□ Our reporter Lv Liqin Liang Jianxiao
In July 1978, a reform aimed at breaking the "big pot rice" of state-owned factories was quietly launched in Qingyuan Nitrogen Fertilizer Factory in Guangdong.
The factory took out 50,000 yuan to set up a comprehensive reward linked to the output, and distributed it to the workers according to the principle of more work and more. As a result, a miracle happened.
In the second year, the production capacity increased significantly, and the factory turned losses into profits.
Qingyuan, who first tasted the sweetness of reform, then launched the "excess profit commission award" in other counties to set up state-owned factories.
Today, looking back on this reform attempt, it is indeed similar to the “big contract” of farmers in Xiaogang Village, Fengyang, Anhui.
In April 1979, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to conduct pilot reforms to expand the autonomy of operation in large state-owned enterprises in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and other places.
At the same time, in June 1979, more than 20 unemployed educated youths voluntarily organized themselves to set up a stove, boil water, make tea, and welcome guests on the west side of the Qianmen Arrow Tower in Beijing.
The Dawancha Youth Tea House, which does not wait for reliance and makes a living on its own, opens for business.
The long-lost term "self-employed" has returned to the lives of the common people.
A year later, in August 1980, the CPC Central Committee convened a national labor and employment work conference, and proposed a new method of adhering to the guidance of national overall planning and allowing the introduction of employment by labor and employment departments, voluntary organization of employment, and self-employment.
Looking back on that year, the reform of the economic system with a focus on cities was carried out step by step from spontaneity to self-consciousness, starting from the breaking of the ice of the traditional planned economic system.
Break the "big pot of rice" and implement the economic responsibility system
From the 1950s to the 1970s, my country's ownership structure was mainly a single public-owned economy. The units were mainly owned by the whole people, collectively owned enterprises and party and government agencies. The number of legal person units was relatively stable and the growth was relatively slow.
Taking industrial enterprises as an example, there were 348,000 industrial enterprises in the country in 1978, an increase of 1.1 times over 1957.
Faced with such a "hyper-stable" ownership structure, how can we solve the practical problem of reforming the rigid economic system that lies ahead of us?
The answer lies in the scenario presented at the beginning of this article, where it all starts with the masses.
Following the central government's decision in April 1979 to conduct pilot projects for the expansion of autonomy in large state-owned enterprises in Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, in July of that year, the State Council issued the "Several Regulations on Expanding the Operational and Management Autonomy of State-owned Industrial Enterprises" and "Regulations on the Implementation of Profit Retention by State-owned Enterprises". Regulations, etc., to guide state-owned enterprises in various regions to carry out reforms, and to require localities and relevant departments to select some pilot enterprises.
This move aims to change the stereotype that companies do not care about product sales, do not understand production and living needs, and do not care about corporate profits and losses.
Thirty-nine years ago, there was a movie "Blood is Always Hot", which was based on the reform of China's economic system in 1979, and told the story of the director of a printing and dyeing factory who broke through many obstacles and persisted in promoting enterprise reform.
There is a classic line in the film: "Some people say that China's economic system is like a huge machine, some gears have been rusted and bitten to death, but as long as our blood is used as lubricant..." The reformers of that year That's it, you have to use your own blood to turn the rusted machine and melt the ice of the rigid system.
As said in the film, "No matter what, blood is always hot".
With the gradual implementation of the reform, by June 1980, the number of pilot enterprises had grown to 6,600, accounting for about 16% of the national budgeted industrial enterprises, and the output value and profit accounted for about 60% and 70% respectively.
As the reform has enabled enterprises to have some independent planning rights, product sales rights, capital use rights, and part of the right to appoint and remove cadres, the enterprise's awareness of independent management and the market awareness of actively moving closer to production and life needs has been awakened.
After breaking the "big pot of rice" and saying goodbye to "you can't buy vinegar with soy sauce money", can the hard-won corporate vitality be released continuously?
At that time, inspired by the practice of implementing the household contract responsibility system in rural areas to stimulate the enthusiasm of hundreds of millions of farmers for production, the early reform of state-owned enterprises was also characterized by the widespread implementation of the contract management responsibility system across the country.
In December 1980, the Central Work Conference proposed that the pilot program to expand the reform of enterprise autonomy should continue to be carried out mainly in 6,600 enterprises.
