Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1221 Is it too big a step to start a cooperative now?

Cooperatives are not a new concept; their prototype—the mutual aid group—already existed when the country first began its socialist transformation.

Everyone present had heard of cooperatives, but apart from Li Long, no one had studied them in detail—Xie Yundong must have asked his elders about them, which is why he brought them up for discussion.

In fact, Li Long thought this was indeed a good approach. It wasn't that it was indispensable, but since the path had already been paved in later generations, it wasn't unreasonable to use it now.

Li Long never considered himself particularly remarkable. He wasn't the smartest or most intelligent one; he simply benefited from every major opportunity and upheaval because of his rebirth, which allowed him to earn more.

He himself was well aware that without these things, he wouldn't be much better off than the others present.

Since Xie Yundong has proposed cooperatives, and this thing has shone brightly more than ten years later, it means that this path is correct, and it is not impossible to start doing it now.

The key point is that the basic conditions for establishing a cooperative have already been met: First, the group of people are all like-minded; second, they have a considerable amount of land for cotton cultivation, at least five or six hundred acres if not a thousand acres, which is already a considerable scale, and can be expanded in the future.

Third, and very importantly, agricultural mechanization has basically met the standards.

At this time, the cooperatives were not the mutual aid groups of the early stages. Back then, due to a severe shortage of manpower, farm tools, and livestock, they could only rely on mutual aid to help each other plant and harvest the land.

In fact, the cooperative implemented in the village twenty years later was somewhat similar to the primary cooperatives of the 1950s and 1960s. Land and farm tools were contributed as shares, and the ownership of the land still belonged to the individual farmers, but the right to use it belonged to the cooperative. Income was distributed in a way that combined "land dividends" and "labor remuneration".

Li Long attended the cooperative's founding meeting and was very clear about the cooperative's articles of association. The basic framework can be used now, and I don't think the people present would have any objections.

However, he didn't say these things immediately; he wanted to hear everyone's opinions.

“I asked some of the older folks in the team, and it turns out we used to have mutual aid groups and cooperatives here. Old Li even served as the head of the cooperative, but because our production team wasn't established for long, the cooperative didn't last long either. Then the team set up a large canteen, and with the establishment of the People's Commune, the cooperative was abolished.” It was Xie Yundong who spoke first.
"The reason I thought of setting up a cooperative is that we have a lot of land to cultivate but a small population. If we work alone, frankly speaking, we will lack human resources and each family will be looking for people, which will be a waste. It would be better to set up a cooperative so that we can find people together and do the work together, which will improve efficiency."

Everyone else nodded in agreement; it was true.

Taking cotton planting as an example, there are only a few stages that require manual labor: sowing, thinning, replanting, weeding, topping, and finally picking cotton.

There is a period of time between each stage. If each household hires long-term workers, it may prolong the work time, and the gaps in between will be wasted.

However, not looking for workers is not an option either. Some jobs require labor, and hiring temporary workers may not be suitable. Moreover, the quality of temporary workers varies greatly, which can easily lead to a decrease in cotton production.

This is a difficult question.

"Furthermore, several of our families now own agricultural machinery, and Old Li and Xiao Long's high-horsepower tractors are even more powerful," Xie Yundong continued. "Actually, if we were to establish a cooperative, it wouldn't be fair to Old Li and Xiao Long's families."

After all, they have the machinery and manpower; they can do the job well on their own. If we join in, we'll just be a burden.

However, from the very beginning of growing watermelons until now, Brother Li and Xiaolong have been guiding us. So, my idea is to simply set up a cooperative. We need Xiaolong's technical guidance, and we can also use his cotton-growing techniques as part of our investment... We can't keep taking advantage of them, right?"

The others understood and nodded in agreement.

That is, they didn't object to including technology as part of their equity investment.

To be honest, whether it was planting watermelons or cotton, or making hand-held bundles and large brooms, we all benefited from the Li family's influence.

Now, having Li Long contribute his technology as equity is a way of giving back or a return, and no one would be unwilling to accept it.

Li Long smiled and waved his hand, continuing to listen to Xie Yundong speak.

"Let's have a drink first," Xie Yundong said half-jokingly. "We've made quite a bit of money over the years, and to be honest, most of it is thanks to Brother Li and Xiaolong. Since Brother Li isn't here, shall we have a drink with Xiaolong?"

