When farmers stand on both feet in the market economy

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After entering the market, farmers are involved in an unfamiliar, uncertain and risky society; in the survival economy, farmers get what they work for, while in the money economy, they do not get what they work for.

Since the reform and opening-up, rural changes have all gone through a remarkable social mechanism, namely, the rural commercialization process oriented by market economy.

Does the process of marketization and commercialization really increase the welfare of farmers? Not really. When farmers stand on their feet in the tide of market economy, although they face various choices, most of them have the same fate: those who stick to the countryside are still planting grain, cultivating fruits and vegetables, domesticating poultry and livestock, but their income is as small as a hair of a cow; Those who work in cities are full of lights and desires, but they are engaged in hard physical labor in another corner of the city, accepting basic income that can only support their families and missing their hometown folks.

In the turbulent waves of the market economy, farmers seem to be heading for different distances, but it is difficult to escape from the current situation of being displaced and exhausted.

Economic growth is remarkable, consumption types are diversified, and farmers 'living needs are constantly expanding. We have witnessed the penetration of commercialization in every corner of China's rural areas since the reform and opening up and various changes brought about by the market economic system for the state and agricultural administration. However, to investigate the rural changes under the background of marketization, we need to interpret "how commodity relations are internalized in small-scale peasant economy and broader social relations and social practices" from the perspective of commercialization.

The Decline of Autonomy: From Survival Economy to Commodity Economy

A farmer in a village in Hebei Province once became rich by raising rabbits and frying fried dough sticks, which were different from other people in the village. In 2011, he was still frying fritters, but he no longer raised rabbits. The farmer said:

"We common people, are where to pile up where to drill, see others grow good to follow the trend, the result of their own vision ability is insufficient, guess what can sell high prices, but also can not withstand the low price, finally become: this year planted this next year planted that, busy year after year, but also did not harvest." Alas! Smallholder consciousness!" (A farmer from Hebei)

According to Bernstein, commoditization is a process in which "the elements of production and reproduction come from market exchange and are produced for market exchange, subject to the principles and forces of market exchange."

Before going through the process of commercialization, the production and economic activities of human society are not for commodity exchange, but for directly satisfying the needs of individual producers or economic units. We call such an economic form a survival economy and such a social form a survival society.

With the emergence and expansion of social division of labor and commodity exchange, human beings gradually entered the commodity society. When human production and economy are aimed directly at exchange and economic relations emphasize exchange, we call this economic form commodity economy, which is relative to survival economy.

1 Survival economy

In the subsistence economy, the peasant cultivates his own plot of land, and although he leads a life different from that of the city dweller, this does not in any way affect his lively appearance: sunrise and sunset, busy farming and leisure entertainment, family harmony and family reunion, slow and happy life.

The reason why they have this leisure is mainly because their survival and life power are basically in their own hands. They have a high degree of autonomy and a relatively certain guarantee. Their hard work can basically be directly proportional to the agricultural harvest. It can be said that one point of cultivation is one point of harvest.

In the survival society, many farmers 'families will raise silkworms, raise chickens, raise pigs, or make noodles, tofu, textiles, weaving or some handmade products to be sold at the fair. This is what Scott calls a "retreat plan," a "safety valve" for farmers 'survival.

Farmers 'livelihoods also depend on substantial public resources. Forest resources and wasteland in the village once gave villagers full freedom of choice for life. For example, in addition to providing wood and income, forests perform many other functions that are important to the lives of ordinary people, demonstrating the remarkable versatility of forests.

In subsistence society, farmers enjoy many of nature's gifts, which satisfy some of their vital needs, such as grass, bamboo, and wood for thatched houses, which they can obtain free of charge from public wasteland, and fishing in nearby ponds and streams. These gifts of nature are within reach of farmers.

2 Commodity economy

In commodity economy, rural society that has experienced commercialization process, farmer faces the insecurity of market first. A fruit grower in Hebei explained,"Individuals can't grasp the market situation." (Fruit) grow good and bad, can grasp, but sell more sell less, can not grasp. Market prices are confusing." Mendelas observed that "the vagaries of the market may deprive the peasants of all value in their commodities."

