Announcement of the Establishment of the Chinese Entrepreneur Rights Association (CERA)

Since the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the “Red Empire” has continued to strengthen Communist ideology, and a “Communist red peril” in the information age has returned. China is once again at a historical turning point, and it is the Chinese entrepreneurs who will become one of the primary victims of this reestablished regime. Therefore, it is necessary to form a large scale coalition to defend the entrepreneurs’ rights (many entrepreneurs urgently are calling for such a coalition).

The political turn of the CCP since the 18th National Congress is putting more and more pressure on civil society. The limited free space gained through the efforts of the Chinese civil society in the past 40 years has gradually eroded. Lifelong tenure and individual dictatorship have made it so the Chinese Communist regime can now adopt stricter and more consistent approaches in suppressing civil society. Under the power structure of “the party leads everything,” China’s private enterprises will face the grave risks of political looting in the wave of China’s “second nationalization of private enterprises.”

Today, the CCP is vehemently advocating their “original aspiration“ and  “ultimate mission,“ which, in the words of the “Communist Manifesto, is to “eliminate the private ownership.“ During the past forty years, the reemergence of China’s capitalist economic component has led an abnormal existence, attached to the foundation of power. The stability of the regime and the greed of the power-holders require capital to create wealth; capital is forced to cater to ubiquitous authoritarianism. The confluence of interests of the Chinese Communist Party’s elites and business owners created a unique and exclusive capitalist system. The absence of rule of law and the corruption among the political and economic circles have brought various burdens to private enterprises. However, the illusion of prosperity has made the people choose to forget and escape from reality. Most entrepreneurs believe that the situation surrounding“left-leaning politically, right-leaning economically“ can be maintained for a long time. There are very few prophets (such as Li Ka-shing) who can successfully get himself or herself out of harms way. Positioning beforehand and speaking out in defiance like Guo Wengui is even more rare.

Although the future CCP regime may not completely eliminate private enterprises in the form of Mao’s era, there is no doubt that the ownership and disposal rights of business owners on their own property will be gradually weakened, and private enterprises that have emerged in the past couple decades will bear the brunt of it， becoming a lamb to be slaughtered. Entrepreneurs must not only face market risks but also face bureaucratic risks. Since ancient times, China, a society that worships power, and with symbiosis between bureaucrats and merchants as one, often turns the fall of one official into bankruptcy of many entrepreneurs. Hundreds of years ago there was a “red hat merchant” named Hu Xueyan, and today, we have Xu Ming, Liu Xiyong, Liu Han, Xiao Jianhua, Wu Xiaohui, Lou Zhongfu and Yuan Baoyu… Under the rule of the CCP, private enterprises can only prosper for 10 years and entrepreneurs wealth cannot be kept for three generations. This has nearly become a law. Under communist China, there can be no “one-hundred-year enterprise” and it is even more impossible to have a man of true wealth.

First, for property owners, the preservation of wealth and the wealth creation process are equally important. In Communist countries that do not have rule of law and can arbitrarily “revise the Constitution,” the owners’ property is fundamentally not their own. Regardless of how much wealth they have, capitalists are insignificant before totalitarian regimes. For example, the Chinese Communist Party does not need any laws to make property owners lose everything. No Chinese businessman or business owner can be freed from the grasp of the Chinese Communist Party. When power is generally infringing on the interests of the people, property owners of different scales cannot afford to stay outside. Therefore, property owners have to seriously think about how to solve the problem of wealth preservation and must even fear for their personal safety.

Second, in the face of the development of private enterprises and the growth of civil power, the CCP is strengthening thought control and cyber blockade; Under the pretext of “promoting the growth of state-owned enterprises in both strength and size,“ the CCP has accelerated the momentum of “advancement of the state and withdrawal of the people“ in the economic field. Private enterprises are in a completely unfair environment of “harsh competition.” State-owned enterprises gradually encompass the living space of private enterprises and worsen the already difficult situation facing private enterprises. Entrepreneurs will definitely be sacrificed and deprived under Xi Jinping’s dictatorship.

Third, violence and lies have always been a common feature of all Communist countries. The CCP has now hijacked property owners and made them become an appendage of the powerful. It has changed techniques of eliminating property owners in batches, or one-time annihilation into more deceptive and uninterrupted individual eradication. The CCP will not change its “communist nature” of rejecting the bourgeoisie and its value system. In Communist China, a total conflict between the property class and the red autocratic system is only a matter of time. Therefore, short-sightedness, wait-and-see, suspicion, slacking, and self-isolation all mean that the Chinese entrepreneurs are waiting to be eliminated one by one.

