A Chinese factory employee set fire to a textile plant in China’s southwestern Sichuan province in his frustration over unpaid wages of just 800 yuan (or US$111), according to videos posted on social media and eyewitness accounts shared with Radio Free Asia.

  • in4apenny@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    11 hours ago

    Meanwhile most Americans who are forced to work full time with no paid vacation or healthcare instead go off and say, “I don’t pay attention to politics, it’s depressing. I’m just gonna work on myself,” as they accept never being able to afford their dream vacation, their own home, or that new truck they desperately need.

  • markovs_gun@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    Idk. On one hand I really appreciate the energy but on the other hand this is kind of fucked up for everyone else that works there, and I assume there were people inside when he did this. Like what are all his coworkers going to do for work now that the factory is burned down? I know that’s part of why capitalism sucks but it’s not like they can do anything about it as individuals.

  • IvanOverdrive@lemm.ee
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    11 hours ago

    The Pingshan county police confirmed an incident of arson and said the arsonist had been detained at the scene of the fire.

    A better way to do it is to wait a couple of weeks, burn the place down so it looked like a naturally occurring fire, and not get caught.

  • Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    17 hours ago

    If the CCP’s all about championing the humble worker then surely they’ll approve of this guy’s actions, right?

    • Omega@discuss.online
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      17 hours ago

      CCP shuts down alternative unions and prevents any left wing demonstrations, it’s ironic, you don’t have to fall into a party line when you’re not a party member yet they’re being hunted down as if they just broke the rules of centralised democracy

      • barsoap@lemm.ee
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        6 hours ago

        centralised democracy

        I think you mean democratic centralism.

        “Centralised democracy” I think would make sense when contrasting parliamentarian vs. direct democracy. None of the ML parties ever implemented democratic centralism but bureaucratic centralism (ie. party leaders decide, base follows). It was never intended to be an organisation principle for a whole country, just a party, OTOH it’s a neat way to dress up autocracy as democracy so of course it’s been done plenty of times.

        Lenin described the SPD as democratically centralist and well, yes, maybe back then. The structures are still in place but the whole party is paralysed when it comes to making decisions so in the end the Seeheimer rule, i.e. the neoliberal wing. It’s a rather perverse situation: An actually still lefty base, or at least union people, following a neoliberal vanguard with red paintjob.

      • neons@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        6 hours ago

        it’s ironic, you don’t have to fall into a party line when you’re not a party member yet they’re being hunted down as if they just broke the rules of centralised democracy

        It’s because you just broke the rules of dictatorship ;P

    • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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      17 hours ago

      Surely they’d prefer workers to go through official channels so the owner of the factory can be prosecuted, not act alone and go on adventurist rampages. They’re not anarchists lol

      • rockerface 🇺🇦@lemm.ee
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        16 hours ago

        From the article:

        Police, however, said the claim that “800 yuan in wages were owed” was false, and that the company was in the process of approving payment of 5,370 yuan in wages. It blamed the factory fire on the arsonist’s suicidal thoughts, and said police would deal strictly with those spreading rumors.

        So the “official channels” would just tell him unpaid wages don’t exist

        • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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          16 hours ago

          What about the ACFTU? Or one of the labour inspectorates? Going to police is the first step, but it’s hardly the only official channel.

          The education system clearly failed to prepare this worker for what they should do if their boss steals their wages, but there were definitely other options besides going all propaganda of the deed on the factory. I certainly sympathize with them though!

          • Lumiluz@slrpnk.net
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            4 hours ago

            You know what’s funny, is that on Voyager, you can’t instantly see what instance someone is registered too unless you tap on the username or respond, but I could still tell your tankie ass was from .ml before doing any of that.

            PS: hilarious that someone with a username pun of communist is defending the capitalist business owner so hard too

            • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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              3 hours ago

              defending the capitalist business owner

              I did no such thing, don’t accuse me of defending some bougie piece of shit for stealing wages.

              I’m just saying, the solution isn’t to destroy productive capacity or go on an individualistic adventure. It solves nothing and now those other workers just lost their jobs.

              There were other steps that could have been taken. If they had exhausted every avenue then maybe an adventure is all that’s left, but I just don’t think that’s what happened here.

              And if adventure is the only hope, at least just target the boss and don’t take way peoples’ work opportunities.

      • throwawayacc0430@sh.itjust.works
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        15 hours ago

        Official Channels

        So same as an US-American petitioning trump? 🤣

        so the owner of the factory can be prosecuted, not act alone and go on adventurist rampages

        I guess you oppose burning teslas? Bootlick much?

        • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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          15 hours ago

          So same as an US-American petitioning trump? 🤣

          What if I told you that the US and China are different countries and that they have different governments?

          I guess you oppose burning teslas? Bootlick much?

          I oppose adventurism.

          People should be organized and follow democratic centralism, parties and unions and organizations and such. They shouldn’t just go off on whatever adventure pops in their head because they’re mad at some rich guy for being a piece of shit.

          Again, that shit is for anarchists, and in case you haven’t noticed they haven’t been very historically successful.