Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

In the past, local rural work was either the responsibility of the vice-governor or the local agricultural department. However, this time, the agricultural and sideline products issue, as well as the previous pig issue, have made the central government realize that it still needs to strengthen rural work.

Rural areas are the foundation of China's stability and also a market with huge potential.

The chairman nodded.

Looking at Wei Hongjun and Deng Zhihui, he said, "The Secretariat and the Rural Work Department should communicate more. We must select some cadres who understand agriculture to be responsible for provincial and municipal rural work."

"Yes." Everyone nodded.

After these questions were discussed, the chairman got to the point and asked, "Are there too many regulations regarding county and township supply and marketing cooperatives?"

“It’s something that has to be done.”

Mao Zemin said: "County and township supply and marketing cooperatives are supply and marketing cooperatives established by county and township governments. They are commercial companies funded by grassroots governments.

This is a state asset. Local governments have an obligation to protect state assets and allow commercial companies to make profits.

If the accounts of these supply and marketing cooperatives are in disarray, they should be resolutely banned and not allowed to open such supply and marketing cooperatives again. Of course, if they cannot compete with rural cooperatives, then there is no

It is necessary to continue to operate the supply and marketing cooperatives. We must understand that the county and township supply and marketing cooperatives are state assets.

"Social assets are collective assets. State assets must of course be reviewed by the state, while collective assets must be reviewed by the collective."

In order to promote the free market of agricultural and sideline products step by step and in a planned manner.

The first step is that cities, counties and townships should mark out the location of a free market for agricultural and sideline products. In the future, people can go to the designated market to buy agricultural and sideline products.

Then these grassroots governments will set up their own supply and marketing cooperatives to replace the functions of the national supply and marketing cooperatives in agricultural and sideline products.

In this way, the free market for agricultural and sideline products will be opened first, and then the cooperatives will be established.

Those who are capable and strong among them can start their own supply and marketing business.

Cooperatives. They can also be formed by several rural cooperatives working together. The government does not regulate supply and marketing cooperatives established by cooperatives themselves.

Whether you make money or lose money is your own business, it is a collective matter. If they make money, they will be able to continue to operate. If they don't make money,

There was chaos within the cooperative and it could not continue to operate.

But the supply and marketing cooperatives run by counties and townships are different.

Because this is state assets. So every once in a while, we have to send people to check the accounts of some supply and marketing cooperatives. If the accounts are a mess,

If they keep losing money, then these supply and marketing cooperatives should be banned.

After all, if you can lose money in the free market for agricultural and sideline products, then you have no right to continue operating.

Mao Zemin had a lot of experience in running state-owned enterprises.

He needed the supply and marketing cooperatives at the city, county, and township levels to smoothly take over the purchase and sale of agricultural and sideline products from the state supply and marketing cooperatives, first separating agricultural and sideline products from the state supply and marketing cooperatives to give the free market for agricultural and sideline products time to transition.

Next, he wanted to see how they performed in the free market. Those who fiddled with their accounts and lost money daily should leave. After hearing Mao Zemin's words, the Chairman didn't say whether he agreed or disagreed. He then asked the next question: "Why were Northeast China, Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, Hubei, Guangdong, and Sichuan selected as the first provinces to establish a free market for agricultural and sideline products?"

"This is primarily because these provinces currently have a high concentration of agricultural and sideline products, making the liberalization of their markets highly desirable. Furthermore, each province has its own unique characteristics: some have numerous state-owned farms, others have well-developed cooperatives, others have robust rural development, and some already have experience with rural cooperatives. Precisely because of these unique characteristics, we believe that liberalizing their markets will provide the central government with ample experience. Whether good or bad, we can draw lessons from these experiences and make adjustments at any time."

Chen Yun answered this question. Chen Yun is very cautious in doing things.

They would definitely not blindly promote a "free market" policy nationwide. Of course, even if they wanted to, Deng Zhihui, who was in charge of the Rural Work Department, would make it impossible. Deng Zhihui was a meticulous cadre and would never roll out a policy without a plan in mind in the countryside. After much discussion, they decided to prioritize these provinces.

The chairman nodded at Chen Yun's answer.

At this stage, the development of New China is very good, and there is no need for overly radical policies. Many policies can be implemented slowly.

"Are the regulations regarding public grain and commercial grain for rural cooperatives too strict?"

Comrade Xiuyang raised another question. This meeting is for people to raise questions.