Li Jianguo, the eldest brother, wasn't there because he also had a drinking party. As a founding member of the fourth team and known for his loyalty, he had just as many drinking parties as Li Long during the winter.

"Come on, let's drink!" Everyone else raised their glasses.

Li Long didn't stand on ceremony. He picked up his cup and said with a smile, "Come on, come on, the wine from Yili isn't very famous now, but it's really good."

At that time, Yili Special Qu had not yet gained fame beyond the valley, and the advertising slogan "True Colors of a Hero" had not yet been released, so it was not widely known.

After the group clinked glasses, Li Long finished his drink in one gulp, took a sip of tea, poured one for himself first, and then poured one for the others.

As the commander of the wine troupe, he should set an example by his own actions.

After everyone had finished their drinks, Xie Yundong wiped his mouth and said:

"This wine is good."

"Anyway, it just tastes spicy to me." After finishing his drink, Tao Daqiang quickly picked up some pickled vegetables with his chopsticks and ate a couple of bites. "I can't really tell all the nuances about alcohol. Some drinks feel cool, some feel spicy, and some feel warm up to my stomach."

"If it's cold, then don't drink any more." Li Long was experienced. "If it's spicy, then it's fine. If it's hot, then it's fine."

"Hehe, I think they're all pretty much the same to me," Liang Dacheng said with a smile. "Normally, I wouldn't drink, but when we get together like this, it feels pretty good to have some drinks."

"Alright, let's hear what Lao Xie has to say about the cooperative," Jia Weidong said. "None of us know much about it, so we should listen carefully. Maybe we can get it started next year."

“Yes, yes, yes,” Liang Dacheng said. “This is the important matter.”

"It's nothing serious, just something I said casually, to see what everyone thinks," Xie Yundong said with a smile. "Shall I continue?"

"Tell me, tell me, tell me quickly," Tao Daqiang said, putting down his chopsticks.

“Then let’s continue. I think what we can do is follow the old primary cooperative model, with each family contributing land as shares. Of course, it’s not just land. In addition to Xiaolong contributing technology as shares, as mentioned before, we also need to contribute farm tools, such as Xiaolong’s high-horsepower tractor, the sprayers and tillers that each of us has, as well as small four-wheel tractors, Xiaolong’s pestle-driving machine, and so on.”

After investing, the subsequent profits, after deducting costs, will be distributed as dividends according to the number of shares held.

"Then who will do the work?" Liang Dacheng asked a crucial question. "We've just invested, but will we still be the ones doing the work? What if someone slacks off? What if someone has something to do and can't do the work?... Xiaolong, I'm not talking about you, we can understand if you don't come, but you're different."

Xie Yundong paused for a moment. He had originally planned to say that everyone should work, but that raised the issue of fairness in the work.

If everyone is asked to work, since we are already a team, how can we guarantee their enthusiasm for work?

This is indeed a problem.

Everyone else fell silent—this was indeed a problem that could not be ignored.

Why is the concept of "eating from the same pot" so disliked by people today? It's because many people only show up to work but don't actually put in the effort.

"I heard that when the land was distributed to individual households, the production team in my hometown unloaded some tractors and distributed them to each family," Jia Weidong said, picking up a piece of rabbit meat with his chopsticks as he ate.

"You can do that? Did you drop the spoon?" Liang Dacheng rarely went back to his hometown and was unaware of this situation.

“It’s not just one place, it’s like this in many places.” Xie Yundong shook his head. “I don’t know what they’re thinking.”

In the Fourth Team area, including many places in Ma County, or even most of northern Xinjiang, when the production was distributed to individual households, the large tractors were kept behind, either for collective use by the team or distributed to individuals on credit.

In this way, at least when the team is plowing, there will be a large tractor available.

Of course, to make it acceptable to everyone, we'll draw lots. That's the fairest way, and nobody will complain.

Don't these people ever think about this? Without tractors, will we use oxen to plow the fields? Are we regressing to the feudal era?

Can't understand.

"Let's get back to the cooperative." Tao Daqiang still favored setting up the cooperative. He looked at Li Long, "Brother Long, do you have a solution for this?"

The others also looked at Li Long.

