I had already agreed that this was
economic
intelligence.
Lifton-Robert-Jay-Thought-Reform-and-the-Psychology-of-Totalism
Vincent was a short, dark-complexioned, muscular Frenchman in his early fifties.
He was not emaciated, but he did look pale; and in his eyes was that characteristic combination of fear and distance which has been aptly labeled "the thousand-mile stare.
"
He said little during the brief automobile ride, but in response to my inquiries about how he was getting on in Hong Kong, he described feeling frightened and nervous. Upon entering my study, he sat down hesitantly, and listened without comment to my few sentences of explanation about my research. When I had finished, he looked at me directly for the first time and asked a quick series of questions: How old was I? How long had I been in Hong Kong doing this work? And then, with particular emphasis, "Are
*9
? 20 THOUGHT REFORM
you standing on the 'people's side/ or on the 'imperialists' side'? " I told him I was part of the non-Communist world, but that I tried as much as possible to take no side in order to gain an understand- ing of the process of thought reform. He went on to explain that this was important because
From the imperialistic side we are not criminals; from the people's side we are criminals. If we look at this from the imperialists' side, re- education is a kind of compulsion. But if we look at it from the people's side, it is to die and be born again.
Having expressed both his fear and his dilemma--and indeed, the paradox of thought reform itself--he needed no more prompting to go into the details of his ordeal. I said little during this first three- hour interview, and not much more during the remaining fifteen hours (five additional meetings) which we spent together, for Dr. Vincent had a great need to talk about what he had been through, and he did so in an unusually vivid fashion.
As one of the few remaining foreign physicians in Shanghai, he had been conducting a lucrative practice which included several Communist officials--until suddenly confronted on the street one afternoon by five men with revolvers. They produced a warrant for his arrest and took him to the "detention house" (or "re-education center") where he was to spend the next three and a half years.
Interrogation and "Struggle"
After a few preliminaries he was placed in a small (8' x 12') bare cell which already contained eight other prisoners, all of them Chinese. They were a specially selected group, each of them "ad- vanced" in his personal "reform," each eager to apply himself en- thusiastically to the reform of others as a means of gaining "merits" toward his own release. Their greeting was hardly a friendly one: the "cell chief" identified himself, and addressing Vincent in Chinese1 by his newly-acquired prison number, instructed him to sit in the center of the cell while the other prisoners formed a circle around him. Each in turn then shouted invectives at Vincent, denouncing him as an "imperialist" and a "spy," demanding that he "recognize" his "crimes" and "confess everything" to the "government. " Vin- cent protested: He was not a spy. He was a doctor. He had worked
? RE-EDUCATION: DR. VINCENT 21
as a doctor in China for twenty years. But this only resulted in more vehement accusations: "The government has all the proof. They have arrested you and the government never makes a mistake. You have not been arrested for nothing. " Then his cellmates went on to question him further about all the activities in which he engaged as a physician to "cover up" his "spy personality. " This procedure in the cell was known as a "struggle," conducted for the purpose of "helping" a prisoner with his "confession/' and it was an experience which Vincent had to undergo frequently, particularly during the early phases of his imprisonment.
After several hours of this disturbing treatment, Vincent was called for his first interrogation. He was taken to a small room with three people in it: the interrogator or "judge," 2 an interpreter, and a secretary. The judge opened the session with a vague accusation and an emphatic demand: "You have committed crimes against the people, and you must now confess everything/' Vincent's prot- estations of innocence were countered with the angry declaration: "The government never arrests an innocent man. " The judge went on to ask a series of general questions concerning Vincent's activities, professional associations, organizational contacts, friends, and ac- quaintances during his entire twenty years in China. He answered these as accurately as he could, but was unable to satisfy his in- terrogator. The judge's demands always contained a tantalizing com- bination of hint, threat, and promise: "The government knows all about your crimes. That is why we arrested you. It is now up to you to confess everything to us, and in this way your case can be quickly solved and you will soon be released/'
After a few hours of this interrogation, questions began to focus more and more upon alleged connections with people from sev- eral groups: his own embassy, American government officials, and Catholic, Japanese, and Nationalist Chinese agencies. By 6 a. m. , after ten successive hours of interrogation, he had produced much information; but he still asserted his innocence, denied that he was a spy or had any subversive relationship with these organizations, and again said that he did not understand why he had been arrested. This angered the judge, who ordered handcuffs applied to Vincent's wrists, holding his arms behind his back. He dismissed the prisoner from the room, demanding that he "think over" his "crimes. " But when he was returned ten minutes later, Vincent still stated that
? 22 THOUGHT REFORM
he could not recognize crimes of any kind. The judge again became incensed, ordered chains placed about Vincent's ankles, and sent him back to his cell. His return there was the occasion for continuous struggle and humiliation.
When you get back with your chains, your cellmates receive you as an enemy. They start "struggling" to "help" you. The "struggle" goes on all day to 8 p. m. that night. You are obliged to stand with chains on your ankles and holding your hands behind your back. They don't assist you because you are too reactionary. . . . You eat as a dog does, with your mouth and teeth. You arrange the cup and bowl with your nose to try to absorb broth twice a day. If you have to make water they open your trousers and you make water in a little tin in the corner. . . . In the W . C, someone opens your trousers and after you are finished they clean you. You are never out of the chains. Nobody pays any at- tention to your hygiene. Nobody washes you. In the room they say you are in chains only because you are a reactionary. They continuously tell you that, if you confess all, you will be treated better.
Toward the end of the second day, Vincent was concerned only with finding some relief ("You start to think, how to get rid of these chains. You must get rid of the chains"3). That night, when called for interrogation, he made what he called a "wild con- fession"--SL description of espionage activities which he knew to be nonexistent. As he explained it:
We see in the judge someone who wants to press something on us. And if we show we are a big criminal, maybe we will get better treatment. . . . Everyone of us tries to cheat the government this way. W e know they are angry with the Americans . . . so we become a member of an American spy ring . . . I invented a whole organization.
