Chapter 2: Mobilization Speech

A wave of sighs, mixed with surprise, annoyance, and joy, swept through the hall. It seemed the result was somewhat unexpected. The Executive Committee members, however, remained calm and composed, evidently having anticipated this outcome.

Xiao Zishan noticed Shan Liang’s face contort for a moment before returning to normal, while Researcher Cheng’s expression was a little too placid, clearly a forced composure. He knew the conclusion of the independent investigation committee was not just the result of investigation, but also of private compromises between various factions. Although the surface had been calm for the past few months, there had been turbulent undercurrents, with all sorts of factions making countless moves in the dark.

Just as he was wondering if anyone would raise an objection and continue the bickering, he scanned the back rows, looking for the few senators who might cause trouble. Suddenly, Wen Desi raised his hand.

“Mr. Speaker, I would like to say a few words on this issue, if I may?”

Qian Shuiting frowned slightly. Wen Desi’s move was clearly not part of his plan. But he had no suitable reason to refuse, so he nodded in agreement.

“Next, we invite Mr… Comrade Wen Desi to speak.”

Today, Wen Desi was dressed in a very dignified black cotton jacket. He walked to the stage with a steady pace. A sharp-eyed observer might have noticed that his hair seemed to have been treated with some substance, making it very neat.

He held a script, glanced at it first, then looked at the senators in the hall, and adjusted the microphone.

“Comrades! The report just delivered by Ji Xin has already explained the facts of the investigation quite clearly, and the summary of the actions of all parties involved was also quite on point. Much has also been said about the reform of the security agencies, so I will not dwell on it. I have come up here now to take this opportunity to talk about the problem of work attitude that has been exposed in this incident.

“These senators have all made achievements in their posts. Some have made quite outstanding achievements. But now, there is a problem with their work attitude. A big problem! If we cannot solve these problems, our Senate will not be able to take another step forward on our journey to the stars.

“First, these senators have not conducted a thorough investigation and serious study of their work environment. Instead, they are resting on their past achievements. The comrades in the Political Security Bureau are content with the ‘Ten-Man Groups,’ the police are content with their informants, but they have not considered the blind spots in these surveillance measures. They have not gone down to seriously investigate the objective reality of public security, let alone looked ahead to study how to eliminate hidden dangers.

“Second, is the understanding of their subordinates. From the report, we can see that the Political Security Bureau and the Police Department have a very poor understanding of their own subordinates. They are completely in the dark about what their subordinates can and cannot do. And these senators are not interested in going down to seriously understand the quality of their teams. When they issue orders, they do so based on their subjective wishes, not on objective reality. They are all making assumptions. We even had the ridiculous situation where the monitored target had already disappeared, yet the person in charge was still beating his chest at a meeting, claiming everything was under control!

“Just now, a senator said that the Political in charge was still beating his chest at a meeting, claiming everything was under control!

“Just now, a senator said that the Political Security Bureau disregards the safety of senators and uses them as bait, and that the agency should be reorganized. I have no objection to reorganizing the agency. We have no experience in governing a country. Continuous trial and error, continuous improvement—this is in line with the objective laws of development. None of us were born knowing how to walk.

“However, comrades must seriously consider whether this reorganization is for the great cause of the Senate or for some other purpose. I must say, it is unacceptable to make wild accusations and attack one’s own comrades to achieve one’s own, sometimes ulterior, motives. But, does the Political Security Bureau have problems this time? I think it does. The main problem is work attitude. If this work attitude cannot be changed, no matter how we reorganize, our security work will still have problems, big problems!

“Comrade Ma Jia once said that we cannot negate the work of the Political Security Bureau just because of problems, nor can we ignore its successful experiences. I agree. Political security is a job where honors can only lie in secret archives, and a single mistake can lead to ruin. Decades of diligent work can be undone by a single failure. This is indeed cruel, but that is the nature of political security. The enemy doesn’t care how many years you’ve worked diligently. A single slip-up can cause immeasurable losses to our work.

“We have invested very few resources in the Political Security Bureau—don’t just look at a few ‘Ten-Man Groups.’ The Political Security Bureau has to use the police to carry out its missions. Have you ever seen such a poorly equipped political security department? So I say, the achievements of our political security work are great and primary.

“Many comrades have said on various occasions that they don’t know what the Political Security Bureau is doing. But I want to say that the fact that everyone can work and sleep peacefully, and that we can advance our various construction projects step by step, is in large part due to the great contributions of the Political Security Bureau! This cannot be erased or slandered.