After Li Long returned from Wucheng in 1981, his image in everyone's eyes changed. He became smart, capable, good at making money, hardworking, and had a different perspective.

So when Tao Daqiang said that, everyone else wanted to hear Li Long's opinion.

"Yes, I do have an idea." Li Long picked up his chopsticks and put the large bone from the fish head into his bowl, saying as he ate:
"This is actually quite simple. We've contributed land, tractors, and other farm equipment as shares, so let's be straightforward. We'll also calculate the labor separately. If none of our families are working, then there won't be any issues with people not putting in the effort."

“How can that be? If no one works, who will farm the land?” Liang Dacheng blurted out after hearing Li Long’s words. “That definitely won’t work, we can’t farm the land ourselves…wait?”

He seemed to have figured something out.

Xie Yundong frowned.

Jia Weidong clearly hadn't thought it through yet, and shook his head, saying:

"What are you saying... Xiaolong, don't joke around, let's talk about serious matters."

Tao Daqiang didn't speak; he felt that Li Long hadn't finished speaking.

"I'm talking about serious matters. Just because we're not working doesn't mean no one is doing the work. For example, if we're going to set up a cooperative, Lao Xie would be the manager, and Da Qiang would be in charge of the water, which means managing the irrigation. Da Qiang, I didn't say you have to water the plants all by yourself, I mean you have to organize people and lead them to water the plants."

Dacheng is in charge of spraying pesticides, and he'll lead the team to do it too. Lao Jia, you'll be in charge of thinning, replanting, weeding, and topping. One person responsible for one area, that should be fine, right?

"I definitely couldn't handle it all by myself, but if you want me to lead a team, that's no problem." Jia Weidong nodded directly.

“Yes, organizing people to pick cotton, sell cotton, thresh cotton, plow the fields, and keep accounts—Old Xie is handling all of that,” Li Long said. “Old Xie, if you had more people, you could manage it too, right?”

"Yes, but it would definitely be tiring," Xie Yundong said after thinking for a moment.

"So, Mr. Guan, when the profits are distributed, you'll get two extra shares, and the rest of you will get an extra share. How about that?"

"This method... works!" Liang Dacheng was the first to think of it. "Excellent, excellent!"

“And another thing,” Li Long said with a smile. “We can hire people to do the work. We can pay by the day or by the acre. For example, the people from my hometown, the people from your hometown, and we can also find people from the casual labor market.”

Let's set a daily wage, and how much it will cost to hire people; these will all be considered farming expenses. At the end of the year, we'll deduct these expenses and then distribute the profits.

"What if we or our family members go to work in the fields?" Jia Weidong asked again.

“It’s the same, we’ll be paid.” Li Long said, “We’ve already invested, so we’re shareholders, which means we don’t have to work. But since we’re going in to work, we should all be treated the same, all of us should be considered workers.”

Everyone else laughed; it made perfect sense.

"Of course, another point is that those of you who hold various positions may not necessarily receive bonuses; you can receive a fixed salary directly."

Of course, there is another thing, which is that the year-end dividends should ideally be enough to cover the cost of purchasing agricultural supplies for planting at the beginning of the following year.

For example, if we establish a cooperative, we'll need to spend some money initially next year. If we do establish it, I can lend the cooperative the money for agricultural supplies for the first year, but we can't do that thereafter.

After Li Long finished speaking, he picked up his cup and said:

"Come on, after all this talk, let's have a drink first, and then we can talk about whether this can be done."

Everyone was engrossed in listening, and when they saw Li Long raise his glass, they immediately picked it up as well. Liang Dacheng's movements were a bit hasty, and he accidentally knocked his chopsticks to the ground. He quickly picked them up, wiped his hands, and Li Long smiled and handed him a tissue.

"Hehe, I'm getting a little excited." Liang Dacheng wiped his chopsticks and said, "Xiaolong, you've really thought of everything... I didn't know cooperatives could be run like this?"

"Yes, Xiaolong is much more thoughtful than I am," Xie Yundong said with admiration. "Come on, let's have a toast with Xiaolong!"

After the group clinked glasses and drank, Li Long poured them more drinks as he spoke:
“It’s not that I thought of everything, it’s that I’ve looked into this kind of thing. If Lao Xie hadn’t mentioned the cooperative, I wouldn’t have thought of it. Actually, Lao Xie has set up the big framework, I just talked about some specific operations.”

