Where is the collective economy in China's rural areas?

In the 1980s, after China's rural areas generally implemented production-to-household coverage, some of our politicians and theorists still insisted that China's rural areas adhere to the road of socialist collectivization, and that contracted production to households is an organizational form of collective economy, and it is necessary to further develop the collective economy by contracting production to households.

So, has there been a collective economy in our rural areas over the years? If so, where is it? This is indeed an issue that should be clarified with the vision of seeking truth from facts and with the courage to speak the truth.

On May 31, 1980, in the face of some senior members of the central authorities who adhered to the "two whatevers" and the far-left line, Deng Xiaoping made an important speech at the critical moment when they raised opposition to the reform of guaranteed production to households in Anhui Province. it has played a role in turning the tide and setting the tone with one shot. He said: "after the relaxation of the rural policy, some places that are suitable for providing a package of output to households have been provided with a package of output to every household, with good results and rapid changes. The vast majority of production teams in Feixi County, Anhui Province have contracted output to households, increasing production by a large margin. The vast majority of production teams in Fengyang County, which was sung in Fengyang Flower Drum, did a big job, and they also turned around and changed their appearance in a year. "

Deng Xiaoping must have made some investigation and study and made these remarks after careful consideration. he seemed to speak easily and calmly, but he set off a huge wave in Chinese politics, bringing down the banner of the "two whatevers." urge Anhui and the country's big ships of rural reform and opening up to continue to break the ice.

In order to dispel some people's doubts about the collective economy and the doubts that some people are surnamed "she" and "capitalist", Deng Xiaoping added: "some comrades are worried that this will affect the collective economy. I think this kind of worry is unnecessary. Our general direction is to develop the collective economy. In places where production is guaranteed to households, the main body of the economy is still the production team. What will happen to these places in the future? It is certain that as long as production develops, rural social division of labor and commodity economy develop, low-level collectivization will develop to high-level collectivization, and those whose collective economy is not consolidated will also be consolidated. The key is to develop the productive forces and create conditions for the further development of collectivization in this regard. "

Deng Xiaoping's remarks are still aimed at those far-leftist scepticism about guaranteed output to every household. During that time, many people thought that to contract output to every household was to divide the land and work alone, to engage in capitalism, and to disintegrate the socialist collective economy! They said, "looking at the output is gratifying, but looking at the route worries people."is it better to work as a group than to work alone?" Collectivization and co-operation will not work? " "has Chairman Mao led our revolution for decades in vain?" Therefore, Deng Xiaoping firmly clung to the "collectivization" and "collective economy" and brought the contracted output to households into the category of "collective economy" in order to dispel the doubts of some people.

According to Deng Xiaoping's instructions, the CPC Central Committee has issued five "No. 1 documents" in succession, so that the contracted production, which has been criticized, suspected and controversial for many years, has been widely promoted throughout China, has taken root, and become a legitimate thing. In order to make it more "legal", these most authoritative "red-headed documents" continuously emphasize as follows:

"at present, all kinds of responsibility systems are the production responsibility system of the socialist collective economy."

"the form of guaranteed production to households is based on public ownership of land, and farmers and collectives maintain a contractual relationship. It is different from the small private individual economy before the co-operative transformation, but is an integral part of the socialist collective economy. " "it is a complete misunderstanding to think that to return the land to the household means to return the land to the home, to divide the collective property equally, and to divide the land alone."

"it is the production responsibility system of socialist collective economy, the new development of Marxist theory of agricultural cooperation in our country, and the great creation of Chinese farmers under the leadership of the party."

Most of these central documents were created by theorists only after the basic land contracts in various parts of the country were completed, and most of them were masterpieces in hindsight. Farmers basically do not read or understand these wonderful theories. They do not care what kind of "collectivization" or "cooperation" you are. Anyway, all you have to do is to distribute the land to us and let us cultivate the land individually. We are in charge of our land, we can grow whatever we want, and we can manage it as we want. The grain we laid down, sold enough for the country, left enough for the collective, and the rest is our own! No matter what you mean by "change", as long as it doesn't interfere with our farming!

It is with this mentality that farmers have worked for decades. Farmers also know that the reason why Comrade Deng Xiaoping and the central document kept putting out the banner of "collectivization" when the contract production was first implemented is to stop all kinds of questions that come fiercely, and to protect the smooth progress of the reform of the contract production to every household out of good intentions.

However, you go to the vast rural areas, have a look, and then go to the vast number of peasant households to ask questions, listen, you will understand what is going on. Is there any socialist collectivization? Then where is the socialist collective economy?

It is undeniable that before the production was contracted to households, that is, under the "three-level ownership, team-based" system of the people's commune, the collective economy with production teams as the main body was widespread. Some rich teams have more collective property; some poor teams have less collective property; and the accountants of some production teams like to do "great things" (the so-called "great socialism") and borrow a lot of money from the bank. in that case, the collective economy of this production team may be insolvent, and when it comes to household ownership, the masses will not only be unable to share any property from the collective, but also share some debts. Only a few production teams can get a few yuan or even dozens of yuan from the collective economy when dividing the fields and working alone.