But when he was pressed for details, he could not substantiate his story, and inconsistencies appeared. The confession was rejected, and he was once more summarily dismissed by the judge. The round of interrogation and struggle continued.
On the third night, he changed his tactics. Aware that the of- ficials were greatly interested in his activities and contacts, he be- gan to reconstruct and confess every detail of every conversation with friends and associates which he could remember from the whole of his twenty years in China. He did this because "I thought they were trying to prove I gave intelligence to friends/'
? RE-EDUCATION: DR. VINCENT 23
Now that he was talking freely, his captors began to press home their advantage. Interrogations, ever more demanding, took up the greater part of each night; these were interrupted every two or three hours for a rapid and painful promenade (in chains) which served to keep the prisoner awake, to increase his physical discomfort, and to give him a sense of movement ("in order to convince you to speed up your confession"). During the day, he was required to dictate to another prisoner everything he had confessed the night before, and anything additional he could think of. When he was not dictating the confessions or making new ones, he was being struggled. Every activity in the cell seemed to be centered around him and his confession. He soon realized that the cell chief was making daily reports to prison officials and receiving regular in- structions on how to deal with him. Everything he did or said-- every word, movement, or expression--was noted and written down by other prisoners, then conveyed to the prison authorities.
For eight days and nights, Vincent experienced this program of alternating struggle and interrogation, and was permitted no sleep at all. 4 Moreover, he was constantly told by his cellmates that he was completely responsible for his own plight. ("You want the chains! Y ou want to be shot! . . . . Otherwise, you would be more 'sincere' and the chains would not be necessary. ") He found him- self in a Kafka-like maze of vague and yet damning accusations: he could neither understand exactly what he was guilty of ("recognize his crimes") nor could he in any way establish his innocence. Over- whelmed by fatigue, confusion, and helplessness, he ceased all re- sistance.
You are annihilated. . . . exhausted. . . . you can't control yourself, or remember what you said two minutes before. You feel that all is lost, . . . From that moment, the judge is the real master of you. You accept anything he says. When he asks how many 'intelligences' you gave to that person, you just put out a number in order to satisfy him. If he says, "Only those? /' you say, "No, there are more. " If he says, "One hundred/' you say, "One hundred". . . , You do whatever they want. You don't pay any more attention to your life or to your handcuffed arms. You can't distinguish right from left. You just wonder when you will be shot--and begin to hope for the end of all this,
A confession began to emerge which was still "wild"--full of exaggerations, distortions, and falsehoods--but at the same time
? 24 THOUGHT REFORM
closely related to real events and people in Vincent's life. Every night Vincent would sign a written statement of his newly con- fessed material with a thumbprint, as his hands were not free for writing. He was so compliant by this time that he made no attempt to check upon the accuracy of what he was signing.
After three weeks, the emphasis again shifted; now he was ic- quired to report on others, to make exhaustive lists of all of the people he had known in China, and to write out their addresses, their affiliations, and anything at all which he knew about their activities. Vincent complied, again supplying a mixture of truths, half-truths, and untruths. But after two weeks of this, under the continuing pressures of his captors, these descriptions became ex- poses and denunciations; friends, associates became drawn into the web. Still the clamor from the judge, officials, and cellmates was the same as it had been since the moment of imprisonment: "Con- fess! . . . Confess all! . . . Youmust be frank! . . . Youmust show your faith in the government! . . . Come clean! . . . Be sin- cere! . . . Recognize your crimes! . . . "
At this point--about two months from the date of his arrest-- Vincent was considered to be ready for a beginning "recognition" of his "crimes. " This required that he learn to look at himself from the "people's standpoint"--to accept the prevailing Communist definition of criminal behavior, including the principle that "the people's standpoint makes no distinction between news, informa- tion, and intelligence. " He described two examples of this process:
For instance, I was the family physician and friend of an American correspondent. We talked about many things, including the political situation. . . . The judge questioned me again and again about rny relationship with this man. He asked me for details about everything we had talked about. . . . I admitted that at the time of the "libera- tion," when I saw the horsedrawn artillery of the Communist army, I told this to my American friend. . . . The judge shouted that this American was a spy who was collecting espionage material for his spy organization, and that I was guilty of supplying him with military in- telligence. . . . At first I did not accept this, but soon I had to add it to m y confession. . . . This is adopting the people's standpoint. . . .
I knew a man who was friendly with an American military attache. I told him the price of shoes and that I couldn't buy gasoline for my car.
I had already agreed that this was economic intelligence. So I wrote that I gave economic intelligence to this man. But they made it clear that I must say that I received an espionage mission from the American mili-
? RE-EDUCA TION: DR. VINCEN
tary attache* through the other person, to collect economic intelligence. . . . This wasthe people's standpoint.
"Leniency" and "Study"
Just as Vincent was beginning to express himself from the "people's standpoint"--but in a dazed, compliant, and unenthu- siastic manner--he was suddenly surprised by a remarkable improve- ment in his status: the handcuffs and chains were removed, he was permitted to be comfortably seated when talking to the judge, and he was in turn addressed in friendly tones. He was told that the government regretted that he had been having such a difficult time, that it really wanted only to help him, and that in accordance with its "lenient policy" it would certainly treat him kindly and soon release him--if only he would make an absolutely complete confession, and then work hard to "reform" himself. And to help things along, pressures were diminished, and he was permitted more rest. This abrupt reversal in attitude had a profound effect upon Vincent: for the first time he had been treated with human con- sideration, the chains were gone, he could see a possible solution ahead, there was hope for the future.