"But you've solved a major problem. If it weren't for this issue of receiving more dividends while others don't work or work as laborers, this cooperative wouldn't be possible. If everyone had to work together the old way, the cooperative definitely wouldn't have been able to exist." Xie Yundong was very open-minded:

"So what you're saying is... what's that idiom kids learn in school? 'Adding the finishing touch to a dragon'?"

“Yes, that’s what I mean,” Jia Weidong said, picking up a bean sprout with his chopsticks and eating it. “I think that after you two talked about it, the cooperative can be set up, and I’m confident that it can be done well.”

“Then I’ll have to say something unpleasant,” Li Long said with a smile. “To establish a cooperative, these things alone are not enough.”

"What's wrong with that? Tell us!" They now practically take Li Long's words as gospel, so the more Li Long said this, the more they felt that Li Long must have something important he hadn't said yet.

“Punishment,” Li Long said with a smile. “If the person in charge of water pipes and pesticide spraying doesn’t do a good job, not only will they not get the basic pay, but some will also be deducted. For example, if there are spider mites in the field this year, they should have been able to be killed with pesticides, but the person spraying the pesticides didn’t do it well, or was lazy and didn’t spray them completely, then the resulting yield reduction will be investigated and held accountable.”

Of course, if you didn't water it thoroughly enough—for example, you watered it four times instead of five times, and it still wasn't thoroughly watered—that's the same thing.

"There's nothing to say about that," the others chimed in.

"If someone fails to perform their assigned, paid duties properly, then punishment is justified."

"Of course, we can be more lenient on this point. And although we have divided the work, if anything happens, we still need to sit down and discuss it together. If we don't have enough manpower, we still have to work together. We can even get more pay if we do more work," Li Long continued.

Everyone laughed.

The discussion then became heated, with everyone leaning towards establishing the cooperative. As for the scale, the general framework was what Xie Yundong had mentioned and what Li Long had added.

They were discussing details, such as how to assess the value of each share when acquiring land as equity or tractors as equity.
Ultimately, the land distribution was similar to that of the production teams, based on output.

In fact, the yield from wasteland is not much less. At least this year, the Li family planted cotton on wasteland and harvested 150 kilograms per mu, which shows that wasteland has great potential.

Then there are the cases of various agricultural tools being used as shares.

How do you calculate the depreciation rate? Each household also has land that they haven't invested in, where they grow wheat and other crops. They also need small four-wheeled farm tools. How do you use them?
and many more.

“Let’s not rush. There’s still a winter ahead, let’s take it slow. If anyone wants to invest, let’s all think it over, get together every few days, and add what we think of. The more detailed our thinking now, the fewer conflicts and problems we’ll likely encounter when the cooperative is actually established,” Li Long said.

He favored setting up a cooperative. With a cooperative, the family's large tractor would be useful, and his older brother, Li Jianguo, would have to do far less work. Relatives from their hometown could also earn wages working at the cooperative.

Of course, with so many agricultural machines, it's impossible to use them all at the cooperative; some will definitely be set aside for the eldest brother's use.

The Li family made a lot of money that year, but the eldest brother was obviously quite tired, so Li Long felt that starting a cooperative was a good idea.

“We’ve been discussing this for ages, but can we even start this cooperative? What if the higher-ups won’t allow it?” Jia Weidong suddenly asked.

The others fell silent.

By the way, we've been discussing this for so long, but if the higher-ups don't allow it, then all that effort has been wasted.

“They allowed it,” Li Long said with a smile. “We people from the northern frontier have a habit of only daring to do things if there are regulations from above. Why do people say that people from the south are better at doing business than us? Because they look at the law. As long as the law doesn’t explicitly prohibit it, they will do it.”

The government hasn't said that cooperatives can't be established, which means they can be. Why isn't anyone doing it? It's because most rural areas don't have the necessary conditions or the awareness.

After all, the commune was a development that followed the original cooperative. The commune was discontinued and replaced by the township, so some people might think that cooperatives were no longer allowed. But that's not the government's intention. The government felt that the commune system was not suitable for the current situation, not that cooperatives were out of the question.

Understand?

With the backing of his status as a National People's Congress representative and a recipient of national commendation, people believed what he said.

(End of this chapter)