At that time, on the basis of summarizing experience, from the central to the local level, the pilot reform of state-owned enterprises was gradually pushed from the expansion of enterprise autonomy to the economic responsibility system and the financial system directly related to it. The purpose is to solve the relationship between the state and enterprises. On the basis, through the implementation of various forms of economic responsibility system, the internal reform of the enterprise is further refined, the relationship between the enterprise and the employees is well handled, and the enthusiasm of the employees for production is more fully stimulated and mobilized.
At that time, the economic responsibility system was implemented, and most of the pilot enterprises chose the method of "contracting profits and losses", which was quickly promoted to the whole country.
By the end of 1981, the number of enterprises implementing the economic responsibility system had increased to 42,000.
Expanding the autonomy of enterprises and implementing the internal economic responsibility system of enterprises has obvious effects on promoting economic development and improving enterprise profits.
Relevant data show that by 1987, about 80% of state-owned enterprises in the country had implemented various forms of contract management responsibility systems, and the proportion of state-owned enterprises’ retained profits in total profits rose from 3.7% in 1978 to more than 40% (deducting various Taxes and fees, the actual retained profit of the enterprise is about 20%), but at the same time, some new problems have been exposed.
For example, there is a phenomenon of “unbalanced pain and happiness” in enterprises, and there is a phenomenon of “beating fast cattle”, especially the stability of national fiscal revenue cannot be effectively guaranteed.
To further rationalize the distribution of interests between the state and enterprises, has been put on the reform agenda without delay.
So far, the reform of state-owned enterprises, which started in 1978 and expanded the pilot program in 1979, gradually expanded from the internal reform of enterprises to the reform of internal and external linkages between the micro-mechanism and the macro-system in the 1980s.
The reform of China's economic system, which focuses on cities, has been fully launched, and it has entered the arduous exploration stage of "crossing the river by feeling the stones".
Intensify reform efforts and explore the relationship between the state and enterprises in the distribution of interests
In the process of comprehensive reform of the urban economic system, around the new contradictions and new problems that emerged after the implementation of the internal economic responsibility system of state-owned enterprises and the "delegation of power and profits" and "profit contracting" by the state, the central government took the rationalizing of the relationship between the state and enterprises as the breakthrough point. Through a package of reform attempts such as "reforming profits to taxes", "replacing appropriations to loans", and reforming the shareholding system of state-owned enterprises, we will intensify efforts to explore the relationship between the state and enterprises in the distribution of interests.
"Returning from profits to taxes" means to liberate enterprises from the administrative divisions that were originally subordinate to various departments and regions, and change from the original profit to be turned over to the central and local governments in a unified manner according to law.
In this way, the self-transformation and self-development capabilities of the enterprise are more guaranteed, and the autonomy of enterprise management is clearer.
From 1980 to the end of 1981, this reform was piloted in 456 enterprises in 18 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, including Hubei, Guangxi and Shanghai.
In 1983, the State Council decided to fully implement the "profit-to-tax" policy and to stop the economic responsibility system based on profit sharing.
"Allocation to loan" refers to the state's change of capital construction investment for economic development from administrative appropriation to fixed asset investment loans with borrowing and repayment.
This not only strengthens the state's binding force on the management of fixed asset investment projects, but also strengthens the accounting awareness of project profits and losses.
This important reform of the fixed asset investment management system was first piloted in 1979 in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and other industries such as textiles, light industry, and tourism.
Since January 1985, the "appropriation to loan" has been fully implemented in various industries across the country.
The earliest practice of shareholding reform in state-owned enterprises can be traced back to about 1984.
This is a bold exploration and attempt to separate the ownership and management rights of state-owned enterprises at a time when the enterprise contract management responsibility system is widely implemented across the country.
That year, the demand for audio equipment produced by Shanghai Feile Electroacoustic General Factory increased, and it was urgent to invest funds to expand reproduction.
Therefore, they proposed to engage in a shareholding system, and wanted to raise funds from internal employees and other units by issuing corporate shares.
This bold vision of the company has received strong support from the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government.
Approved by the Shanghai Branch of the People's Bank of China, Shanghai Feile Audio Co., Ltd. was established in November 1984, and successfully raised 10,000 shares from the public and employees, with a face value of 50 yuan per share.
Among them, 35% are subscribed by legal entities, and 65% are issued to the public.
Feile stock has thus become "the first stock in China's reform and opening up".
