Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

新中国粗钢产量在1955年就有900多万吨。1957年的时候，粗钢产量已经有了1140多万吨。1958年的数据会进一步提高，大约应该在1300万吨上下。

It seems much more powerful than in history. However, the scale of industry and construction has also expanded significantly, so the demand for steel has also increased. Overall, the country is still short of steel.

Especially after the establishment of the primary stage of socialism, the existence of a free economy under a planned economy was recognized. As a result, these provinces with developed light industries, after completing the production tasks assigned to them by the state, began to produce products beyond their production tasks.

There are also some joint ventures that are also part of the socialist economic system and have to fulfill some production tasks. However, in order to achieve greater profits, they must participate in more unplanned production.

For example, the first Sino-British joint venture bicycle factory, in addition to fulfilling the national quota, also had to produce an additional one million bicycles each year. Although they purchased some of the steel needed for this from abroad, they purchased most of it from the domestic market.

This has led to a serious supply shortage in the domestic steel market.

The production of rear-wheeled motorcycles requires a significant amount of steel. Each motorcycle weighs 500 to 600 kilograms. Orders for hundreds of thousands of units require tens of thousands of tons of steel.

It is impossible to allocate so much steel unless it is produced within the national plan.

Wei Hongjun thought for a moment and said, "Didn't the central government ask local provinces to build a number of steel mills? I remember Hunan, Guangdong, Jiangxi, and Fujian all have quotas."

The central government has also recognized some of the drawbacks of the planned economy. Therefore, the central government's current approach is to manage major construction projects and factories related to national economy and people's livelihoods. It will then decentralize a number of factories and allow some provinces to build the factories they need, leaving them to manage their own allocation.

The same is true for steel. The central government controls large-scale construction, where steel is primarily used. However, local governments face a shortage of steel. Therefore, provinces with iron ore reserves are allowed to build small steel mills with annual production capacities of 100,000 to 300,000 tons. This alleviates the local steel shortage and provides some flexibility.

Wei Hongjun participated in these meetings. Hunan, Guangdong, Jiangxi, and Fujian were all provinces approved by the central government to build steel mills.

"Secretary Wei, we've approved it. But steel mills require such a large investment, and the central government strictly controls the scale of industrial investment in each province. Building a steel mill isn't easy. Furthermore, in terms of technical support, these steel mills are affiliated with the provinces and aren't key national investment projects. So, major companies like Anshan Iron and Steel aren't supporting us like they would other national projects. People are more supportive of building plants that can produce immediate results, rather than huge investments like steel mills."

Zhou Hui's answer was honest. The steel plant required a huge investment, and even with full support, it would take two or three years to see results.

Another problem is that it's difficult for provincial steel mills to get technical support. State-invested steel mills, like Baotou and Wuhan, have all received support from thousands of people at Anshan Iron and Steel.

When it was the turn of the local area to build a steel plant, Anshan Iron and Steel Group was already giving you a lot of face by sending you a few technical personnel to provide guidance.

Therefore, many local officials believed that it would be better to invest in building some factories that would produce immediate results. As for the steel issue, it was better to leave it to the central government to handle.

If there's a shortage of steel, then we should produce fewer unplanned products. It's not like the factory won't be able to operate if we don't produce those unplanned goods. At most, we'll just make less money.

This is the conflict between different interests.

"Comrade Tao Zhu, I remember your Guangzhou Steel Plant has already produced iron?"

"Correct."

Tao Zhu replied, "Since the central government approved the establishment of a steel mill in Guangdong, our provincial party committee and government have fully supported it. It took only 11 months, and production officially began in February of this year. Our Guangzhou Steel Mill now produces 20 tons of pig iron annually. We've already started the second phase of construction, and our goal is to increase production to tons within three years."

Guangdong is quick to act, or perhaps it's because it has money. The first phase of the project was completed in less than a year.

Why the central government should give local governments more power? Just look at this to understand. If the central government had not let go, the Guangzhou Steel Plant would not have happened.

Wei Hongjun turned to Jiangxi and Fujian and asked, "What about Fujian and Jiangxi?"

"Secretary Wei, you've probably heard about the problems with the Xinyu iron ore reserves. That's why Jiangxi has halted the steel plant project and plans to conduct further exploration before making a decision."

Jiangxi Governor Wei Ming smiled bitterly.