In the rural society after commercialization, the function of rural protection is gradually weakened or destroyed. Moreover, the "retreat plan" and public resources in the survival economy are disappearing constantly, and the "safety valve" for farmers 'survival is decreasing or even disappearing.

For example, many auxiliary occupations that used to help peasant families through lean years have dwindled or disappeared, and a larger problem is the gradual disappearance of local forest resources, village wasteland and public pastures. Scott points out that most forest land is used for commercial timber harvesting; forests are no longer common land for farmers, nomads and "tribal" people, which means that the resources available to them to sustain themselves from forest land are directly reduced, and farmers 'household economies become more vulnerable.

Resources that had previously been free as air and were still within reach suddenly became inaccessible. At the same time, once-publicly owned rights to fish in rivers are auctioned off to private bidders for tax purposes. In short, farmers were deprived of what had previously been their natural rights.

II. Compulsion + encouragement: the mechanism of rural commercialization

1 commercialization of survival data

Bernstein pointed out that "the commercialization of survival data" refers to the process in which the elements of survival data that used to belong to "independent" small farmers (and therefore the elements of reproduction) are gradually controlled by market exchange and its coercive power (commercialization). The commercialization of survival data means that people cannot reproduce beyond the commodity relationship and the principles imposed by it.

For farmers, the acquisition of previous survival materials can at least be obtained through non-market channels. After commercialization, non-market ties are dispelled, and farmers' means of production and consumption need to be purchased more and more. The survival of farmers depends more and more on the market relationship, which will not survive without the market relationship, which is the commercialization of the means of livelihood.

Farmers who enter the market find that they have to spend more and more money and are increasingly hurt by price fluctuations beyond their control.

In the process of commercialization of survival materials, what deserves the most attention is the commercialization of land. Polanyi believes that the economic function is only one of the many important functions of land, and leaving the fate of land and people to the market would be tantamount to destroying them. Land is the most important survival material for farmers. Once it is not mastered by farmers, the survival risk of farmers can be imagined.

2 compulsory commercialization

Commercialization is "compulsory" for some farmers. Bernstein believes that "forced commercialization" means that commercialization is not a free choice, but a restricted "freedom". Forced commercialization leads to a more dependent and servile relationship between farmers and exploiters.

Gu Xuebin and others pointed out that in today's China, such a phenomenon is not uncommon. Even local officials in poor areas believe that industrialization and agricultural commercialization are the panacea for poverty alleviation, disregarding the fact that farmers are the main body of development. contrary to the life logic that farmers give priority to survival security, they wishfully push farmers into the uncertainty of the market.

Huzhu Town, Fushun County, Sichuan Province, under the banner of returning farmland to forests, forced farmers to stop planting wheat and plant certain cash crops to "help" farmers increase their income. Farmers were full of grievances about this. One villager said, "Bamboo was planted the year before last, and oranges were planted last year. I'm afraid that apples will still be planted next year, and the seedlings planted will be planted and dug up year after year, and the seedlings planted will be pulled out again. In short, nothing has been produced." Is it really for the peasants to get rich, or is it that the local government has another purpose?

In recent years, development ideas such as "adjusting the agricultural industrial structure" have been welcomed by governments at all levels. for a time, the wave of large-scale specialization and single planting has been carried out all over the country on the grounds of adjusting the industrial structure. On what position does it stand for the adjustment of industrial structure? Some clues may be found in the following news report:

In Miqiao Township, Ning County, Gansu Province, farmers do not know and are not willing to plant apple trees, but the county government advocates planting apples on the basic farmland where wheat was originally planted along the highway, calling for "developing the apple industry, promoting structural adjustment, increasing farmers' income, and enriching the people and strengthening the countryside." It is also proposed to establish a long-term sense of fruit grasp, a sense of responsibility, and a mechanism for promoting and employing cadres among cadres, such as "looking at cadres by results, using cadres by fruits, and cadres coming out of orchards." most villagers have not received any subsidies after they have changed to plant apple trees. They still have to buy food to eat, and the slogan of "benefiting farmers" is actually harmful to farmers.