Manner has been exposed for three employee-customer conflict incidents within just two days—baristas splashing coffee grounds on customers, slapping customers, and fighting with them.

The issue has sparked a wave of controversy, with more and more Manner baristas coming forward to share their experiences at Manner: "Producing 500 cups of coffee within 8 hours," "An internship period of 1-2 months, earning 4,000 yuan," "Pressure to achieve a performance of 7,000-8,000 yuan, with only two people working from entering the bar to the end of the shift," "For those with outdoor duties, they must collect trash in a timely manner, going out every 10 minutes with a timer hanging on their body," "A sign with WC (10 minutes) and a countdown timer is posted in the restroom."

The founder of Manner Coffee has a net worth of 7.2 billion, yet their employees live a life worse than that of beasts of burden.

It can be said that the essence of all this is not a contradiction between employees and consumers, but rather a contradiction between "capitalists" and workers, especially the values and business philosophy of Chinese "capitalists."

In the eyes of many Chinese "capitalists," employees are merely a part of the cost, rather than important partners in the development of the enterprise. It is this short-sighted and distorted business philosophy that has led to extremely tense labor-capital relations.

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Nowadays, the exploitation of workers by Chinese "capitalists" has reached a critical point, which is why some people are crying out: "I don't hate Japanese companies, nor do I hate American companies, I just hate Chinese 'capitalists'!"01

MANNER Incident

A Ridiculous Satire of the Times

It is well known that in the 40 years since the reform and opening up, China's private economy has been like a blood-boosted fighter. We have the world's largest consumer market and strong government support. On this land full of opportunities, capitalists are thriving. Some have made a fortune, and the first thing they do is to return to their hometowns in glory, using a large amount of money to buy land and build houses in their hometowns.

However, there are more who, once they have made a fortune, begin to forget their roots. The MANNER incident shows that what seems to be a small disturbance in a coffee shop is actually a microcosm of the entire society, reflecting the big issues of Chinese "capitalists" exploiting workers, disrupting the economy, and even stealing national wealth.

01 Too Much Plundering of the Economy

In China, many so-called "capitalists" are not real warriors of capitalism, but followers of compradorism. Once they have achieved a little success, they do not choose to step out of the country and compete in all directions, but instead feel at ease guarding their own small plot of land, staying at home and obtaining high profits through monopoly.

They use the guise of a market economy, but in reality, they are engaging in activities that destroy market rules. They use brutal means of burning money for vicious competition, damaging the health of the market, driving out good money with bad money, and forcing those enterprises with technology and efficiency into a corner. After accumulating enough wealth, they then play the Western capitalist game of capital harvesting.Take Meituan as an example. The State Administration for Market Regulation has just issued a fine of 3.442 billion yuan. In fact, Meituan already holds a monopolistic position with a 70% market share in China. Under such circumstances, Meituan still wants to implement a "choose one out of two" strategy to further strengthen its market position, making the market chaotic and polluted.

During the 2020 pandemic, these platform capitalists set their sights on the community group buying that people rely on for survival. Hundreds of community group buying platforms emerged, engaging in a fierce competition.

The key point is that they started playing dirty from the beginning, not winning the market by efficiency, creativity, technology, or R&D, but simply by brutally throwing money, seeing who can last longer. Eggs that cost four or five yuan, promoted for one yuan; milk that costs 20 yuan per box, salt for one cent, and cabbage for nine cents. This is not market competition, but a carnival of capital and a nightmare for the common people.

The ride-hailing software was also played like this at the beginning, which was so cheap that it made people ecstatic. What about later? The cost of taking a ride is getting more and more expensive, and the platform is becoming more and more singular. If the community group buying also goes this way, the common people's vegetable basket will be in jeopardy. Once the vegetable market goes bankrupt and the vendors are laid off, community residents can only be at the mercy of the group buying platform. Buying vegetables is getting more and more expensive, and the vegetables are getting less and less fresh. This is not progress, this is regression. This is not development, this is exploitation.

02 Too much exploitation of workers

Today's Chinese "capitalists" social status has long surpassed the "capitalists" under the Western capitalist system.

Looking at the world, whether it is the street demonstrations in France as common as daily meals, the railway strikes in the United States, the annual outcry of young people in South Korea, or the Western trade union organizations with towering bargaining power, they are all fighting for the rights and interests of workers.In China, however, the statutory wages, rest, and benefits are almost entirely a dead letter, and the overtime culture such as the 996 work system has become substantively tolerated. There are frequent occurrences of "biased support" in labor-capital conflicts, especially with the near disappearance of trade unions, leaving workers to sigh helplessly at laws and regulations such as the Labor Law.

Many "capitalists" have made their first fortune from the tide of reform and opening up, and before they have time to wash off the earthy smell, they have hurriedly put on suits and shoes, pointing out the direction in the capital market, and are still using the old methods.

They are still addicted to the overtime culture, the 996 work system, and other outdated means, ignoring the rights and interests of employees, disregarding laws and regulations, and even considering the motivation and care for employees as an obstacle to the development of the enterprise, openly claiming that "996 is a blessing," and beautifying the exploitation of workers as "not qualified enough to be a cow or horse."

Capitalists such as express delivery platforms and takeout platforms will control the number of riders within a cost level, forcing riders to rush on the line of life and death, while capitalists themselves enjoy the benefits, which is no different from the feudal landlords' extreme exploitation of farmers.

Little do they know that Western capitalists have already played innovation, technology, and globalization to the fullest, and no longer rely solely on low labor costs. The overtime culture and the 996 work system are seen by Western capitalists as outdated practices from the last century.

