The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 151 Breaking the Big Pot (asking for monthly ticket)
"Director, will there be any problems with such a big adjustment?" Zhao Guoping couldn't help but ask.

Even just through Liu Tao's introduction, he could feel the huge difference between Panshan Machinery Factory and other state-owned factories in all aspects.

Honestly, this is pretty risky.

"The leaders have said that a cat is good whether it is black or white and can catch mice. As a pilot unit for reform, Panshan Machinery Factory cannot be timid and must be brave to try and bravely break through." Liu Tao glanced at Zhao Guoping and said, "Problems are not scary. We should find and solve them in time, summarize our experience and provide reference for the reform of other state-owned factories."

Zhao Guoping looked thoughtful when he heard this.

Zhao Guoping was a little confused. "Why do we need to adjust the salary system? Is the original salary system not good?"

"You know about the distribution of land to households in Xiaogang Village a few years ago, right?" Liu Tao said slowly.

"I know. A few months ago, the leader publicly affirmed Xiaogang Village's 'contract responsibility system' in an important conversation." Zhao Guoping nodded. He was in the General Office and was well-informed.

On the evening of November 1978, 11, 24 farmers crowded into the low and dilapidated hut of Yan Lihua's home at the west end of Xiaogang Village. A secret meeting related to the fate of the entire village was held there. The direct result of this meeting was the birth of a less than 18-word guarantee. The three most important contents were: first, the distribution of land to households; second, no longer asking the state for money and grain; third, if the cadres were imprisoned, the members would guarantee to support their children until they were 18 years old.

This action is undoubtedly a great act that goes against the will of the world, but it is also a brave and even great feat.

In just one year, Xiaogang Village's total grain output reached 66 tons, equivalent to the total grain output of the entire team from 1966 to 1970.

Even in the year when Xiaogang Village had a bumper harvest, there were constant criticisms of the "household contract responsibility system."

"The household contract responsibility system in Xiaogang Village is breaking the old 'big pot' system, which can effectively improve farmers' enthusiasm for production and increase productivity." Liu Tao explained slowly, "By the same token, the salary adjustment at Panshan Machinery Factory is also breaking the big pot system, reflecting the principle of 'more work, more pay, less work, less pay', thereby improving workers' enthusiasm for production, rather than treating everyone the same, regardless of whether they do a good job or not, which would undoubtedly undermine the enthusiasm of those who work hard."

"Even those who do not do their job well and refuse to change after repeated talks will be removed from their positions or their contracts will be terminated and they will be fired."

Liu Tao's words shocked Zhao Guoping greatly.

Many of the things Liu Tao said were things he had never heard before.

Break the big pot?
Workers fired?

If people heard this, they would definitely criticize them to death. This is something only evil capitalists would do.

The flight attendant was called over and some Moutai was poured. Liu Tao and Zhao Guoping chatted while drinking.

Only in this era can you get this kind of treatment when flying on an airplane, and you can even drink Maotai for free on the plane.

And as long as you can drink a good amount of alcohol, it’s no problem to drink a bottle of Moutai.

If you smoke, you can also smoke Huazi for free.

Liu Tao also occasionally writes down in his notebook things that he had previously neglected, such as sending management out for inspection and study.

Now Panshan Machinery Factory is in the early stage of rapid development, and many problems are not obvious, but later, these problems will continue to emerge. He never thought about continuously expanding the factory and increasing production capacity at the current Panshan Machinery Factory headquarters.

Firstly, the land currently belongs to the Panshan Machinery Factory, and the remaining land can only be used to build residential houses. There is no intact land to build production workshops. Secondly, from a safety perspective, military factories need to pay attention to safety after all. Logically speaking, the Panshan Machinery Factory should not be built to such a large size as it is now. It can easily become the enemy's first target.

Of course, there is another point: the larger the factory and the more people there are, the higher the management capabilities required.

No matter how conceited Liu Tao was, he didn't think he could manage tens of thousands of people, or even more than a hundred thousand people!

The more people there are, the more problems there are.

So he took the approach of decentralization early on.

And in his mind, he thought it was more important for him to develop more weapons.

As for managing people, you can naturally let others do it.

"Will the state-owned factories really be reformed? Will there be big changes?" Zhao Guoping drank a few glasses of Moutai without his face changing color, and it was obvious that he had a good alcohol tolerance.

"The reform of state-owned factories is imperative. The country needs to continue to develop, and state-owned factories must adapt to the growing market competition. Now that the country's reform and opening up must focus on economic construction, more and more people will inevitably join the market and become self-employed, or even start companies like those in foreign countries. We call state-owned factories and other government-led enterprises state-owned enterprises, and private enterprises private enterprises or private enterprises." Liu Tao said, "Private enterprises will continue to grow, which will naturally form competition with state-owned enterprises."

"Healthy competition is conducive to the development of enterprises and industries, and is beneficial to society. In this process, many state-owned enterprises will be eliminated because their business policies cannot keep up with the times," Liu Tao said. "Not to mention that when the country opens its doors to do business, state-owned enterprises will not only face competition from private enterprises, but also international competition."

"In order for state-owned enterprises to maintain sufficient competitiveness in the market, they will inevitably implement reforms, whether actively or passively," Liu Tao said. "In fact, the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee established the reform policy of state-owned enterprises in the form of expanding enterprise autonomy and adjusting the interest relationship between the state and enterprises. Various forms of economic responsibility systems were established within enterprises, and the factory director responsibility system was implemented in the enterprise leadership system. This is the signal of state-owned enterprise reform."

Liu Tao said: "Through exploration and experimentation, perhaps in about ten years, we will clearly establish a modern enterprise system as the direction, continuously deepen reforms and improve the new system."

This can be said to be a historical inevitability.

The state-owned factory system is suitable for a highly planned economy, as the whole country is united in this.

The outstanding example of a planned economy is the Soviet Union’s planned economy. China established its planned economy by learning from the Soviet model.

The Soviet Union was able to develop into such a powerful country today, even surpassing the United States. It can be said that the planned economic model played an indispensable role in this.

Liu Tao also knew the advantages of the planned economic model, which was that it could effectively concentrate human, material and financial resources for key construction and concentrate limited funds on the development of key industries. In addition, the mandatory plan was easy to implement due to the centralized leadership system, ensuring the establishment of a relatively reasonable national system for the overall strategy of national economic development in accordance with the expected planned goals. Finally, it was conducive to the rationalization of major proportional relationships in the national economy, especially through planned income distribution to ensure the balance of total supply and demand, avoid the waste of resources caused by drastic fluctuations in economic development, and improve macroeconomic benefits.

However, China's future is suitable for the common development of planned economy and market economy, so as to achieve a wonderful balance and embark on its own path.

　Thank you all! There are now 1600 monthly tickets, special thanks!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)