Several years ago, when Soviet experts were providing aid to Jiangxi Province, they discovered astonishing iron ore reserves in Xinyu, Jiangxi. They estimated that the area held billions of tons of iron ore, making it China's new steel center. Consequently, the central government approved the establishment of a large steel mill in Jiangxi, even promoting the slogan of creating a "Southern Anshan Iron and Steel."

However, after careful exploration, they discovered a mistake. There is iron ore in Xinyu, but the reserves are only a few hundred million tons and are poorly distributed.

"The steel mills in Fujian will soon be producing iron."

Tan Qilong, the provincial party secretary who had just arrived in Fujian, answered.

Fujian is a very important place. Among all the major military regions in China, the Fuzhou Military Region has seen the smallest reduction in troop numbers. This is because the Fuzhou Military Region faces Taiwan and needs to maintain sufficient troop strength.

But Fujian, with the exception of some areas with large overseas Chinese populations, is generally poor, at least poorer than Shandong. But Fujian's people are great, and so are its officials. The conditions at the Fujian steel mill weren't great, but after central government approval, Fujian went ahead with the project.

When Tan Qilong arrived in Fujian, the first phase of the steel plant was nearly complete. Fujian was broke, so they scrimped and saved every penny, sparing no expense, and built the steel plant.

Wei Hongjun looked at Zhou Xiaozhou and Zhou Hui and said, "Although I'm not in charge of the steel industry, I still want to criticize the Hunan Provincial Party Committee and Government. I oppose the slogan 'Everything for Steel,' but I oppose even more the retreat when faced with difficulties. Steel mills require huge investments, but steel is the foundation of industry. Without steel, there can be no industrial development."

After briefly criticizing the Hunan officials, Wei Hongjun suggested: "Since Jiangxi cannot build a steel mill in the short term, Jiangxi and Hunan can definitely cooperate. If one province has difficulty building a steel mill, several provinces can pool funds and jointly build a steel mill. Alternatively, they can cooperate with large domestic steel mills to jointly build a steel mill. After the factory is operational, the distribution of steel and profits can be agreed upon. We are all key provincial officials, so we should all exercise our subjective initiative and abandon the mentality of waiting."

Of course, that's what he said, but Wei Hongjun knew that this kind of cooperation was very difficult because too many interests were involved and it was easy to get into disputes.

But this kind of cooperation can also be considered a reallocation of resources. Wei Hongjun still needs to go back and discuss the specific issues with Chen Yun, Deng Xixian, Zhou Bin, Li Fuchun and others.

One is how to optimize allocation and promote cooperation between provinces, local governments, and some large state-owned enterprises. The other is how to develop light industrial factories and create more accumulation for the country.

1042 The verbal battle at the press conference

Wei Hongjun faithfully recorded what he saw in Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian, and Guangdong, and wrote a detailed report on the rapid development of light industry in these areas but the lack of raw materials.

Many provinces in China are experiencing a surge in purchasing power, whether in urban or rural areas. This translates to a surge in spare cash. However, a shortage of products on the market has hindered the unleashing of this purchasing power, hindering both economic development and the nation's monetary policy.

On the surface, these problems stem from insufficient production of light industrial products and transportation problems that prevented many products from reaching the market in a timely manner, leading to product shortages. Ultimately, however, the root cause is that China's heavy industry development has not kept pace with the country's economic development.

Another reason is that China's industrial layout is unreasonable, and coupled with China's backward transportation, many provinces are unable to enjoy the benefits of industrialization.

This is no small matter. Just like poor transportation, which directly impacts the timely delivery of industrial and agricultural products, and irrational industrial distribution, which leads to an oversupply of products in some provinces and a shortage in others, these issues require adjustments at the national level.

Wei Hongjun wrote down what he saw, heard, and his own thoughts in a report.

This is also a kind of procedure. When a member of the Politburo Standing Committee or a cadre at the level of a Politburo member visits a local area, they must not only record their itinerary but also write a detailed report to the Politburo.

In addition to writing a detailed investigation report to the Political Bureau, Wei Hongjun also wrote a letter of advice to the Finance and Economics Working Committee. It clearly stated that the rear three-wheeled motorcycle jointly developed by Hongdu Machinery Factory and Xiangjiang Machinery Factory is a product that is very suitable for China's current traffic conditions. Of course, more importantly, the production of rear three-wheeled motorcycles has very obvious advantages in terms of technology, investment, consumption of raw materials, and market prices. In China's backward transportation conditions and the actual situation of insufficient local funds, the market prospects for this type of rear three-wheeled motorcycle are very broad. Not only large cities and factories have needs, but also small cities, counties, towns and rural areas have needs.

