——写在“六·四”三十七周年前夜

作者：中国民主党美南党部副主席 陆乾坤

这些年在海外生活，经常有人会问我一句话：“中国老百姓是不是中国共产党的奴隶？”每次听到这句话，我心里都很难受。因为仔细想想，这句话虽然刺耳，却并不是毫无根据。很多时候，中国人民确实像被一个庞大而冷酷的政治机器长期控制着，活得没有尊严、没有安全感，也没有真正意义上的自由。

中国人是世界上最勤劳、最能吃苦的民族之一。无数中国人从早到晚拼命工作，一辈子省吃俭用，只想给家人一个稳定生活。可为什么直到今天，很多中国人依然活得如此沉重、如此压抑？为什么一个普通中国人，即使努力奋斗几十年，依然不敢说真话，不敢公开表达思想，不敢真正拥有独立人格？

原因其实并不复杂。因为中国人民从来不是这个国家真正的主人。真正控制这个国家的，是中国共产党。而中共从来就不是一个正常意义上的现代政党，它更像一个依靠暴力、谎言和恐惧建立起来的极权利益集团。

很多人直到今天，依然没有真正看清中共的本性。它从诞生开始，就带着浓厚的流氓政治色彩。它靠枪杆子夺权，靠阶级斗争制造仇恨，再靠不断制造恐惧来维持统治。它最擅长的一件事，就是绑架整个国家，然后再告诉人民：“没有共产党，中国就会天下大乱。”

这种逻辑，本质上和绑匪没有区别。绑匪拿枪指着人质的头，说“没有我保护你，你会死”；而中共则长期用“稳定压倒一切”的名义，把十四亿中国人困在一个巨大的政治牢笼里。

几十年来，中国人民其实一直活在这种被控制、被管理、被收割的状态中。共产党控制土地、媒体、教育、司法、互联网和金融体系，甚至试图控制人的思想。从小学开始，中国孩子就被灌输所谓“爱党教育”。共产党刻意把“国家”“民族”“人民”和“党”混为一谈，仿佛反对共产党，就是反对中国。

可问题是，共产党什么时候真正代表过中国人民？

中国人民有权自由选举政府吗？有权公开批评政府吗？有权决定国家未来方向吗？答案其实所有人都知道。

普通中国人，只能在这个体制下小心翼翼地活着。小时候拼命读书，长大后拼命工作，再背上几十年的房贷。很多年轻人表面上生活在高楼林立的大城市里，实际上却像被困在巨大机器中的螺丝钉，永远不敢停下来。一旦失业、生病或者发生经济危机，一个普通家庭多年的积累就可能瞬间崩塌。

更可悲的是，很多中国人甚至已经习惯了这种状态。很多父母从小教育孩子的第一句话，不是“做一个有尊严的人”，而是“千万不要惹政府”。这背后反映的，其实是整个社会长期被高压统治后的恐惧心理。

而中共最恶毒的地方，还在于它一边压迫人民，一边不断用“民族复兴”“国家强大”来麻痹人民。它天天高喊“人民至上”，可真正享受特权的，永远是那批所谓的“赵家人”。

普通老百姓拼命工作，一个月赚几千块钱，为房贷、学费和医疗费焦头烂额；而那些掌握权力的红色权贵阶层，却早已经把家属、资产和财富转移到了欧美国家。他们一边高喊“爱国”，一边让自己的孩子拿外国护照、住豪宅、上世界最好的学校。

真正留在中国承受高房价、高失业率和高压统治的，永远是普通中国人。

更加荒唐的是，中国人民辛辛苦苦创造的财富，并没有真正用在中国人民自己身上。这些年，中共最喜欢做的一件事，就是拿着中国老百姓的钱，到世界各地“大撒币”。它向外国政府提供巨额援助，援建外国基础设施，给外国留学生超国民待遇，动不动就是几十亿、上百亿美元。

可与此同时，中国国内却有无数人在生存线上挣扎。

很多农村老人，一个月养老金只有一两百块钱；很多普通家庭，因为一场大病瞬间倾家荡产；大量年轻人毕业即失业；还有无数普通人辛苦一辈子买下的房子，最后变成了烂尾楼。

中国人民明明生活在所谓“世界第二大经济体”里，却依然活得没有基本安全感。

一个真正伟大的国家，不是高楼有多高，也不是高铁有多快，更不是军舰有多少。真正伟大的国家，应该是人民能够有尊严地活着，能够自由表达思想，能够不再恐惧权力。

可今天的中国，越来越像一个被严密监控的巨大空间。从地铁摄像头到手机实名制，从网络审查到人脸识别，整个社会正在被技术和权力层层包裹。很多中国人被迫活成两个人：一个是真实的自己，一个是“允许存在”的自己。

