Just as Tan Jize explained in his book, there was only a thin wall separating the unemployed proletariat from the lumpenproletariat. Without systematic, forward-looking theoretical guidance and leadership from a strong workers' and peasants' organization, they could indeed become hired thugs for rentiers—and the most reactionary kind at that.
In fact, the Black Knee Gang, the largest local gang in Solitary Night City, had more than doubled its membership in just two or three years precisely because of this.
However, the gang's boss, John "Black Knee," who was said to have a pair of starsteel knees, had always been hostile toward the ever-growing refugee camp on the outskirts of the city. He never thought the gang's growing strength had anything to do with the refugees' arrival. Instead, he had always been furious that such a massive refugee settlement hadn't come under his control.
To put it bluntly, weren't they all a bunch of filthy wretches who'd left their homes to come here and beg for food? What were they putting on airs for? The rabble ought to know their place.
Those stinking alien beggars were taking our jobs, refusing to obey the benevolent and just Uncle John Black Knee's orders and authority, and even setting up their own gangs and self-defense groups to challenge him. And now they refused to die, too. Weren't they making things difficult for everyone?
If those bastards really weren't going to kill themselves, then we'd just have to show them who truly ruled Solitary Night City's underworld.
Those fucking aliens had stolen our jobs and our homes. They were like rats breeding until they became a plague—they deserved to pay!
And, as it turned out, this line of argument really did match what many unemployed workers were thinking. Once the resentment and bitterness in their