Now he was offered more friendly "guidance" in rewriting (not once but many times) his entire confession, including descriptions and denunciations of other people; and his change of fortune gave him added incentive in applying himself to the task. But he soon found that this guidance was not to be taken lightly, and on three occasions when he expressed some measure of resistance, saying, "This I didn't do," the chains were reapplied for two or three days, accompanied by a return to the harsh treatment of previous weeks.
Once "leniency" had been initiated, however, Vincent was never again to experience anything as overwhelming as the assaults of his early prison period. Given the luxury of eight hours of sleep a night, of relatively calm and restrained interrogations (he was even permitted to sit on a chair), of practically no harassment in the cell, Vincent spent the next two or three weeks doing nothing but developing in even greater detail his confession material. During his sessions with the judge, he received further instructions upon the proper way to apply the "people's standpoint" to all that he was writing and saying.
? 26 THOUGHT REFORM
Meanwhile, he was initiated into the regular cell routine: care- fully regimented arrangements for sleeping and awakening, for eat- ing and for relieving oneself. Freed of the chains, he could join the others on the two daily excursions to the toilet (everyone running head down, to an area with two open toilets, each permitted about forty-five seconds to attend to his needs with sharp criticism directed at anyone who took longer than this), and in the use of the urine bucket in the cell. He was still addressed only by prison number and continued to receive food adequate for survival but poor in quality. And the sores and infections caused by his chains and hand- cuffs were given more attention, including local applications and penicillin injections.
Then, three weeks after the beginning of "leniency," he began to take part in the cell's organized "re-education" procedures. This meant active involvement in the group study program--the hstieh hsi--whose sessions took up almost the entire waking existence of the prisoners, ten to sixteen hours a day. Led by the cell chief, its procedure was simple enough: one prisoner read material from a Communist newspaper, book, or pamphlet; and then each in turn was expected to express his own opinion and to criticize the views of others. Everyone was required to participate actively, and anyone who did not was severely criticized. Each had to learn to express himself from the "correct" or "people's standpoint"--applied not only to personal actions, but to political, social, and ethical issues. With each of the prisoners feeling that his freedom or even his life might be at stake, the zeal of the participants was overwhelming.
For a long time after Dr. Vincent joined the group (and probably because of his presence), discussions centered upon past W estern in- sults to China: territorial aggrandizement, infringements upon sov- ereignty, special privileges demanded for Western nationals. And the message was conveyed to him personally that "under the cloak of medicine" he was nothing but a representative of "exploitation," an agent of the "imperialists," a life-long "spy," whose actions were from the beginning "harmful to the Chinese people. "
Discussions starting at an intellectual level would quickly become concerned with personal analysis and criticism. When Dr. Vincent was found wanting in his adoption of the "people's standpoint" or when his views were considered "erroneous," it became necessary for him to "examine himself" and look into the causes of these "re-
? RE-EDUCATION: DR. VINCENT 2J
actionary" tendencies. He had to search out the harmful "bourgeois" and "imperialistic" influences from his past for further evaluation and self-criticism. Every "question" or "problem" had to be "solved," according to the "facts/' in order to get to the "truth," viewing everything, of course, from the "people's standpoint. "
Special "movements" would take place, jolting the prisoners from the ordinary routine into renewed emotional efforts. Sometimes these were part of broad, all-China campaigns, sometimes related to national prison movements, and sometimes locally initiated; but whether directed at "thought attitude," prison discipline, hygiene problems, or personal confessions, they always served to plunge each prisoner into a more thorough and compelling self-examina- tion. Everyone was intent upon demonstrating his own "reform" and "progressive viewpoint. " The atmosphere came to resemble that of a great moral crusade.
Dr, Vincent was still receiving more personal attention than anyone else in the cell. At first he simply gave lip-service to what he knew to be the "correct" point of view, but over a period of weeks and months, he began to accept these judgments inwardly, and to apply them to himself.
In the cell, you work in order to recognize your crimes. >. . They make you understand your crimes are very heavy. You did harm to the Chinese people. You are really a spy, and all the punishment you re- ceived was your own fault. . . . In the cell, twelve hours a day, you talk and talk--you have to take part--you must discuss yourself, criti- cize, inspect yourself, denounce your thought. Little by little you start to admit something, and look to yourself only using the "people's judgment. "
At times, the prison would take on a highly academic atmosphere. Vincent and his fellow prisoners would focus their attention on applying Marxist theory to Chinese and international problems; prisoners would be referred to as "schoolmates," prison officials would be called "instructors," and all would emphasize that only "discussion" and "persuasion" should be used to teach the ignorant. As Vincent became more and more involved in the process, he began to experience its impact.
They put in evidence, in a compulsory way, the progress of the peo- ple. The people have a future* The theories of Marx about history teach
? 28 THOUGHT REFORM
us that imperialism is condemned to be destroyed. . . . They put in evidence all the examples of repression by the imperialists in China, the missions, their charity, helping landlords, helping the KMT [Kuo- mintang, or Nationalist Party]--all against the people. . . . They put in evidence the development of the Soviet Union--its industries, re- education, culture, uplifting of the people, the friendly help of the Soviet to China. They told us of the victory against imperialism in the Korean war, the gradual remolding of Chinese society, the three- and five-year plans in order to arrive at socialist society, the transformation of agri- culture, the development of heavy industries, military improvement to defend the people, peace movement. . * . Living conditions of the Soviet state are very high; we see it in the movies, magazines, newspa- pers. We see the better condition of Chinese people in comparison with pre-liberation times--the hygiene movement in China, the cultural, the economic movement, the rights for minorities, rights between man and woman, free elections, the difference between freedom in the so- cialist and the imperialist worlds. . . . They solve every problem through discussion--the Korean war, the Indo-Chinese war. . . . They never use force; every question is solved through conference.