“六·四”，就是这个体制最血腥的证明。

1989年，成千上万的学生和北京市民走上街头，他们反腐败、要自由、要民主，希望中国能够变得更好。他们不是暴徒，他们只是希望，中国不应该永远被一群红色权贵统治。

可最后，中共用坦克和机枪回答了他们。

三十七年过去了，中共直到今天，依然不敢公开谈论“六·四”。因为“六·四”是这个政权永远无法洗掉的血债。它证明了一件事：共产党最害怕的，从来不是外国敌人，而是中国人民自己。

今天，越来越多中国人已经开始意识到，问题根本不是某一个贪官，也不是某一个领导人，而是整个制度本身出了问题。因为这个制度从建立的第一天开始，就不是为了让人民自由，而是为了让共产党永远统治。

在这个体制里，人民很多时候只是被动员、被管理和被使用的对象。经济发展需要你时，你是“人民”；维稳需要你沉默时，你又随时可能变成“境外势力”。

所以，中国真正的问题，从来不是什么改革不改革的问题，而是这个建立在暴力、谎言和控制之上的体制，本身就已经走到了历史尽头。

写下这些文字的时候，又一个“六·四”周年即将到来。三十七年过去了，那些当年倒在天安门广场上的年轻人，如果活到今天，也已经白发苍苍。

但中共最害怕的一件事，始终没有改变。

那就是：中国人民有一天不再恐惧。

因为当人民不再恐惧的时候，一个真正属于人民、而不是属于权力集团的中国才有可能真正出现。

编辑：黄吉洲 校对：熊辩 翻译：戈冰

Are the Chinese People Still Slaves to the Chinese Communist Party?

—Written on the Eve of the 37th Anniversary of “June 4th”

Author: Lu Qiankun, Vice Chairman of the Southern U.S. Branch of the China Democratic Party

Living overseas these past years, people often ask me, “Are the Chinese people slaves to the Chinese Communist Party?” Every time I hear this question, it pains me deeply. Because when I think about it carefully, although the statement is harsh, it is not entirely without basis. In many ways, the Chinese people do indeed seem to be under the long-term control of a massive and ruthless political machine, living without dignity, without a sense of security, and without true freedom.

The Chinese are among the hardest-working and most resilient people in the world. Countless Chinese work tirelessly from dawn to dusk, scrimping and saving their entire lives, all to provide their families with a stable life. Yet why, even today, do so many Chinese still live with such a heavy burden and such deep oppression? Why is it that an ordinary Chinese person, even after decades of hard work, still dares not speak the truth, dares not openly express their thoughts, and dares not truly possess an independent personality?

The reason is actually not complicated. It is because the Chinese people have never been the true masters of this country. The entity that truly controls this country is the Chinese Communist Party. And the CCP has never been a modern political party in the conventional sense; it is more like a totalitarian interest group built on violence, lies, and fear.

To this day, many people still fail to truly see the true nature of the CCP. From its very inception, it has been steeped in the characteristics of thuggish politics. It seized power through the barrel of a gun, fomented hatred through class struggle, and maintains its rule by constantly instilling fear. One thing it excels at is holding the entire nation hostage, only to then tell the people: “Without the Communist Party, China would descend into chaos.”

This logic is, in essence, no different from that of a kidnapper. A kidnapper points a gun at a hostage’s head and says, “Without my protection, you will die”; the CCP, meanwhile, has long used the slogan “stability trumps all” to trap 1.4 billion Chinese people in a massive political cage.

For decades, the Chinese people have in fact lived in a state of being controlled, managed, and exploited. The Communist Party controls land, the media, education, the judiciary, the internet, and the financial system—and even attempts to control people’s minds. Starting in elementary school, Chinese children are indoctrinated with so-called “love-the-Party education.” The Party deliberately conflates “the nation,” “the people,” and “the Party,” as if opposing the Communist Party were tantamount to opposing China itself.

But the question is: When has the Communist Party ever truly represented the Chinese people?

Do the Chinese people have the right to freely elect their government? Do they have the right to openly criticize the government? Do they have the right to determine the future direction of the nation? Everyone knows the answer.