Fourth, if capitalists want to get rid of the “red Communist” curse that hangs on themselves and their children, they must have a thorough understanding of the relationship between the regime and capital. They must realize that the bourgeoisie should bear historical responsibility for constitutionalism, democracy, the rule of law, and freedom. Liberalism is the core value of property owners and entrepreneurship. The free combination of market elements is the basic characteristic of modern enterprises. The increase of societal freedom is the prerequisite for improving market quality. Allowing private enterprises to succeed under freedom and the rule of law, as well as taking off the “political spells“ on the heads of property owners will release their vitality of unlimited innovation. This is the hope of China’s bourgeois class.

Fifth, the history of most countries shows that in the process of establishing a democratic system, property owners as a class are extremely important, even irreplaceable, backbones. In a sense, freedom movements and democratic change should first be the responsibility of the bourgeoisie. They can pursue a free system because their motivation, rich resources, unique decision-making ability, and excellent organizational skills. Therefore, the bourgeois class not only should bear the historical responsibility for promoting freedom and democracy, but they also have the ability to participate in or even guide this great transition. Almost all democracies in the world are the result of a bourgeois revolution, which shows the close relationship between the property owners and the democratic revolution and freedom.

How can private enterprises in China survive? The most urgent and effective way is “alignment.” As the coalition of power and capital begins to collapse, Chinese property owners will have to examine the possibility of forming alliances with members of society beyond their initial sight. Redefining the relationship between the Chinese entrepreneurs and all sectors of society in China, and promoting political change with the historical perspective and spirit of the era of civil society, working to form a comprehensive alliance with long-term tenacious political dissidents, human rights defenders, independent intellectuals, and protesters from the bottom of the social stratum, all of which will make calling for political reforms become their fundamental ideal and conscious action, allowing the Chinese entrepreneurial class as an independent political force to courageously stand at the forefront of history.

Even starting from the entrepreneurs‘ own interests, this alliance is the most rational choice for them. History often repeats similar tragedies. When the Chinese Communist Party took power in 1949, it began to adopt policies to segregate, cut off, and divide property owners in urban and rural areas. The CCP took its time to sequentially eliminate property owners. How similar the situation is today! This shows the importance and urgency for Chinese entrepreneurs to get quickly organized, immediately. “Unity is strength” is an old, yet timeless saying.

As early as the official campaign to begin public-private joint management in 1956, the Chinese Communist Party established a party organization in the “pilot” project of all private enterprises, and dispatched party officials to the companies. These outsiders abused entrepreneurs. Today, party organizations once again flourish in the private enterprises, and an era of politicization and party-lization has once again begun. Obviously, the deprivation of private enterprises by power and power-holders is becoming even more unscrupulous. If individuals can protect their property and ensure their personal safety through exile and other means with a keen political sense, then researching the class consensus can create a tremendous force to change society. Regardless of their size, Chinese entrepreneurs should not and need not expect any privilege that transcends other social classes. What they need is to share basic civil rights as all other social classes: a system to safeguard life, property, and the pursuit of happiness.

At present, time is running out for Chinese entrepreneurs to observe, ponder, and wake up. The establishment of the Chinese Entrepreneurs Rights Association, aiming to build an “aligned“ organization for private business owners, a platform for private enterprises to help each other, and a central location where property owners can work together with other members of society to safeguard their rights and promote the rule of law, freedom, and democracy.

The purpose of the China Entrepreneurs Rights Association is to defend the rights of the Chinese entrepreneurs and promote China’s constitutional democracy! The association will call for the following:

1. Pay attention to the plight of Chinese entrepreneurs, clarify their responsibilities and assert their rights, and provide national and international political and economic information, especially the information and trends of private enterprises; forecast and alert each other to the current risks of private enterprises and render decision-making advice;

5. Assist the persecuted entrepreneurs to help them gain a foothold and a voice in the free world, and if the circumstances warrant, provide victims with complete personal and property safety management solutions.

The China Entrepreneurs Rights Association will open its doors to all Chinese entrepreneurs and business owners. It also welcomes the participation of government officials, scholars, activists, and media practitioners who are committed to the protection of property rights and the promotion of the rule of law. Let us work together to promote a great social revolution centering on rights awareness in China!

Citizen Power‘s Chinese Entrepreneurs Rights Association

April 15, 2018

by Yang Jianli

Founder and President of Initiatives for China/Citizen Power

April 16, 2018

Today, Citizen Power for China announces the establishment of the Chinese Entrepreneurs Rights Association and official launch of the association‘s work.