Chapter 1289: The Land Issue

"Recently, I have learned about certain situations regarding the allocation of recruitment quotas for the textile factory. Some of our village cadres and commune cadres have accepted benefits and ignored reality. Whoever has close ties with them gets arranged to enter the factory first. Whoever sends them money gets arranged to enter the factory first. This completely betrays our original intention.

Our goal is to let the poorer people enter the factory first to improve their family circumstances, yet some individuals, whose families are so wealthy they are dripping with oil, simply refuse to wait a little longer and insist on bullying others.

Even worse, some hooligans and tyrants in the villages, unable to get into the factory themselves, start making trouble with people in the village. They curse, they beat people, and they run into people's homes to wreak havoc.

What kind of behavior is this? Ah? Are these our good cadres, our good people? Such matters will absolutely not be tolerated! We must investigate! We must investigate to the very bottom!

I have made the final decision on this matter. After the meeting, an investigation team will be established to understand the situation with the textile factory side, mobilize the masses to report incidents, and conduct in-depth investigations in each village. Every case discovered will be dealt with immediately; absolutely no leniency will be shown, nor will this arrogance be encouraged. All offenders will be arrested, sentenced, and sent to our water conservancy project construction sites for reform through labor, contributing to our 240,000 people of Jin Ling..."

At the county meeting, after briefly summarizing some issues encountered during the past ten days of receiving the university student inspection team, and after indulging in some speculation about how many university students would be willing to come to Jin Ling in the future, County Head Xu spoke the words above with fierce language and a resolute attitude.

"Agreed!"

Wang Yan immediately chimed in, "Later, I will have people conduct interviews with the workers who entered the factory from the rural areas to understand the situation in each village in detail. Furthermore, to avoid a shortage of police force in the county should any unexpected situations arise, the factory's Security Section will provide a portion of its personnel to take orders from the county's dispatch."

In state-owned enterprises of this era, the inside and outside of the factory were two different worlds. The personnel of the Security Section possessed law enforcement authority within the factory; similarly, in this era before guns were banned, everyone in the factory's Security Section was armed. In fact, the textile factory's firepower was quite formidable; besides the standard Type 54 pistols, they also possessed Type 56 automatic rifles.

In terms of numbers, they even exceeded the county's Gongan Bureau. After all, the county's finances were not abundant enough to support such a large police force. Whenever there were matters they could not handle, they would dispatch the textile factory's Security Section to assist. The textile factory, of course, had always been very cooperative in such matters of cracking down on illegal activities within the county, providing manpower when people were needed and funds when money was required.

Although Wang Yan had centralized power, bound interests together, and achieved fiscal separation from the county, thereby obtaining the greatest degree of fiscal freedom, this did not mean he did not support the county. After all, his goal was to lead the entire county out of poverty and realize socialism, and the county still needed to allocate resources.

It was just that the textile factory could spend its own money, whereas the county could not simply take money from the textile factory with a single word; the difference between these two scenarios was significant...

Seeing Wang Yan be the first to jump up and second the motion, those present who were qualified to vote realized that County Head Xu and Wang Yan had already held a private meeting, so naturally, there was no reason to object, and everyone voted in agreement.

With this matter settled, Wang Yan spoke.

"Over the past two years, the textile factory is no longer the single-operation weaving plant it once was, but has become a large-scale corporation integrating businesses such as textiles, footwear and apparel, chemicals, machinery manufacturing, steel, copper, and aluminum, daily necessities manufacturing, and construction.

I have repeatedly emphasized that we are committed to establishing a Jin Ling business card and creating Jin Ling brand names. To date, the factory's annual output value is in the tens of millions, making it one of the major factories counted nationwide, yet when mentioned, outsiders still refer to us as the 'Jin Ling Textile Factory,' which is extremely detrimental to our business development and brand establishment.

Since the conference that established Reform and Opening Up, there have also been voices calling for reforms regarding state-owned enterprises. We are too far from Beijing to know the details clearly, but based on our own development, I believe we need to transition from a factory to a corporation.

In reality, we are a large-scale corporation integrating numerous industries where all people share the dividends; our large corps could be called a group army. Having heard that relevant matters are also being discussed in Beijing, I propose that we integrate the textile factory and establish the Jin Ling Group Co., Ltd.

This will not change its nature of ownership by the whole people; it will still be represented by the County Committee and County Government on behalf of the people of Jin Ling to implement distribution, aiming to facilitate internal administration, improve corporate efficiency, and build the Jin Ling brand name."