In other words, compared to domestically produced large trucks and those imported at a high cost, three-wheeled motorcycles offer significant advantages in short-distance transportation. Therefore, mass production of these motorcycles is a highly effective solution to my country's current short-distance transportation challenges. They deserve the same national attention as large trucks produced by automakers like FAW and Second Automobile Works, and should become a key national initiative.

Wei Hongjun therefore suggested that, since Hongdu Machinery Factory and Xiangjiang Machinery Factory were military factories after all, they couldn't focus entirely on civilian products. Therefore, he suggested separating a portion of the technical staff and workers from these two factories to form a large state-owned motorcycle factory. This factory would produce both motorcycles for the military and rear three-wheeled motorcycles. National and local governments should invest and support this, incorporating rear three-wheeled motorcycles into national plans. This would rapidly increase production. This product, with its promising market potential, could, if mass-produced, quickly contribute substantial tax revenue and profits to the national and local governments, just as current bicycle factories do.

In addition to suggesting the inclusion of rear-wheeled motorcycles in the national industrial production plan, Wei Hongjun also focused on the current development issues of the steel industry. He stated that while the central government has approved the construction of local steel mills, these efforts face numerous challenges. Funding and technical issues plague many local governments, particularly in the southern provinces. The situation is similar in the southwest, not just the southeast and south China. Local provinces face a shortage of funds and even more so, technical expertise.

Guangdong is wealthy, and Fujian has a powerful military. Liu Shude, as Secretary of the Fujian Provincial Party Committee, was determined to build a steel mill. This was because he had previously served as the Political Commissar of the Fuzhou Military Region and thus enjoyed the region's support. Otherwise, Guangdong and Fujian, having never built a steel mill before, would have been unable to independently build one.

Guangdong and Fujian are both relatively unique. Therefore, Wei Hongjun suggests that the Finance and Economics Working Committee review the development of the local steel industry. If possible, the committee could send personnel to the local level to work with local officials, encouraging several provinces to pool resources and jointly establish steel mills. They could also connect local steel mills with large state-owned mills, allowing these large state-owned mills to provide technical support.

China is still relatively poor at this stage, so many heavy industrial projects require large investments, and individual provinces cannot afford to go it alone. Heavy industrial development still requires collaboration, with the resources of several provinces developing together.

Of course, whether or not the Finance and Economics Working Committee would adopt Wei Hongjun's suggestions was a matter for the committee itself. However, Wei Hongjun's suggestions weren't particularly sensitive, and while there might be some conflict of interest, they wouldn't be significant. Furthermore, given Wei Hongjun's current position and his past achievements within the State Council, the Finance and Economics Working Committee would undoubtedly prioritize his suggestions. Wei Hongjun was confident in this.

In addition to his suggestions for local heavy industry development, Wei Hongjun also discussed the future development of rural cooperative factories. If these factories were small—oil presses, brick factories, simple agricultural and sideline product processing plants, or even small supply and marketing cooperatives—then the problem wouldn't be a big deal and people wouldn't pay much attention.

But what if the factories run by rural cooperatives grow larger and larger? For example, factories with thousands of workers have already appeared in Bao'an District. How should such factories be handled?

Previously, no one knew about this concept, and no one had even considered it. Even when Wei Hongjun was in charge of the Rural Work Department, he couldn't have imagined that rural cooperatives could so quickly become enterprises of this scale. In everyone's mind, rural cooperatives were simply basic cooperative economic units formed by farmers. Who could have imagined that such rural cooperatives could actually operate factories of this scale?

Of course, Guangdong's Bao'an District has its own unique characteristics, given the numerous contract manufacturing factories operating there, all focused on fulfilling export orders through Hong Kong. But Wei Hongjun couldn't ignore this trend. Just as the establishment of a free market for agricultural and sideline products and the central government's support for rural industrial and commercial development have enabled some capable rural cooperatives to rapidly prosper, so has the potential to thrive.

Who can guarantee that the factories established by these wealthy rural cooperatives will not continue to expand in scale and eventually become large factories?

What should be done with these factories then? Liang Guang, Chairman of the Guangdong Federation of Trade Unions, was very insightful and recognized this problem early on. He has already begun considering whether these factories should establish unions once they expand, and how the work of these unions would be carried out once they are established.