The bold exploration of enterprise shareholding reform has provided valuable experience for deepening the reform of state-owned enterprises.
In December 1986, the State Council issued the "Several Regulations on Deepening Enterprise Reform and Enhancing Enterprise Vitality", which specified that a small number of qualified large and medium-sized enterprises owned by the whole people could be selected for joint-stock pilot projects.
Since then, joint-stock companies have sprung up like mushrooms after a spring rain, and the establishment of a stock exchange is about to emerge.
From November to December 1990, the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange were established successively.
By the end of 1992, 92 of the 3,700 joint-stock pilot enterprises nationwide were approved to be listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
From the launch of Feile stock to the listing of a large number of joint-stock enterprises, the economic system reform focusing on cities has continuously taken exciting new steps.
Actively support the initiative of the masses and take the initiative to untie the individual and private economy
With the gradual deepening of the reform of state-owned enterprises and the comprehensive implementation of the reform of the urban economic system, the state has loosened the layers of the individual and private economy, making it return and move forward without hesitation.
From the late 1970s to the early 1980s, with a large number of educated youths who went to the countryside to return to the city, the increasingly prominent urban labor and employment problem strongly affected the nerves of countless families.
In 1979, among the more than 20 million unemployed people in the country, there were more than 7 million young people who returned to the city and more than 3.2 million young people who stayed in the city to be unemployed. However, a single public-owned economy dominated by enterprises owned by the whole people, collectively-owned enterprises, and party and government organs was difficult to achieve. Such a large unemployed group provides ample jobs.
The only way to resolve thorny contradictions is to break through the institutional barriers of a single public-owned economy, so that the majority of unemployed young people bravely walk out of the new path of self-employment.
The launch of Beijing Qianmen Dawancha Youth Tea House is a vivid epitome of the majority of unemployed young people taking the initiative and seeking employment.
In 1980, when the Party Central Committee held the National Labor and Employment Work Conference, Wenzhou, Zhejiang established an industrial and commercial office and issued the first self-employed business license.
Zhang Huamei, a girl from Wenzhou who sells buttons, was lucky enough to get back this business license numbered "10101".
It was later discovered that she had become the first person in the country to have a self-employed license since the reform and opening up.
The wave of reform has swept the north and south of the country, and self-employment has returned to people's lives.
This is inseparable from the central government's high attention and policy support.
Following the National Labor and Employment Work Conference convened by the Party Central Committee in 1980 to allow voluntary organizations to organize employment and self-employment, in October 1981, the Party Central Committee and the State Council once again made the "Several Decisions on Expanding the Road, Invigorating the Economy, and Solving the Problem of Urban Employment". , fully affirmed the development of multiple economic forms to solve the employment problem, and clearly pointed out that under the fundamental premise that the socialist public ownership economy is dominant, the long-term coexistence of multiple economic forms and multiple modes of operation is a strategic decision of the party.
The strategic decision made by the central government has given a "reassurance" to the vast number of self-employed operators, and further stimulated the internal development momentum of the self-employed economy.
With the development of the self-employed economy to a certain scale, in order to invest more human and material resources to expand reproduction, the phenomenon of employment management has appeared in self-employed households to varying degrees, and it has become a hot spot of social concern for a while.
People at the time couldn't help but feel doubts and confusion about this: Is this the restoration of capitalism?
Have self-employed workers run by hired workers become capitalists?
Among the controversial self-employed, the story of Nian Guangjiu, the "fool melon seed", is the most representative.
At that time, there was a saying in the theoretical circles that "seven down and eight up", that is, self-employed persons who employ less than seven workers are self-employed, and more than eight are considered capitalists.
Nian Guangjiu, a small trader in Wuhu, Anhui, who has been in the business of frying melon seeds for many years, hired a lot of workers at that time, up to more than 100 people.
In this way, in April 1982, an investigation report on the problem of "fool and melon seeds" written by the Anhui Provincial Party Committee was sent to Comrade Deng Xiaoping's desk.
Comrade Deng Xiaoping expressed his stance, saying to put it aside for a while and take a look.
After a lapse of two years, in October 1984, he mentioned "Fool Guazi" again and said, "My opinion is to wait for two years. Can that affect our overall situation?" "Let 'Fool Guazi' run for a while. What are you afraid of? Are you hurting socialism?” This important statement was like a spring breeze, all of which dispelled all kinds of concerns about the individual economy in the society; a series of related policies followed, which strongly promoted the development of individual and private economy.