The room fell silent for a moment, with only the sound of striking matches to light cigarettes; this was a major issue...

First, regarding the nature of the textile factory's ownership, Wang Yan summarized it in one sentence as ownership by the whole people, which was actually not incorrect. Because the textile factory's original form was a county-owned state enterprise, which was ownership by the whole people. Even after merging with other factories later, they were all county-owned state enterprises, not changing the nature of ownership by the whole people.

In the distribution of means of production, on one hand, wages, bonuses, benefits, and subsidies were issued to over ten thousand workers in the entire factory, and pensions were issued to retired personnel; on the other hand, because rural populations were recruited into the factory, the pressure on rural distribution was reduced, indirectly increasing the income of the rural population, thereby indirectly distributing means of production to the whole people, while simultaneously funding public construction for the entire county, which was also a form of distribution to the whole people.

But in reality, the textile factory had de facto become a collective ownership system. On one hand, the majority of the means of production were distributed among the factory workers. On the other hand, a worker representative system had formed within the factory.

That is, the workers within the factory elected advanced workers as representatives, and ordinary worker representatives who did not hold leadership positions must account for sixty percent of the proportion, representing the interests of the vast majority of workers within the factory. When making decisions on major issues concerning the factory, they had the power to vote and decide.

The scope of their power included all personnel appointments and dismissals except for the main factory leaders, namely Factory Director Old Qi. Because Factory Director Old Qi was the number one leader, serving as both the factory secretary and the factory director; it was just that the factory had always operated by his word, so everyone habitually addressed him only as 'Factory Director.' The title of Factory Director was not important; the Secretary was very important, as he represented the Party.

Everyone below Factory Director Old Qi, including Wang Yan, could be dismissed by the workers through a voting principle of the minority obeying the majority. Even though many leadership positions, including the main leaders of various branches, were all previously appointed by the county, if the workers were dissatisfied, they still had the power to dismiss them.

From this perspective, the textile factory was a collective ownership system.

Therefore, to be accurate, the current nature of the textile factory's ownership is a hybrid of ownership by the whole people and collective ownership.

At the same time, the election of county-level representatives was produced by direct election by the people. The fixed number of representatives for Jin Ling County was 176, and all people in the county could participate in the election. The number of representatives from the textile factory, including Wang Yan and Factory Director Old Qi, was 37, of whom two were members of the Standing Committee.

In other words, if the textile factory continued to develop and absorb more rural populations into the factory, when it exceeded half of the county's population, the representatives from the textile factory would similarly occupy the majority.

And by that time, whether in terms of fundamental law or in terms of the number of workers, the textile factory would have become the majority of the county. At that point, it would basically mean that the entire county was within the factory. Those participating in the distribution would be all the people of Jin Ling, and those participating in the voting and exercising power would also be all the people of Jin Ling; this would be true ownership by the whole people.

But at the same time, they would all be workers within the factory, and the worker representatives would decide factory affairs, and their numbers would be greater than the people's representatives, making it true collective ownership.

Therefore, the situation of the textile factory was very complex, complex in that it was not a simple large corporation...

This was, of course, something Wang Yan had engineered; he had de facto separated the textile factory from the county, but he never mentioned the matter of collective ownership, insisting firmly that it was ownership by the whole people...

After a good while, a cadre said, "Should we report this matter to the city level for instructions?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw everyone's eyes focus on him, and he quickly explained, "We are all clear on this matter; debates are still ongoing at the higher levels. If we do this now, we would be defying the whole world. My meaning is that it would be better for us to be more prudent, report level by level, and let the leaders above make the decision."

Of course, he knew that Wang Yan must have already reached a conclusion on this matter; once spoken, it meant the preliminary work was already done, waiting only for execution. But he had to propose a more prudent opinion because this matter involved too much; this was not simply a question of establishing a group corporation, but a question that would land on whether it belonged to capitalism or socialism.

"I think Old Zhao's proposal is very appropriate." County Head Xu nodded. "Chen Pingyuan, after the meeting, organize this into a document; after Secretary Gong and I sign it, send it to the city."

"Understood." Chen Pingyuan responded.

"Next, let us discuss the issue of Xiao Lei Family."

County Head Xu took a sip of tea, lit a cigarette, and said, "Last year, Xiaogang Village implemented the household contract responsibility system, resulting in a bumper grain harvest; the state published reports promoting it, sparking nationwide discussion.