But always, the emphasis would shift back to the individual emotional experience--to the "thought problems" which prevented prisoners from making progress. Dr. Vincent learned to express "spontaneously" all of his reactions and attitudes during the dis- cussions and especially to bring out his "wrong thoughts. " And as he did so, he became ever more enmeshed in the special problem-solv- ing techniques of this ideological world.
You have to get rid of and denounce all your imperialist thoughts, and you must criticize all of your own thoughts, guided by the official. If not, they will have someone else solve your problem and criticize you more profoundly. . . . You have a problem--you have to de- nounce it--a schoolmate has to help you--his help has to have "proper standpoint" . , . . I am quiet--they say, "You have a problem"; I say, "I wonder why the Chinese didn't confiscate all of the capitalist proper- ties like the Soviets. I think it might be better to do it like the Russians --this is my problem. " They have schoolmates to solve my problem, to demonstrate I am on the wrong side because the Chinese Communists have to proceed in another way. Their way is reform rather than com- pulsion. He demonstrates that the Soviet revolution was different from the Chinese revolution--that the Chinese capitalist suffered through the imperialists because we imperialists never gave them the opportu- nity to develop their industries. Now the Chinese capitalists have to be useful to the Chinese government and undergo reform. If they follow
? RE-EDUCA TION: DR. VINCENT 2Q
the government they will have a bright future. . . , They have to ex- plain the facts until I am convinced. If I am not convinced I must say I don't understand, and they bring new facts. If I am still not satisfied, I have the right to call an inspector--but I wouldn't, I would just ac- cept, otherwise there might be a struggle. . . . You are all day under the compulsion of denouncing your thoughts and solving your prob- lems. . . . You understand the truth of the people--day by day, mo- ment by moment--and you cannot escape, because from your external manifestation they say they can understand your internal situation. If you continually denounce your thoughts, you can be happy denouncing yourself. You are not resisting. But they keep a record, and after one week if you are not saying anything, they tell you you are resisting your re-education. . . . If you think out five or six problems it is a good manifestation; you are progressing because you like to discuss your imperialist thoughts. This is necessary, because if you don't get rid of these thoughts, you can't put in new ones.
When Vincent was too quiet and did not produce enough "wrong thoughts," he was criticized for not being "sincere"--for not tak- ing an active enough part in thought reform. When his views showed the slightest deviation from Communist orthodoxy, he was told that he was "too subjective," "individualistic/' or that he re- tained "imperialist attitudes. " When it was felt that he was not wholeheartedly involved in his reform--but was merely going through the motions--he was accused of "spreading a smoke- screen," "window dressing," "finding a loophole," or "failing to com- bine theory with practice. " And after a while he followed the others' lead in seeking out these faults in himself through self-criticism, and analyzing their cause and their significance.
A portion of the study hours each day were devoted to "daily- life criticisms": general conduct, attitudes toward others, willing- ness to do one's share of work in the cell, eating and sleeping habits. Where Vincent was found wanting in any of these, this was at- tributed to "imperialist" or "bourgeois" greed and exploitation, in contrast to the "people's attitude" of sharing and co-operation. When considered lax in his work, he was criticized for lacking the "correct labor point of view"; when he dropped a plate, this was wasting the people's money; if he drank too much water, this was "draining the blood of the people"; if he took up too much room while sleeping, this was "imperialistic expansion. "
Vincent would still heai talk of men who were shot because
? 30 THOUGHT REFORM
"they resisted"; and on the other hand he heard of the "bright fu- ture"--early release or happy existence in China--for those who "accepted their re-education. "
Advanced Standing
After more than a year of this continuous "re-education," Vin- cent was again subjected to a series of interrogations aimed at once more reconstructing his confession--"because after one year the government hopes you understand a little better your crimes/' Now from among the great mass of material which he had already pro- duced, the judge focused upon a few selected points, all of which had some relationship to actual events. And thus, "from a wild confession, you go to a more concrete confession. " Then, eight "crimes" emerged--including membership in a right-wing French political organization, several forms of "espionage" and "intelli- gence" in association with American, Catholic, and other "reac- tionary" groups, other anti-Communist activities, and "slanderous insults to the Chinese people. " But now Vincent was more deeply immersed in the "people's standpoint," and the confession had a much greater sense of reality for him than before.
You have the feeling that you look to yourself on the people's side, and that you are a criminal. Not all of the time--but moments--you think they are right. "I did this, I am a criminal. " If you doubt, you keep it to yourself. Because if you admit the doubt you will be "struggled" and lose the progress you have made. . . . In this way they built up a spy mentality. . . . They built up a criminal. . . . Then your inven- tion becomes a reality. . . . You feel guilty, because all of the time you have to look at yourself from the people's standpoint, and the more deeply you go into the people's standpoint, the more you recognize your crimes.
And at this point he began, in the "correct" manner, to relate his own sense of guilt to the Communist world view;
They taught us what it means to be a capitalist . . . . to enslave and exploit the people so that a small group of persons can enjoy life at the expense of the masses, their capital coming from the blood of the peo- ple, not from labor . . . . that all property comes from the blood of the peasant . . . . that we helped this bad policy, that our mind is the capitalistic mind . . . . and in our profession we exploited everyone. We used our profession to exploit people, as we can see from our crimes.
? RE-EDUCATION: DR. VINCENT 31
Then came another fourteen months of full-time re-education. Vincent continued to concentrate upon applying Communist theory to his personal situation, demonstrating an ever-expanding "recogni- tion" of his "crimes/'
After two years, in order to show that you are more on the people's side, you increase your crimes. . . . I said I wasn't frank before, there were really more intelligences. . . . This is a good point. It means that you are analyzing your crimes. . . . It means that you realize your crimes are very big, and that you are not afraid to denounce yourself . . . . that you trust the people, trust your re-education, and that you like to be reformed.