Ordinary Chinese people can only live cautiously within this system. They study desperately as children, work tirelessly as adults, and then shoulder decades of mortgage debt. Many young people appear to live in big cities filled with skyscrapers, but in reality, they are like screws trapped in a massive machine, never daring to stop. A single instance of unemployment, illness, or an economic crisis can cause an ordinary family’s years of savings to collapse in an instant.

What is even more tragic is that many Chinese people have grown accustomed to this state of affairs. The first thing many parents teach their children from a young age is not “be a person of dignity,” but “never cross the government.” What this reflects, in reality, is the deep-seated fear instilled in an entire society by decades of oppressive rule.

The most insidious aspect of the Chinese Communist Party lies in the fact that while it oppresses the people, it constantly lulls them into complacency with slogans like “national rejuvenation” and “national strength.” It shouts “the people come first” day in and day out, yet those who truly enjoy privileges are always the so-called “Zhao family.”

Ordinary people work themselves to the bone, earning a few thousand yuan a month, while struggling with mortgage payments, tuition fees, and medical bills; while the red elite who hold power have long since transferred their families, assets, and wealth to Western countries. They shout “patriotism” on one hand, while on the other, they ensure their children hold foreign passports, live in mansions, and attend the world’s best schools.

It is always the ordinary Chinese people who remain in China, bearing the brunt of sky-high housing prices, high unemployment rates, and oppressive rule.

What is even more outrageous is that the wealth painstakingly created by the Chinese people has not truly been used for the benefit of the Chinese people themselves. In recent years, one of the CCP’s favorite pastimes has been to take the Chinese people’s money and “splash it around” all over the world. It provides massive aid to foreign governments, helps build infrastructure in other countries, and grants foreign students preferential treatment—often spending tens of billions or even hundreds of billions of dollars at a time.

Yet at the same time, countless people within China are struggling to survive.

Many elderly people in rural areas receive only 100 to 200 yuan a month in pension; many ordinary families are instantly reduced to poverty by a single serious illness; a large number of young people face unemployment immediately after graduation; and countless ordinary people who worked their entire lives to buy a home end up with a construction project that never gets completed.

The Chinese people clearly live in what is called the “world’s second-largest economy,” yet they still lack a basic sense of security.

A truly great nation is not defined by the height of its skyscrapers, the speed of its high-speed trains, or the number of its warships. A truly great nation is one where people can live with dignity, freely express their thoughts, and no longer live in fear of authority.

Yet today’s China increasingly resembles a vast, tightly monitored space. From subway surveillance cameras to real-name registration for mobile phones, from internet censorship to facial recognition, society as a whole is being enveloped layer by layer by technology and power. Many Chinese people are forced to live as two separate personas: their true selves, and the version of themselves that is “permitted to exist.”

“June 4th” stands as the bloodiest testament to this system.

In 1989, tens of thousands of students and Beijing residents took to the streets. They protested corruption, demanded freedom and democracy, and hoped for a better China. They were not rioters; they simply hoped that China would not be ruled forever by a clique of red oligarchs.

But in the end, the Chinese Communist Party answered them with tanks and machine guns.

Thirty-seven years have passed, yet to this day, the CCP still dares not speak openly about “June 4th.” Because “June 4th” is a blood debt this regime can never wash away. It proves one thing: what the Communist Party fears most has never been foreign enemies, but the Chinese people themselves.

Today, more and more Chinese people are beginning to realize that the problem is not a single corrupt official or a single leader, but the system itself. From the very first day of its establishment, this system was not designed to grant freedom to the people, but to ensure the Communist Party’s eternal rule.

Within this system, the people are often merely objects to be mobilized, managed, and exploited. When economic development needs you, you are “the people”; when social stability demands your silence, you can instantly become a “foreign force.”

Therefore, China’s real problem has never been about reform or the lack thereof, but rather that this system—built upon violence, lies, and control—has already reached the end of its historical journey.

As I write these words, another anniversary of “June 4th” is approaching. Thirty-seven years have passed; if those young people who fell on Tiananmen Square back then were still alive today, they would be gray-haired.

But the one thing the Chinese Communist Party fears most has never changed.

That is: the day when the Chinese people no longer live in fear.

Because only when the people are no longer afraid will a China that truly belongs to the people—rather than to the ruling elite—ever have a chance to emerge.

Editor: Huang Jizhou Proofreader: Xiong Bian Translator: Ge Bing