Deng Zhihui explained, "Unified purchase and marketing actually depresses agricultural product prices. If agricultural products subject to unified purchase and marketing were allowed to enter the market directly, allowing the market to regulate prices, prices would be double what they would be under unified purchase and marketing. Therefore, it can be said that rural cooperatives clearly suffer from price disadvantages under unified purchase and marketing. If independent markets for agricultural and sideline products develop, their prices will be influenced by supply and demand, and they won't be too low. When rural cooperatives discover that agricultural and sideline products are more profitable, without strict central government regulations, many will likely reduce grain planting and focus on agricultural and sideline products. This will directly impact my country's unified purchase and marketing. Therefore, before we open up the free market for agricultural and sideline products, we must first eliminate this issue. Strict regulations must be in place regarding public grain and commercial grain. All rural cooperatives must meet their public grain and commercial grain targets before they can participate in the free market for agricultural and sideline products."

Although Deng Zhihui has always opposed strict control of rural areas.

But if China's economy is to develop and China is to become strong, it must industrialize, which is what Deng Zhihui also supports.

Public grain and unified purchase and sale were crucial to socialist industrialization. Deng Zhihui's understanding of the countryside made it even more crucial for him to enforce strict regulations in this regard.

The free market for agricultural and sideline products will follow the market price.

By-products are more profitable. So rural cooperatives will inevitably want to reduce the production of raw food and develop more agricultural and sideline products. Deng Zhihui has been working in rural areas for many years.

Everyone knows it.

Therefore, the strict regulations on public grain and commercial grain were proposed by Deng Zhihui.

If you don't impose strict regulations on him, then the country's public root and unified purchase and marketing policies will be hit. This is something the country cannot accept.

Deng Zhihui is even more worried that if the free market for agricultural and sideline products affects major national policies, the free market for agricultural and sideline products will be closed again.

Deng Zhihui’s biggest worry is always the impact on rural stability.

Therefore, his starting point is to maintain rural stability. Once the free market for agricultural and sideline products is open, it cannot be closed.

"But will such strict regulations lead to opposition from rural areas?"

"The ratio of public grain to commercial grain we set is based on the rural conditions of this network. Unless disasters occur in certain areas,

The data on public grain and commercial grain cannot be changed at will. If there is any relaxation, the next step will be for rural cooperatives to change the planting ratio."

Deng Zhihui spoke.

Wei Hongjun explained: "In fact, the public grain and commercial grain data compiled by the Ministry of Rural Affairs and the Supply and Marketing Cooperatives each year are based on the grain output of the previous year. For example, the public grain and commercial grain data for 1954 were based on the grain output of 1953. And the annual adjustments thereafter

The data of public grain and commercial grain that we set each year will not increase the burden.

Compared with 1952 and , the burden on rural cooperatives has not increased.”

"Comrade Wei Hongjun, what's the situation with you proposing to formulate more detailed legal provisions?"

Chen Tanqiu looked at the draft and asked Wei Hongjun.

Wei Hongjun said: "Although we have 'Criminal Law' and 'Contract Law', now 'Public Law'

The judicial system is also under review. But in fact, these laws have overlooked one point. That is, rural collectives such as cooperatives, including those established by cooperatives.

Those companies are being ignored. Our current management of rural cooperatives is based on policy, and our laws themselves haven't kept pace. This is detrimental to our future efforts to better manage rural cooperatives and the businesses they establish.

Although rural cooperatives were previously considered the rural cooperative economy, the central government often managed them more like administrative agencies. When rural cooperatives simply cultivated land and provided food to the state, this problem wasn't a serious issue. However, as rural cooperatives developed and began to engage in various sectors, they became more like grassroots cooperatives with administrative functions.

Therefore, it is necessary to define it more clearly politically and legally.

For example, if the cooperative's money is used by someone, which laws should be applied? Including cooperative enterprises, how should their accounts be managed? This requires the establishment of rules first.

Such rules can be central documents or determined in legal form.

Of course, in addition to these, there is another issue: how to strengthen the Party's position in these cooperatives and how to politically define the Party's role in these cooperatives.

These are not that simple things.

When rural cooperatives have other functions besides farming,

Are rural cooperatives grassroots production units or grassroots industries? Are they enterprises? Or are they a combination of administrative units and production units?

This all needs to be discussed and defined carefully.

Everyone has a lot of questions.

Based on the discussion, this "draft" has been improved.

After revising a bunch of content to make it more complete, the chairman said, "It's already July. Starting in August, we'll gradually push forward with the opening of the free market. As we gain experience, we'll gradually add more provinces starting next year."

"Yes."

941 Atomic Bomb Project

After the meeting, we began to formulate more specific regulations on the free market for agricultural and sideline products.

How to establish supply and marketing cooperatives at the city, county, and township levels, how to take over the purchase and sale of agricultural and sideline products from the national supply and marketing cooperatives, and how to enable rural cooperatives to develop supply and marketing cooperatives.

It is impossible to establish supply and marketing cooperatives blindly and haphazardly. Other regulations must also be formulated.