By this time his activities were no longer limited to his own case; he had by now become active--and skillful--in criticizing others, "helping" them to make progress in confession and reform. He had become an experienced prisoner, and was beginning to be looked upon as a true progressive. He even came to believe a great deal of what he was expressing--although not in a simple manner:
You begin to believe all this, but it is a special kind of belief.
He said little during the brief automobile ride, but in response to my inquiries about how he was getting on in Hong Kong, he described feeling frightened and nervous. Upon entering my study, he sat down hesitantly, and listened without comment to my few sentences of explanation about my research. When I had finished, he looked at me directly for the first time and asked a quick series of questions: How old was I? How long had I been in Hong Kong doing this work? And then, with particular emphasis, "Are
*9
? 20 THOUGHT REFORM
you standing on the 'people's side/ or on the 'imperialists' side'? " I told him I was part of the non-Communist world, but that I tried as much as possible to take no side in order to gain an understand- ing of the process of thought reform. He went on to explain that this was important because
From the imperialistic side we are not criminals; from the people's side we are criminals. If we look at this from the imperialists' side, re- education is a kind of compulsion. But if we look at it from the people's side, it is to die and be born again.
Having expressed both his fear and his dilemma--and indeed, the paradox of thought reform itself--he needed no more prompting to go into the details of his ordeal. I said little during this first three- hour interview, and not much more during the remaining fifteen hours (five additional meetings) which we spent together, for Dr. Vincent had a great need to talk about what he had been through, and he did so in an unusually vivid fashion.
As one of the few remaining foreign physicians in Shanghai, he had been conducting a lucrative practice which included several Communist officials--until suddenly confronted on the street one afternoon by five men with revolvers. They produced a warrant for his arrest and took him to the "detention house" (or "re-education center") where he was to spend the next three and a half years.
Interrogation and "Struggle"
After a few preliminaries he was placed in a small (8' x 12') bare cell which already contained eight other prisoners, all of them Chinese. They were a specially selected group, each of them "ad- vanced" in his personal "reform," each eager to apply himself en- thusiastically to the reform of others as a means of gaining "merits" toward his own release. Their greeting was hardly a friendly one: the "cell chief" identified himself, and addressing Vincent in Chinese1 by his newly-acquired prison number, instructed him to sit in the center of the cell while the other prisoners formed a circle around him. Each in turn then shouted invectives at Vincent, denouncing him as an "imperialist" and a "spy," demanding that he "recognize" his "crimes" and "confess everything" to the "government. " Vin- cent protested: He was not a spy. He was a doctor. He had worked
? RE-EDUCATION: DR. VINCENT 21
as a doctor in China for twenty years. But this only resulted in more vehement accusations: "The government has all the proof. They have arrested you and the government never makes a mistake. You have not been arrested for nothing. " Then his cellmates went on to question him further about all the activities in which he engaged as a physician to "cover up" his "spy personality. " This procedure in the cell was known as a "struggle," conducted for the purpose of "helping" a prisoner with his "confession/' and it was an experience which Vincent had to undergo frequently, particularly during the early phases of his imprisonment.
After several hours of this disturbing treatment, Vincent was called for his first interrogation. He was taken to a small room with three people in it: the interrogator or "judge," 2 an interpreter, and a secretary. The judge opened the session with a vague accusation and an emphatic demand: "You have committed crimes against the people, and you must now confess everything/' Vincent's prot- estations of innocence were countered with the angry declaration: "The government never arrests an innocent man. " The judge went on to ask a series of general questions concerning Vincent's activities, professional associations, organizational contacts, friends, and ac- quaintances during his entire twenty years in China. He answered these as accurately as he could, but was unable to satisfy his in- terrogator. The judge's demands always contained a tantalizing com- bination of hint, threat, and promise: "The government knows all about your crimes. That is why we arrested you. It is now up to you to confess everything to us, and in this way your case can be quickly solved and you will soon be released/'
After a few hours of this interrogation, questions began to focus more and more upon alleged connections with people from sev- eral groups: his own embassy, American government officials, and Catholic, Japanese, and Nationalist Chinese agencies. By 6 a. m. , after ten successive hours of interrogation, he had produced much information; but he still asserted his innocence, denied that he was a spy or had any subversive relationship with these organizations, and again said that he did not understand why he had been arrested. This angered the judge, who ordered handcuffs applied to Vincent's wrists, holding his arms behind his back. He dismissed the prisoner from the room, demanding that he "think over" his "crimes. " But when he was returned ten minutes later, Vincent still stated that
? 22 THOUGHT REFORM
he could not recognize crimes of any kind. The judge again became incensed, ordered chains placed about Vincent's ankles, and sent him back to his cell. His return there was the occasion for continuous struggle and humiliation.
When you get back with your chains, your cellmates receive you as an enemy. They start "struggling" to "help" you. The "struggle" goes on all day to 8 p. m. that night. You are obliged to stand with chains on your ankles and holding your hands behind your back. They don't assist you because you are too reactionary. . . . You eat as a dog does, with your mouth and teeth. You arrange the cup and bowl with your nose to try to absorb broth twice a day. If you have to make water they open your trousers and you make water in a little tin in the corner. . . . In the W . C, someone opens your trousers and after you are finished they clean you. You are never out of the chains. Nobody pays any at- tention to your hygiene. Nobody washes you. In the room they say you are in chains only because you are a reactionary. They continuously tell you that, if you confess all, you will be treated better.
Toward the end of the second day, Vincent was concerned only with finding some relief ("You start to think, how to get rid of these chains. You must get rid of the chains"3). That night, when called for interrogation, he made what he called a "wild con- fession"--SL description of espionage activities which he knew to be nonexistent. As he explained it:
We see in the judge someone who wants to press something on us. And if we show we are a big criminal, maybe we will get better treatment. . . . Everyone of us tries to cheat the government this way. W e know they are angry with the Americans . . . so we become a member of an American spy ring . . . I invented a whole organization.
But when he was pressed for details, he could not substantiate his story, and inconsistencies appeared. The confession was rejected, and he was once more summarily dismissed by the judge. The round of interrogation and struggle continued.
On the third night, he changed his tactics. Aware that the of- ficials were greatly interested in his activities and contacts, he be- gan to reconstruct and confess every detail of every conversation with friends and associates which he could remember from the whole of his twenty years in China. He did this because "I thought they were trying to prove I gave intelligence to friends/'
? RE-EDUCATION: DR. VINCENT 23
Now that he was talking freely, his captors began to press home their advantage. Interrogations, ever more demanding, took up the greater part of each night; these were interrupted every two or three hours for a rapid and painful promenade (in chains) which served to keep the prisoner awake, to increase his physical discomfort, and to give him a sense of movement ("in order to convince you to speed up your confession"). During the day, he was required to dictate to another prisoner everything he had confessed the night before, and anything additional he could think of. When he was not dictating the confessions or making new ones, he was being struggled. Every activity in the cell seemed to be centered around him and his confession. He soon realized that the cell chief was making daily reports to prison officials and receiving regular in- structions on how to deal with him. Everything he did or said-- every word, movement, or expression--was noted and written down by other prisoners, then conveyed to the prison authorities.
For eight days and nights, Vincent experienced this program of alternating struggle and interrogation, and was permitted no sleep at all. 4 Moreover, he was constantly told by his cellmates that he was completely responsible for his own plight. ("You want the chains! Y ou want to be shot! . . . . Otherwise, you would be more 'sincere' and the chains would not be necessary. ") He found him- self in a Kafka-like maze of vague and yet damning accusations: he could neither understand exactly what he was guilty of ("recognize his crimes") nor could he in any way establish his innocence. Over- whelmed by fatigue, confusion, and helplessness, he ceased all re- sistance.
You are annihilated. . . . exhausted. . . . you can't control yourself, or remember what you said two minutes before. You feel that all is lost, . . . From that moment, the judge is the real master of you. You accept anything he says. When he asks how many 'intelligences' you gave to that person, you just put out a number in order to satisfy him. If he says, "Only those? /' you say, "No, there are more. " If he says, "One hundred/' you say, "One hundred". . . , You do whatever they want. You don't pay any more attention to your life or to your handcuffed arms. You can't distinguish right from left. You just wonder when you will be shot--and begin to hope for the end of all this,
A confession began to emerge which was still "wild"--full of exaggerations, distortions, and falsehoods--but at the same time
? 24 THOUGHT REFORM
closely related to real events and people in Vincent's life. Every night Vincent would sign a written statement of his newly con- fessed material with a thumbprint, as his hands were not free for writing. He was so compliant by this time that he made no attempt to check upon the accuracy of what he was signing.
After three weeks, the emphasis again shifted; now he was ic- quired to report on others, to make exhaustive lists of all of the people he had known in China, and to write out their addresses, their affiliations, and anything at all which he knew about their activities. Vincent complied, again supplying a mixture of truths, half-truths, and untruths. But after two weeks of this, under the continuing pressures of his captors, these descriptions became ex- poses and denunciations; friends, associates became drawn into the web. Still the clamor from the judge, officials, and cellmates was the same as it had been since the moment of imprisonment: "Con- fess! . . . Confess all! . . . Youmust be frank! . . . Youmust show your faith in the government! . . . Come clean! . . . Be sin- cere! . . . Recognize your crimes! . . . "
At this point--about two months from the date of his arrest-- Vincent was considered to be ready for a beginning "recognition" of his "crimes. " This required that he learn to look at himself from the "people's standpoint"--to accept the prevailing Communist definition of criminal behavior, including the principle that "the people's standpoint makes no distinction between news, informa- tion, and intelligence. " He described two examples of this process:
For instance, I was the family physician and friend of an American correspondent. We talked about many things, including the political situation. . . . The judge questioned me again and again about rny relationship with this man. He asked me for details about everything we had talked about. . . . I admitted that at the time of the "libera- tion," when I saw the horsedrawn artillery of the Communist army, I told this to my American friend. . . . The judge shouted that this American was a spy who was collecting espionage material for his spy organization, and that I was guilty of supplying him with military in- telligence. . . . At first I did not accept this, but soon I had to add it to m y confession. . . . This is adopting the people's standpoint. . . .
I knew a man who was friendly with an American military attache. I told him the price of shoes and that I couldn't buy gasoline for my car.
I had already agreed that this was economic intelligence. So I wrote that I gave economic intelligence to this man. But they made it clear that I must say that I received an espionage mission from the American mili-
? RE-EDUCA TION: DR. VINCEN
tary attache* through the other person, to collect economic intelligence. . . . This wasthe people's standpoint.
"Leniency" and "Study"
Just as Vincent was beginning to express himself from the "people's standpoint"--but in a dazed, compliant, and unenthu- siastic manner--he was suddenly surprised by a remarkable improve- ment in his status: the handcuffs and chains were removed, he was permitted to be comfortably seated when talking to the judge, and he was in turn addressed in friendly tones. He was told that the government regretted that he had been having such a difficult time, that it really wanted only to help him, and that in accordance with its "lenient policy" it would certainly treat him kindly and soon release him--if only he would make an absolutely complete confession, and then work hard to "reform" himself. And to help things along, pressures were diminished, and he was permitted more rest. This abrupt reversal in attitude had a profound effect upon Vincent: for the first time he had been treated with human con- sideration, the chains were gone, he could see a possible solution ahead, there was hope for the future.
Now he was offered more friendly "guidance" in rewriting (not once but many times) his entire confession, including descriptions and denunciations of other people; and his change of fortune gave him added incentive in applying himself to the task. But he soon found that this guidance was not to be taken lightly, and on three occasions when he expressed some measure of resistance, saying, "This I didn't do," the chains were reapplied for two or three days, accompanied by a return to the harsh treatment of previous weeks.
Once "leniency" had been initiated, however, Vincent was never again to experience anything as overwhelming as the assaults of his early prison period. Given the luxury of eight hours of sleep a night, of relatively calm and restrained interrogations (he was even permitted to sit on a chair), of practically no harassment in the cell, Vincent spent the next two or three weeks doing nothing but developing in even greater detail his confession material. During his sessions with the judge, he received further instructions upon the proper way to apply the "people's standpoint" to all that he was writing and saying.
? 26 THOUGHT REFORM
Meanwhile, he was initiated into the regular cell routine: care- fully regimented arrangements for sleeping and awakening, for eat- ing and for relieving oneself. Freed of the chains, he could join the others on the two daily excursions to the toilet (everyone running head down, to an area with two open toilets, each permitted about forty-five seconds to attend to his needs with sharp criticism directed at anyone who took longer than this), and in the use of the urine bucket in the cell. He was still addressed only by prison number and continued to receive food adequate for survival but poor in quality. And the sores and infections caused by his chains and hand- cuffs were given more attention, including local applications and penicillin injections.
Then, three weeks after the beginning of "leniency," he began to take part in the cell's organized "re-education" procedures. This meant active involvement in the group study program--the hstieh hsi--whose sessions took up almost the entire waking existence of the prisoners, ten to sixteen hours a day. Led by the cell chief, its procedure was simple enough: one prisoner read material from a Communist newspaper, book, or pamphlet; and then each in turn was expected to express his own opinion and to criticize the views of others. Everyone was required to participate actively, and anyone who did not was severely criticized. Each had to learn to express himself from the "correct" or "people's standpoint"--applied not only to personal actions, but to political, social, and ethical issues. With each of the prisoners feeling that his freedom or even his life might be at stake, the zeal of the participants was overwhelming.
For a long time after Dr. Vincent joined the group (and probably because of his presence), discussions centered upon past W estern in- sults to China: territorial aggrandizement, infringements upon sov- ereignty, special privileges demanded for Western nationals. And the message was conveyed to him personally that "under the cloak of medicine" he was nothing but a representative of "exploitation," an agent of the "imperialists," a life-long "spy," whose actions were from the beginning "harmful to the Chinese people. "
Discussions starting at an intellectual level would quickly become concerned with personal analysis and criticism. When Dr. Vincent was found wanting in his adoption of the "people's standpoint" or when his views were considered "erroneous," it became necessary for him to "examine himself" and look into the causes of these "re-
? RE-EDUCATION: DR. VINCENT 2J
actionary" tendencies. He had to search out the harmful "bourgeois" and "imperialistic" influences from his past for further evaluation and self-criticism. Every "question" or "problem" had to be "solved," according to the "facts/' in order to get to the "truth," viewing everything, of course, from the "people's standpoint. "
Special "movements" would take place, jolting the prisoners from the ordinary routine into renewed emotional efforts. Sometimes these were part of broad, all-China campaigns, sometimes related to national prison movements, and sometimes locally initiated; but whether directed at "thought attitude," prison discipline, hygiene problems, or personal confessions, they always served to plunge each prisoner into a more thorough and compelling self-examina- tion. Everyone was intent upon demonstrating his own "reform" and "progressive viewpoint. " The atmosphere came to resemble that of a great moral crusade.
Dr, Vincent was still receiving more personal attention than anyone else in the cell. At first he simply gave lip-service to what he knew to be the "correct" point of view, but over a period of weeks and months, he began to accept these judgments inwardly, and to apply them to himself.
In the cell, you work in order to recognize your crimes. >. . They make you understand your crimes are very heavy. You did harm to the Chinese people. You are really a spy, and all the punishment you re- ceived was your own fault. . . . In the cell, twelve hours a day, you talk and talk--you have to take part--you must discuss yourself, criti- cize, inspect yourself, denounce your thought. Little by little you start to admit something, and look to yourself only using the "people's judgment. "
At times, the prison would take on a highly academic atmosphere. Vincent and his fellow prisoners would focus their attention on applying Marxist theory to Chinese and international problems; prisoners would be referred to as "schoolmates," prison officials would be called "instructors," and all would emphasize that only "discussion" and "persuasion" should be used to teach the ignorant. As Vincent became more and more involved in the process, he began to experience its impact.
They put in evidence, in a compulsory way, the progress of the peo- ple. The people have a future* The theories of Marx about history teach
? 28 THOUGHT REFORM
us that imperialism is condemned to be destroyed. . . . They put in evidence all the examples of repression by the imperialists in China, the missions, their charity, helping landlords, helping the KMT [Kuo- mintang, or Nationalist Party]--all against the people. . . . They put in evidence the development of the Soviet Union--its industries, re- education, culture, uplifting of the people, the friendly help of the Soviet to China. They told us of the victory against imperialism in the Korean war, the gradual remolding of Chinese society, the three- and five-year plans in order to arrive at socialist society, the transformation of agri- culture, the development of heavy industries, military improvement to defend the people, peace movement. . * . Living conditions of the Soviet state are very high; we see it in the movies, magazines, newspa- pers. We see the better condition of Chinese people in comparison with pre-liberation times--the hygiene movement in China, the cultural, the economic movement, the rights for minorities, rights between man and woman, free elections, the difference between freedom in the so- cialist and the imperialist worlds. . . . They solve every problem through discussion--the Korean war, the Indo-Chinese war. . . . They never use force; every question is solved through conference.
But always, the emphasis would shift back to the individual emotional experience--to the "thought problems" which prevented prisoners from making progress. Dr. Vincent learned to express "spontaneously" all of his reactions and attitudes during the dis- cussions and especially to bring out his "wrong thoughts. " And as he did so, he became ever more enmeshed in the special problem-solv- ing techniques of this ideological world.