03 Too much theft of national wealth

It is well known that the purpose of socialist development is to liberate and develop productive forces, and to achieve common prosperity for all people. But why can the rich not drive the poor? Because many so-called "capitalists" have taken a lot of the country and people's hard-earned money and immigrated to the United States and other Western countries.

According to data from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in the past 10 years, China has suffered from serious capital flight. In 1998, the scale of capital flight reached nearly 87 billion US dollars, and in 2004, there was more than 70 billion US dollars of export underreporting capital flight. From 1997 to 1999, the total capital flight in China was 48.3 billion US dollars. It has to be said that China's capital harvest of Chinese people is more ruthless, faster, and more convenient than foreign capital harvest of Chinese people.In addition, they have colluded with corrupt officials, cultivating a batch after batch of corrupt elements, and have spoiled the social atmosphere—people rely on the legal and normal way of doing things but are unable to survive and develop normally, social disorder, and the difficulty of national governance has increased. It should be known that even in the so-called "capital first" Western society, it is impossible to appear in the Chinese official media field those astonishing remarks: "We are the shop assistants," "Entrepreneurs are relatives," "If you can't arrest, then don't arrest."

After the situation of collusion between officials and businessmen is formed, the natural ecological environment is destroyed, and the country's resources are plundered crazily. In this process, the problems caused by environmental pollution are all paid by the national finance, and all Chinese people are recognized as unfortunate. What's more, there are collusions with foreign politics and capital, subverting the national regime, betraying national interests, and endangering national security.

Qian Xuesen warned: "If a country's economy falls behind, it can catch up in a dozen years. If the social atmosphere is bad, it will be difficult to repair for several generations." Like corruption and corruption, these Chinese "capitalists" must be managed.

02 It's time to manage the capitalists in China

What the people need is entrepreneurs, not "capitalists." As a socialist country, it is worth reflecting on the emergence of a group of "capitalists."

These "capitalists" regard social resources as their own ATMs, play the market economy as their own backyard, collude and fatten a group of corrupt officials, and then roll the money in the country and then immigrate abroad to escape legal sanctions.

The biggest side effect is that the current value orientation of Chinese society has a very serious problem: a large number of people no longer believe in socialism, but believe in the "survival of the fittest" of capitalism; everyone competes to imitate how to "speculate and drill" to seize the wealth of the country and the people, and then immigrate to European and American countries.This is the major issue at the current stage, the stumbling block of "capitalists" has reached a point where it cannot be ignored.

How to manage it requires a multifaceted approach, including legal, economic, social, and cultural aspects.

Firstly, in terms of the rule of law, it is necessary to confine all capital activities within the framework of the law. Just like the United States' Sherman Antitrust Act, which specifically targets those who want to monopolize the market, ensuring fair competition and preventing them from acting recklessly.

It is essential to formulate and enforce antitrust laws, corporate laws, tax laws, etc., to prevent unfair competition and tax evasion. At the same time, establish a sound risk assessment and early warning mechanism to identify and deal with capital activities that may pose a threat to economic and social stability in a timely manner.

Transparency is also crucial. The business operations of companies should be made transparent. We can refer to Sweden, which requires listed companies to disclose financial reports and ownership structures, so that everyone is well-informed, and corrupt practices have no room to maneuver. This is also why Sweden has consistently ranked at the top of the international corruption index.

The purpose is to enhance the transparency of corporate operations, including financial reports, ownership structures, and business practices, to strengthen public trust and reduce corruption.

Moral standards are indispensable as well. Through industry associations, chambers of commerce, and other organizations, establish business ethics to guide capitalists to abide by social and professional ethics, and not to always think about how to exploit loopholes.

Secondly, international cooperation is also very important. We can work with international organizations and other countries to combat improper behavior of transnational capital, such as money laundering and tax evasion. Just like the OECD's action plan against tax evasion, countries can join hands to prevent multinational companies from evading taxes everywhere, and to ensure that they pay taxes where they make money, jointly combating the tax evasion of multinational companies.Of course, the incentive mechanism must also keep pace. Tax incentives and policy support can be used to encourage capitalists to invest in projects for the public interest and innovative research and development, and to motivate capitalists to invest in projects for the public interest and innovative research and development.

Finally, the rights and interests of workers must be well protected. It is necessary to formulate and improve relevant labor laws, clearly stipulate the minimum wage standards, overtime payment standards, and working time limits for workers, while strengthening the construction of trade unions to make them an effective force in safeguarding the rights and interests of employees.

In 1863, Engels wrote a letter to Marx, in which he said: "The people have been insulted, which is a misfortune." This statement still has a strong impact today.

At present, we have passed the stage of comprehensively building a moderately prosperous society, and the strategic defensive phase has long passed. The Chinese economy has been fully capitalized, and Chinese society and the Chinese people need more people's entrepreneurs like Zhang Jian, not so-called "capitalists."

If China's "capitalists" still only focus on the remaining food in the country and do not go to the world to expand their territory, they will eventually be eliminated. Look at the "capitalists" abroad, which one does not extend the touch of capital to all parts of the world? They are harvesting the world to meet the needs of their own country, not shrinking in their own one-third of an acre to suck the essence of the people.

As the People's Daily commented, domestic "capitalists" should not only focus on the people's vegetable basket, their goal should be the stars and the sea, a broader world.

Return to the starting point of China's economic development and find the original intention of "saving the country through industry." Don't play tricks, hide treachery, deceive, cheat, and fight for power and profit with the Chinese people. Don't speculate on housing prices and benefits on the people. Don't induce inexperienced children to use credit and borrowing. If you have the ability, strength, and wisdom, use it abroad.

The country is the people, and the people are the country, which is also applicable to "capitalists"!