By the end of 1987, there were 13.72 million individual industrial and commercial households in urban and rural areas, with 2,158 employees.
The labor and employment problems that once weighed on the minds of the country and urban and rural residents have been greatly alleviated.
Wrote the "First Draft of Political Economy" and proposed the "Planned Commodity Economy" for the first time
Cities are the centers of my country's economy, politics, science and technology, culture and education, and play a leading role in the socialist modernization drive.
In order to fundamentally eliminate the various drawbacks that seriously hinder the development of productive forces, further tap the huge potential of the urban economy, promote the prosperity of the urban economy, and promote the better and faster development of the entire national economy, strong ideological and theoretical support on the basis of reform practice is urgently needed. .
On October 8, 1984, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held an enlarged meeting and agreed to submit the "Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Economic System Reform" to the upcoming Third Plenary Session of the 12th CPC Central Committee for discussion.
The document drafting team revised the document again and printed the draft for review based on the opinions of various parties.
The 10 parts of the document are: 1. Reform is an urgent need for the development of the current situation in our country; 2. Reform is to establish a vigorous socialist economic system; Consciously use the planning system of the law of value to develop the socialist commodity economy; 5. Establish a reasonable price system and give full attention to the role of economic leverage; Various forms of economic responsibility system, earnestly implement the principle of distribution according to work; 8. Actively develop a variety of economic forms, and further expand economic and technological exchanges with foreign and domestic; Tenth, strengthen the leadership of the party to ensure the smooth progress of the reform.
In October 1984, the Third Plenary Session of the Twelfth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was held in Beijing.
The plenary session discussed and passed the "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Reform of the Economic System", a programmatic document that guides the reform of China's economic system.
The document points out that the full development of the commodity economy is an insurmountable stage of social and economic development and a necessary condition for the realization of my country's economic modernization.
The document emphasizes that it is necessary to break through the traditional concept of contrasting the planned economy with the commodity economy, and clearly understand that the socialist planned economy must consciously base and apply the law of value, and is a planned commodity economy based on public ownership.
This is the first time that my country's socialist economy is a "planned commodity economy based on public ownership".
Comrade Deng Xiaoping pointed out that this decision "written a first draft of political economy, which is a political economy that combines the basic principles of Marxism with the practice of Chinese socialism."
He believes that "the document for the reform of the economic system this time is good, that is, it explains what socialism is, some are things that our ancestors have not said, and some are new words."
In the mind of Comrade Deng Xiaoping, this is a true adherence to socialism.
The "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Reform of the Economic System" made a theoretical breakthrough in the "planned commodity economy based on public ownership", which clearly stated for the later Fourteenth National Congress of the Communist Party that "the goal of my country's economic system reform is to establish a socialist market economic system. ”, which made an important ideological and understanding foreshadowing.
In the 1990s, in accordance with the requirements of the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on the establishment of a socialist market economic system, the reform of state-owned enterprises entered a stage of transformation mechanism and institutional innovation, aiming to establish a system with clear property rights, clear rights and responsibilities, government-enterprise A modern enterprise system with separate and scientific management.
With the continuous deepening of the reform of state-owned enterprises, the closely related reform of the fiscal, financial and social security system has been continuously advanced.
In the early stage of the reform, the management system of separate kitchens and financial responsibility was formed in order to mobilize the enthusiasm of local governments. At this time, it was increasingly difficult to adapt to the needs of the development of the situation, and the tax-sharing system reform came into being.
In December 1993, the State Council's "Decision on Implementing a Tax-sharing Fiscal Management System" was officially issued.
In 1994, the reform of the financial system was also on the horizon.
The State Council has decided to strengthen the functions of the central bank and implement policy banking and commercial Separate independent banks and merge exchange rates, gradually establish a financial organization system with state-owned banks as the main body and multiple financial institutions coexisting, and promote the formation of a unified and open financial market with orderly competition and strict management.
At the same time, in accordance with the deployment of the Party Central Committee, governments at all levels have taken multiple measures to step up the reform of the social security system focusing on employee pensions and medical care.
After years of hard work, with the establishment and improvement of the social security system for employees, the difficulties and risks in the reform of state-owned enterprises have been largely resolved. While providing important guarantees for the production and life of the majority of urban employees, it has effectively ensured the normal operation of the national economy. and good social order.