However, after hearing Liang Guang's concerns, Wei Hongjun had far more to consider. The union issue was a minor matter, something that could be resolved slowly. Wei Hongjun was more concerned about how these factories would be defined by the higher authorities as they expanded. The central government's current definition of these factories categorizes them as small collectives, supplementing the existing systems of public ownership and large collective ownership within the socialist economic system. While still collectively owned, small collectives are collectives belonging to a small number of individuals. Therefore, they can only serve as a supplement to consolidate socialist public ownership and large collective ownership.

If it's small, it fits the central government's definition and won't cause any problems. However, if these small collective enterprises expand in size and remain collectively owned, the private and public ownership of the means of production will become a matter of debate. If the collective enterprises become too powerful, the ownership of the means of production will be criticized.

It's like a rural cooperative of 100 people building a factory with assets worth tens or even hundreds of millions. How do you define the nature of that factory? It's a collective economy, but when the average person in your rural cooperative earns only a few hundred yuan a year, the average person in your rural cooperative has assets worth hundreds of thousands or even millions. Can you still call it a socialist collective economy?

In other words, can such small collectively owned enterprises be said to be a supplement to the state-owned economic entities and large collectively owned economic entities?

Definitely not. Enterprises of this size are already comparable to, and can compete with, state-owned and large collective-owned economies within the socialist economic system. If small collective-owned enterprises develop to the point of competing with state-owned and large collective-owned economies, problems will undoubtedly arise.

This isn't because Wei Hongjun advocates absolute egalitarianism and therefore wants to suppress small collective enterprises. Rather, China's current reality doesn't allow for such powerful rural cooperatives. If such powerful small collective economic entities were to emerge, it would inevitably lead to major unrest, debate, and even widespread attacks within and outside the Party, and even nationwide. No one would consider this the result of the rapid development of the collective economy, nor would they consider such rural cooperatives to be socialist cooperatives, much less a good thing. Instead, they would be seen as a new type of capitalist group that has enriched a small number of people. Such discussions, arguments, and unrest are not conducive to the country's stable development.

Under pressure from both within and outside the Party, policies for developing rural industry and commerce, free markets for agricultural and sideline products, and even the current processing-with-imported-materials policy are likely to be criticized and impacted. It is believed that these policies are precisely what will give rise to the new era of large landowners and capitalists.

If such voices were to become too widespread within and outside the Party, they would even undermine the judgment of the primary stage of socialism, just established at the Ninth National Congress, and the existence of a free market within the socialist economic system. This was something Wei Hongjun absolutely could not accept.

Therefore, Wei Hongjun proposed a new definition for small collective-owned enterprises that reach a certain scale. When a small collective-owned enterprise reaches a certain scale, its shares must be diluted and it can no longer be a small collective-owned enterprise. It must be transformed from a small collective-owned enterprise into a mixed-ownership enterprise, with shares held by the whole people, large collectives, and small collectives.

That is, after these small collectively owned enterprises have reached a certain scale, the state, local governments, and some large state-owned and collectively owned enterprises will invest in these small collectively owned enterprises in order to acquire shares in them, thus turning these small collectively owned enterprises into mixed-ownership enterprises.

However, this is real money invested by the national and local governments, as well as those large enterprises, with the purpose of diluting shares, not plundering the assets of rural cooperatives. It is not possible to directly take shares from small collectively owned enterprises through administrative orders.

Therefore, how to ensure that local governments do not swallow up small collective-owned enterprises during this process, and how to ensure the continuity of enterprise management, that is, to ensure the continuation of the original management, and how to ensure that the original small collectives hold a majority of enterprise shares and take the initiative, requires the central government to introduce effective and clear policies.

As Wei Hongjun suggested, there should be clear limits on the dilution of shares by national and local governments, including some state-owned enterprises and large collectively owned enterprises, so that their combined shareholdings cannot exceed half. Enterprises run by rural cooperatives must maintain the cooperative's shareholding advantage.

As small collectively owned enterprises expand in size, they must transform into mixed-ownership enterprises to protect their continued growth without fear of attack. At the same time, the state can ensure that these small collectively owned enterprises do not become new forms of capitalist forces and, as these enterprises grow, allow them to directly participate in socialist common prosperity.

Of course, although Wei Hongjun has written a lot, it is all just empty talk. Such a major policy requires research from all levels and some practical implementation in certain enterprises before it can be implemented.

Although Wei Hongjun's trip to the south was mainly to discuss trade union issues, after discussing trade union issues, he also took the opportunity to inspect the party building work, propaganda work, political and legal committee construction, and supervision work in these provinces.

