorted: "When you're being exploited by capitalists, do you politely reason with them? Why don't capitalists politely exploit you?" "Your surplus value seems a bit too high." "It's due to the revolution being too thorough." "Where did these full-time students come from?"

At midnight, the post was forwarded to newspapers and television stations. Some netizens directly sent the post's link and screenshots to the editors' mailboxes of Pravda and Labour, and reporters from several local television stations in the Far East began heading to Nakhodka.

At 1 p.m., the post was also reposted on forums of other countries in the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON). Similar situations existed in factories in Poland, East Germany, and Hungary. There were many cases of poor treatment, long working hours, and management opposing workers. Workers who had similar experiences found the post resonating with them.

Posts of support poured in from Warsaw, Berlin, and Budapest.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The Soviet Far East Special District Administration Committee's first reaction was to try to smooth things over.

The first secretary of the management committee saw the petition on the government website around 10 a.m., and also saw the post on the Vicher Forum. His first reaction was to suppress the matter.

If this matter is still within the control of the Special Economic Zone, then it will only be a labor dispute in a factory. The management committee can mediate and both parties can compromise.

Some things are nothing on the scale, but once they are, they weigh a ton!

If this made it online, into the news, and became a hot topic throughout the Soviet Union or even the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CCOM), it would become a diplomatic issue—what would happen to Sino-Soviet relations if Chinese investors faced worker strikes in the Soviet Union? What would happen to the foreign investment environment?

The secretary of the management committee immediately called the higher-level department in Moscow responsible for the Far East Special Zone. The higher-level department replied that they should wait and see, saying that the central government had not yet made a statement.

Meanwhile, the KGB is also paying attention to this matter.

The KGB maintains constant surveillance of online public opinion. Upon seeing the forum post in the morning, an agent immediately contacted Moscow through internal channels to inquire whether the post needed to be blocked or restricted from spreading.

The reasons are sound: the incident involves Sino-Soviet relations and may damage Sino-Soviet friendship; the incident involves foreign-invested enterprises and may affect the Soviet Union's investment environment; the incident may be used by Western media to attack the Soviet economic system.

The request was quickly delivered to Slava's desk.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Slava was still struggling with the formulation of the Fourteenth Five-Year Plan when he saw this matter. After thinking about it, he whispered a message to his secretary and asked the secretary to pass it back to the KGB.

"Foreign capital can come or not, anyway, the Soviet Union doesn't lack anything now. Our economy doesn't depend on foreign capital or foreign technology. If you don't want to do it, there are plenty of people who will. Even if foreign capital wants to leave, we'll skin them alive."

So the news continued to spread. No one deleted the posts, banned accounts, or tried to guide public opinion; the posts on the Vicher forum continued to gain replies, be forwarded, and be seen by even more people.

3 PM Vitcher Forum

The post has received over 5,000 replies, making it the most popular post on the entire site.

Amidst the overwhelming support and debate, everyone thought of one person.

User "Kiev Metro Hero": Does anyone know anything about Brother Xiong? He must have something to say about this. @AAA Arrest Warrant Wholesaler Brother Xiong

User "Siberian Hamster": Yeah, what about Brother Bear? Isn't he supposed to know everything? What's the government's view on this? Are there any inside stories?

User "Anonymous User 258": Brother Xiong always pops up whenever something big happens, @AAA Arrest Warrant Wholesale Brother Xiong, come out and say something! The forum members are waiting for you to speak!

Sure enough, Brother Xiong popped up a few minutes later.

User "AAA Arrest Warrant Wholesaler Bear Brother":

"I'm not afraid of strikes at all. I'm happy when I hear that workers are going to fight armed struggles. What's so bad about Boss Cao's factory? They just strung up a few telephone lines and blocked people in the factory. The real trouble happened in 1917. The workers' Red Guards had guns and cannons and even occupied the Winter Palace. The workers in the Far East are far behind—they didn't even get an armored car."

The comments section below the post was filled with laughter.

"Are you going to imitate Lenin's armored vehicle speech too?" "Brother Xiong has always liked to do abstract things, just like his wife. Just tell us what the government's attitude is."

User "AAA Arrest Warrant Wholesale Bear Brother": What the alliance lacks now is population and labor, not foreign investment. I think the General Secretary will stand on the side of the workers.

Then, a familiar name appeared in Xiong Ge's reply.

User "AAA Five-Year Plan Writing Sister Long": I don't see anything wrong with it, at least it's quite lively.

It seems like Brother Xiong has suddenly gone into hiding, and everyone on the forum has started asking Sister Long what happened.

"Sister Long is here! Sister Long, how did you judge the General Secretary's attitude? Are you a fortune teller?" "This is called logic, darling. The Soviet Union needs labor. If Chinese workers are wronged and sent back to the Soviet Union, who will want to come in the future? Let the Chinese workers stay and give them good treatment—not only will they not leave, but they will also bring more fellow villagers. The General Secretary can definitely figure this out."

User "Vodka Truth": Sister Long's analysis makes sense, but the problem is the Sino-Soviet relationship...

User "AAA Five-Year Plan Writing Sister Long": Sino-Soviet relations won't fall apart over a labor dispute at a glass factory. The cooperation between China and the Soviet Union involved tens of billions of dollars; what's a private enterprise compared to that? No one died or blood was spilled; how big of a fuss could this be?

User "Kiev Metro Hero": Brother Xiong and Sister Long, are you two in cahoots? You always appear at the same time?

User "AAA Arrest Warrant Wholesale Bear": Never heard of it.

User "AAA Five-Year Plan Writing Sister Long": I don't know her.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The First Secretary of the Far East Special Economic Zone has been keeping a close eye on the Viccher Forum.

His superior once secretly revealed something in an informal setting: the General Secretary and the Foreign Minister have accounts on the Victoires de la Ville ...

Upon seeing the post, the First Secretary immediately understood the Kremlin's stance and promptly called the Management Committee.

"We agree to all the workers' demands. You need to control the situation and make sure no one dies."

It's quite obvious that Moscow's ambiguous attitude when the management committee inquired about the plan earlier already said a lot. The top leaders couldn't speak out, but they expressed their opinions. At this point, it was up to the junior staff to do the work.

If things are done well, the higher-ups will gain face, and the junior staff will inevitably benefit.

He's only fifty years old, which is the perfect age for striving and he's eager to improve himself.

The Chinese side only learned what had happened when evening came.

The reason was that the factory's telephone line was cut off, and news on the Soviet Internet could not be seen in China (China's Internet development was far behind that of the Soviet Union), so Cao Dewang was trapped in the factory and could not contact anyone.

The news eventually reached the Chinese embassy staff, who were Chinese working in other Soviet cities. These people saw the post on the Vych Forum on the Soviet internet and informed embassy staff they knew by phone and letter.

A staff member at the Chinese Consulate General in Vladivostok received the message around 9 p.m. and immediately reported it to the embassy, ​​which then urgently contacted the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs.