This article uses three social science treatises to render an understanding of how people are repressed, and how, conversely, those people can attain restitution (that is, gain their freedom from their government). The three works used to explore repression and restitution are Coleman's Power and the Structure of Society, Hirschman's Exit, Voice, and Loyalty, and Michels' Political Parties. Together these classics provide insight into the process by which governments repress citizens and powerful advice as to how people can, for example, use countervailing organizations to escape, or at least ameliorate, the repression. It is shown that power gravitates to “fictitious” actors. These actors are ruled by an oligarchy. The few people who make up that oligarchy subvert the goals of the organization and substitute the goal of the oligarchy's survival. For the oligarchy to survive, repression may be necessary. Repression, thus, is organizational and oligarchical. Restitution must be also. The examples of the impending change in sovereignty of Hong Kong when it reverts to the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the massacre in Tiananmen Square on 4 June 1989 are used to investigate several concepts adduced by the three theories, to apply newly gained insights from the theories, and to render advice.
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