You have to get rid of and denounce all your imperialist thoughts, and you must criticize all of your own thoughts, guided by the official. If not, they will have someone else solve your problem and criticize you more profoundly. . . . You have a problem--you have to de- nounce it--a schoolmate has to help you--his help has to have "proper standpoint" . , . . I am quiet--they say, "You have a problem"; I say, "I wonder why the Chinese didn't confiscate all of the capitalist proper- ties like the Soviets. I think it might be better to do it like the Russians --this is my problem. " They have schoolmates to solve my problem, to demonstrate I am on the wrong side because the Chinese Communists have to proceed in another way. Their way is reform rather than com- pulsion. He demonstrates that the Soviet revolution was different from the Chinese revolution--that the Chinese capitalist suffered through the imperialists because we imperialists never gave them the opportu- nity to develop their industries. Now the Chinese capitalists have to be useful to the Chinese government and undergo reform. If they follow
? RE-EDUCA TION: DR. VINCENT 2Q
the government they will have a bright future. . . , They have to ex- plain the facts until I am convinced. If I am not convinced I must say I don't understand, and they bring new facts. If I am still not satisfied, I have the right to call an inspector--but I wouldn't, I would just ac- cept, otherwise there might be a struggle. . . . You are all day under the compulsion of denouncing your thoughts and solving your prob- lems. . . . You understand the truth of the people--day by day, mo- ment by moment--and you cannot escape, because from your external manifestation they say they can understand your internal situation. If you continually denounce your thoughts, you can be happy denouncing yourself. You are not resisting. But they keep a record, and after one week if you are not saying anything, they tell you you are resisting your re-education. . . . If you think out five or six problems it is a good manifestation; you are progressing because you like to discuss your imperialist thoughts. This is necessary, because if you don't get rid of these thoughts, you can't put in new ones.
When Vincent was too quiet and did not produce enough "wrong thoughts," he was criticized for not being "sincere"--for not tak- ing an active enough part in thought reform. When his views showed the slightest deviation from Communist orthodoxy, he was told that he was "too subjective," "individualistic/' or that he re- tained "imperialist attitudes. " When it was felt that he was not wholeheartedly involved in his reform--but was merely going through the motions--he was accused of "spreading a smoke- screen," "window dressing," "finding a loophole," or "failing to com- bine theory with practice. " And after a while he followed the others' lead in seeking out these faults in himself through self-criticism, and analyzing their cause and their significance.
A portion of the study hours each day were devoted to "daily- life criticisms": general conduct, attitudes toward others, willing- ness to do one's share of work in the cell, eating and sleeping habits. Where Vincent was found wanting in any of these, this was at- tributed to "imperialist" or "bourgeois" greed and exploitation, in contrast to the "people's attitude" of sharing and co-operation. When considered lax in his work, he was criticized for lacking the "correct labor point of view"; when he dropped a plate, this was wasting the people's money; if he drank too much water, this was "draining the blood of the people"; if he took up too much room while sleeping, this was "imperialistic expansion. "
Vincent would still heai talk of men who were shot because
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"they resisted"; and on the other hand he heard of the "bright fu- ture"--early release or happy existence in China--for those who "accepted their re-education. "
Advanced Standing
After more than a year of this continuous "re-education," Vin- cent was again subjected to a series of interrogations aimed at once more reconstructing his confession--"because after one year the government hopes you understand a little better your crimes/' Now from among the great mass of material which he had already pro- duced, the judge focused upon a few selected points, all of which had some relationship to actual events. And thus, "from a wild confession, you go to a more concrete confession. " Then, eight "crimes" emerged--including membership in a right-wing French political organization, several forms of "espionage" and "intelli- gence" in association with American, Catholic, and other "reac- tionary" groups, other anti-Communist activities, and "slanderous insults to the Chinese people. " But now Vincent was more deeply immersed in the "people's standpoint," and the confession had a much greater sense of reality for him than before.
You have the feeling that you look to yourself on the people's side, and that you are a criminal. Not all of the time--but moments--you think they are right. "I did this, I am a criminal. " If you doubt, you keep it to yourself. Because if you admit the doubt you will be "struggled" and lose the progress you have made. . . . In this way they built up a spy mentality. . . . They built up a criminal. . . . Then your inven- tion becomes a reality. . . . You feel guilty, because all of the time you have to look at yourself from the people's standpoint, and the more deeply you go into the people's standpoint, the more you recognize your crimes.
And at this point he began, in the "correct" manner, to relate his own sense of guilt to the Communist world view;
They taught us what it means to be a capitalist . . . . to enslave and exploit the people so that a small group of persons can enjoy life at the expense of the masses, their capital coming from the blood of the peo- ple, not from labor . . . . that all property comes from the blood of the peasant . . . . that we helped this bad policy, that our mind is the capitalistic mind . . . . and in our profession we exploited everyone. We used our profession to exploit people, as we can see from our crimes.
? RE-EDUCATION: DR. VINCENT 31
Then came another fourteen months of full-time re-education. Vincent continued to concentrate upon applying Communist theory to his personal situation, demonstrating an ever-expanding "recogni- tion" of his "crimes/'
After two years, in order to show that you are more on the people's side, you increase your crimes. . . . I said I wasn't frank before, there were really more intelligences. . . . This is a good point. It means that you are analyzing your crimes. . . . It means that you realize your crimes are very big, and that you are not afraid to denounce yourself . . . . that you trust the people, trust your re-education, and that you like to be reformed.
By this time his activities were no longer limited to his own case; he had by now become active--and skillful--in criticizing others, "helping" them to make progress in confession and reform. He had become an experienced prisoner, and was beginning to be looked upon as a true progressive. He even came to believe a great deal of what he was expressing--although not in a simple manner:
You begin to believe all this, but it is a special kind of belief.