“However, we must also think again: who made the achievements in this incident? It was naturalized cadres like Liu Fuqing and Yang Cao. And what about Comrade Wu Mu? What did he do? Sun Tzu said: know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles. In this incident, he, Wu Mu, knew neither himself nor the enemy! The fact that there wasn’t a more serious loss was due to luck and Qian Duoduo’s good daily training. An attitude like his must be criticized!

“Let’s look at ourselves. How many of us still work as diligently and meticulously as we did when we first arrived? The work attitude I mentioned above is not just limited to these few departments of the Political Security Bureau. Now that our territory has expanded and the pressure has eased, many people have become less serious, less dedicated. Some comrades look at their own little fiefdoms and think of ‘governing by inaction’; some comrades have forgotten who granted them their power, and only know how to put on airs and practice bureaucracy, not just towards naturalized citizens, but even towards their own comrades—doors are hard to enter, faces are hard to see, words are hard to speak; some comrades do not focus on their own work, but are busy running for office, lobbying for positions, hosting banquets, and building connections, singing high-sounding tunes while thinking about getting a bigger official hat; some comrades do not promote unity, but form cliques and factions, scrutinizing others with a magnifying glass every day, afraid of missing a single flaw, setting traps, tripping people up, making something out of nothing, fearing only that the world is not in chaos, saying ‘cure the disease and save the patient’ while holding sticks and labels; some comrades whine every day like Xianglin Sao, ‘I am a Senator,’ wanting the Senate to solve everything for them, and throwing tantrums and making sarcastic remarks if it doesn’t. And there are certain comrades who have ambition but are unwilling to work honestly, engaging in feudal restoration, acting like lords at home, and playing ‘office politics’ in the Senate, trying to rise through intrigue and conspiracy. Tell me, do these situations exist?

“Comrades, harsh words are unpleasant to hear. I have just said many unpleasant things, and now I will say even more. Recently, a very bad trend has emerged in the Senate: some of our comrades only know how to parrot the phrase ‘the power of the senators.’ When asked to exercise their senatorial powers normally, they find it troublesome, making excuses even for attending a meeting. They never read the briefings and internal references sent to them. They don’t like to study politics—the click-through rates for popular science posts about political systems on the forum are surprisingly low, and the replies are even more pitifully few. Instead, they have brought with them the ‘diaosi’ sentiment of fear and hatred towards the government from the old world, forgetting that they are the ruling class. They live in a state of paranoia like a timid daughter-in-law, not believing in the Common Program they voted for, not believing in the Senate, always feeling that they can’t be a proper senator without seven or eight ‘knights’ and one or two hundred ‘private soldiers.’ Some even want to simply divide up the army, wanting a portion of it to be loyal to them personally, as if they would be purged and shot tomorrow otherwise. They vainly attempt to turn back the clock of history to maintain their so-called senatorial power. I would like to ask these senators: how little self-confidence do you have to come up with such so-called ‘solutions’? Do you really think that having a few dozen natives swear ‘loyalty’ to you will guarantee your ‘democratic rights’ and give you peace of mind? Hitler had millions in the Wehrmacht and the SS loyal to him personally. Look how long his Third Reich lasted. Didn’t it scatter like birds and beasts before the wheels of history? And which advanced country in the world relies on maintaining private armies to preserve ‘democracy’ within the ruling class? Do you all think the Polish Republic is the model of democracy, our example to follow? Are we senators comrades with a common goal of ruling the world and transforming it, or are we a group of Polish nobles who only know how to shout ‘I object,’ only to be sent to Siberia by a Russian queen to die, our country destroyed, and our children left to weep and sing Poland Is Not Yet Lost, waiting for a great power to save them?

“Comrades, the era we have come to is a Darwinian jungle, but our Senate is not. We are comrades with a common goal! We gave up everything to come to this time, blazed a trail through the wilderness, struggled hard, and created the situation we have today. What did we rely on? We relied on the strength of our unity! Without this unity, without the Senate as a collective supporting everyone, we would have long since become ‘two-legged sheep.’ How could we even talk about an eternal foundation, or the ideal of the stars and the sea?

“Open your eyes and look further. Has a small Hainan Island erased all the grand ambitions of us transmigrators?

“Comrades! Our goal is not just Guangdong, not just all of China, all of Asia, or even the whole world—it is the stars and the sea. Let us take a solid first step towards this goal.”