Guangdong, in particular, is experiencing a surge in new initiatives, placing high demands on cadre quality. Furthermore, a diverse range of personnel are involved, particularly foreign and Chinese businesspeople, as well as various foreign managers, technicians, and engineering teams from other provinces. Therefore, after establishing the Central Bureau of Letters and Calls, Xia Houwen prioritized Guangdong in developing local bureaus. A province as complex as Guangdong is most in need of such an institution.

Therefore, Wei Hongjun specifically investigated the development of petition offices in Guangdong. He found that petition work in Guangdong was indeed fraught with difficulties. Foreign languages ​​and various dialects alone were a major headache.

Among the Chinese businessmen are Cantonese, Fujianese, and Zhejiangese. These people retain their native accents, making communication difficult. Even within Cantonese businessmen, there are many different dialects. The Complaints and Appeals Bureau must address these issues. Seeing this, Wei Hongjun understands the importance of promoting Mandarin.

Although the central government is promoting Mandarin, it takes time.

Beyond petition work, Guangdong Party members and cadres face numerous temptations. After all, Chinese and foreign businessmen are wealthy, and foreign managers and technicians working in China earn high salaries. Compared to Party members and cadres in China, their salaries are significantly lower. Bribing cadres for business purposes, or even for intelligence officers, is common.

Guangdong also has a larger floating population than other provinces. This large floating population creates greater pressure on public security and makes criminal cases more likely to occur. Therefore, the Political and Legal Affairs Commission and the Supervisory Commission in Guangdong have a heavy workload.

After examining these issues, Wei Hongjun went to investigate the situation in Guangxi. The last time problems arose in Guangxi, hundreds of officials there were affected.

Therefore, Wei Hongjun came to Guangxi not to observe the economic development of Guangxi, but to observe the situation of the cadres there. Su Zhenhua, hailed by the Chairman as a "model of the intellectualization of workers and peasants," shared a similar background to Wei Hongjun. Both had studied in the army and grown into political cadres.

Su Zhenhua was quite capable. After arriving in Guangxi, he quickly stabilized the situation there, especially among the panicked cadres. During this visit to Guangxi, Wei Hongjun witnessed a vibrant and vibrant Guangxi.

If time permits, Wei Hongjun really wants to take a good look at Guangxi and see the current industrial and agricultural development in Guangxi. However, Wei Hongjun does not have much time, because there is another matter waiting for Wei Hongjun in Henan.

The Secretariat officially approved the government affairs transparency press conference, which began as a pilot program at the local level. Local government officials directly answered reporters' questions, and the audience included members of the Municipal People's Congress, the Municipal CPPCC, and representatives from various industries.

Because this was the first time, everyone took it very seriously. Both the local government and the journalists wanted to perform well.

After all, this press conference was attended by many officials, both high and low. Many officials from the central government were present, and even Wei Hongjun, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, was present in person. This was a good test for them.

Local government officials didn't want to embarrass themselves in front of so many leaders. And the reporters had done their homework. After all, they were given this opportunity. If they didn't seize it, how would they have the nerve to ask the Propaganda Department for more power in the future?

This time, a press conference was held in Xinyang, Henan Province, focusing on the development of rural industry and commerce in Xinyang.

Xinyang has made extensive preparations. After the Xinyang government affairs transparency press conference began, Zhang Shufan, commissioner of the Xinyang Public Security Bureau, personally delivered a report on the development of rural industry and commerce in Xinyang over the past year.

Soon, some reporters asked for details. Zhang Shufan had a good memory, or perhaps was well prepared. He answered the questions easily.

"Old Duan, they've checked their answers with each other and are showing us here."

After listening for a while, Wei Hongjun directly expressed his dissatisfaction to Duan Chengwei.

After Deng He became the Secretary of the Cultural and Educational Work Committee, he had too many things to deal with, so Duan Chengwei took over as the Acting Minister of the Propaganda Department and handled the daily work of the Propaganda Department.

This time, the Propaganda Department was personally responsible for this matter, and it was also the first time a local press conference was held. Countless eyes were focused here, so Duan Chengwei also came here in person.

This was not Wei Hongjun's first day at this job, so he understood what was going on as soon as he heard it.

Duan Chengwei immediately said, "Secretary Wei, the questions asked earlier were mainly from local reporters, so they might not have been sharp. However, this time, newspapers from all over the country have sent representatives, so this won't always be the case."