First, there's the registration issue of these supply and marketing cooperatives. Since supply and marketing cooperatives are commercial companies within cities, counties, and townships, as well as rural cooperatives, and not administrative departments, they should be registered as companies, not managed as administrative agencies.

But how to register such a company is also a problem, because there is no precedent.

Therefore, the Industrial and Commercial Administration Bureau should also come and discuss this matter together.

How should these supply and marketing cooperatives collect taxes? Collecting taxes based on sales volume is essentially impossible. So, they can only adopt the model of small and micro enterprises, collecting taxes from fixed stalls daily or using other names.

These all need to be considered clearly in advance.

After the free market for agricultural and sideline products developed, due to the lack of clear regulations, people started fighting over tax issues again.

Wei Hongjun is very cautious about the operation of the free market for agricultural and sideline products.

The fear is that something uncontrollable might happen. For China at this stage, stability is paramount, especially in rural areas, which are the foundation of national stability. Rural areas should steadily cultivate crops, increase grain production, and provide sufficient public and commercial grain for the state. This extra time can be used to develop agricultural and sideline products, increasing rural income. This will gradually build upon existing efforts, allowing for water conservancy projects and road construction. Then, with national support for education and healthcare, we can gradually transition to ensuring rural residents have adequate food and clothing, ensuring children can attend school and farmers have access to medical care. While providing basic needs, education, and healthcare may seem like a basic requirement, something many may overlook, it represents the greatest effort Wei Hongjun has currently made for rural areas.

As long as the countryside remains stable and free of chaos, China's industry will definitely have a solid foundation within ten years. After that, the industry can gradually withdraw funds to support agriculture and the countryside.

Therefore, in the early days of industrialization in New China, Wei Hongjun prioritized rural stability. Deng Zhihui was so willing to work with Wei Hongjun because their views on this aspect were almost identical.

China's rural areas cannot withstand storms and must be stable. As long as it is stable, nothing serious will happen.

The same applies to the free market for agricultural and sideline products. Wei Hongjun and Deng Zhihui would rather see costs and losses incurred during a free market than in a private market. It's even possible that some supply and marketing cooperatives established by rural cooperatives might fail due to losses, but even then, chaos in other areas cannot be tolerated.

Because as long as the free market for agricultural and sideline products is in chaos, central government policies will change. Even if the central government changes a few words, or even a single word, it will ultimately affect millions of mutual aid groups and cooperatives, and hundreds of millions of farmers.

Now that a free market for agricultural and sideline products has been established, Wei Hongjun and Deng Zhihui must absolutely not allow any further policy changes. Given China's rural infrastructure, even a single disturbance would impact the subsequent rural economy. And even the slightest impact on the rural economy would affect public grain and the unified purchase and marketing system.

The first historical incident was due to the blind implementation of the unified purchase and marketing system without adjustments. The result was a sharp decline in pig numbers, the complete collapse of rural sideline businesses, and then the impact on grain production. Consequently, the rural economy suffered a significant blow. For two or three years, the government dared not increase public grain and commercial grain, and even reduced the amounts of public grain and commercial grain within the original plan. The second incident was due to problems with rural cooperatives after the liberalization of the agricultural and sideline product market, which again impacted public grain and commercial grain collection. After the Great Leap Forward, this impacted public grain and commercial grain collection for several more years.

It can be said that after the founding of New China, the rural areas have not been able to obtain stable public grain and commercial grain. Therefore, Wei Hongche has always focused on stability in his policy on food security.

The same is true for developing mutual aid groups and cooperatives.

As long as it is stable, the central government will be able to have a stable income of hundreds of millions every year. This money is very important for China's industrialization.

Of course, Deng Zhihui and Mao Zemin were more nervous.

Because they are directly responsible for this matter.

Wei Hongjun oversees too many departments. While the Rural Affairs Department is a more prominent department, that doesn't mean he doesn't have other responsibilities. Besides rural work, Wei Hongjun also devotes a significant amount of his energy to the energy industry.

Coal, oil and electricity were all top priorities in the First Five-Year Plan.

Therefore, the promotion of the free market for agricultural and sideline products was mainly led by Deng Zhihui and Mao Zemin, and the director of the supply and marketing cooperative Liang Yao and the deputy minister of the Ministry of Rural Work Lai Ruoyu were also responsible for the specific work.

Wei Hongjun’s main job is to hold meetings, listen to their plans, and finally review their plans.

While Wei Hongjun was busy with this matter, the Central Committee convened a meeting of the Central Secretariat on the nuclear industry. The Chairman, Comrade Xiuyang, Marshal Nie, Gao Gang, Wei Hongjun, Deng Xixian, Li Fuchun, Mao Zemin, and Bo Shuchun attended the meeting.