Our county's Xiao Lei Family was a pioneer; they did not even report to the county, but directly divided the land within the village, and afterwards opened a brick kiln, established a brick factory, and supplied the textile factory. A few days ago, the county sent people to inspect, and it was heard that they were doing quite well, with the villagers full of enthusiasm.

The land division in Xiao Lei Family was based on household registration. That is to say, workers who had already joined the textile factory also had land in the village. But they no longer participated in their family's distribution, and even subsidized their families. So after the land division, the land holdings of these households would increase. However, some households had few people, and no one had joined the factory, so they suffered a loss.

That Xiao Lei Family could divide the land was due on one hand to the prestige of the village cadres, and on the other hand to some additional land compensation given to those families, but ultimately, families with more people and someone working in the factory were still wealthier.

The most important issue is that in these past two years, due to the improvement of the county's situation and also due to the backlash caused by the implementation of family planning, the county's population growth has exceeded previous years, almost doubling. Before the land division, they had land. After the land division, those born later would own nothing, so there is a problem here. If land is not divided, the village's land is commonly owned by everyone. If land is divided, those born later will not benefit.

This problem, we must consider and must solve.

Last summer, Wang Yan spoke to me about this kind of issue, and in recent days we have also discussed it. Wang Yan, please first explain the content of our discussion, and then everyone can pool their wisdom to discuss it further; we must come up with a solution."

Wang Yan responded and cleared his throat.

"My discussion with County Head Xu was very simple: establish an agricultural company to purchase all the land in the county, agree on a certain period of time to provide a certain grain output dividend to the commune villagers, and ultimately have all land ownership rights belong to the agricultural company, which means belonging to our Jin Ling Group, belonging to the County Committee and County Government, and finally, belonging to all the people of our county.

After the company purchases the land, it will cultivate centrally, hiring villagers as workers to farm. The county will uniformly distribute the grain, either keeping it as food rations, or pressing it for oil, or feeding cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, ducks, and geese.

And in the process of our absorbing arable land, the factory will increase the research, development, and production of agricultural machinery, allowing our Jin Ling to achieve fully mechanized farming and harvesting. At the same time, we will open up other industries and increase employment capacity, ultimately absorbing the entire rural population into the city and arranging jobs for them.

Regarding the so-called attachment to one's native soil and the so-called concept of returning to one's roots upon death, I suggest implementing a system of unified management for funerals, designating a portion of land for the burial of the deceased.

And regarding the encroachment on homesteads, I believe issuing them apartment buildings should be able to offset this problem.

As for the preservation of buildings, the county has already reached a consensus; the previous turmoil has passed, and we must preserve ancient sites and buildings with cultural value and representative significance, such as those Hui-style architectural houses, stone arch bridges, Guan Guan Di Temples, Daoist temples, Buddhist temples, ancient city ruins, local shrines, and so on within our county town. Villages possessing such buildings must preserve them and fund their repair. Others will be preserved based on their specific conditions.

Regarding the issue of ethnic minorities, our county has Hui, Manchu, and She ethnic groups, mostly living in clusters. When handling issues concerning ethnic minorities, we must pay attention to our methods and approaches, fully respecting and taking into account their different customs before proceeding with further study.

These are roughly the points; the leaders can study them..."

After Wang Yan finished speaking, everyone began buzzing with discussion; after a good while, someone raised a question.

"Factory Director Wang, what about Xiao Lei Family in the future?"

"Currently, they have started their own village-run collective businesses, and the situation in the village is not bad. My suggestion is that Xiao Lei Family remain untouched for now, allowing them to develop for a period of time. If they do well, they can continue. If they do poorly, the county can simply ban them.

Absorbing the rural population into our factories will inevitably be a gradual process with a specific order. Since their current situation is sound, there is no need to concern ourselves with them; simply allocate the quotas to other villages.

How massive is Little Lei Family's scale? It won't cause any major issues; let us also observe the wisdom of the farmers. However, loans must be strictly controlled; we must not end up achieving nothing while accumulating a huge debt. That is not a simple debt; ultimately, it will fall upon our people. That is the blood and sweat money of our entire county's populace; do not let a tiny Little Lei Family deceive us."

Someone pressed further: "If they perform well and ultimately refuse to come to the county town, what then?"

"We shall see."

Wang Yan remained noncommittal, stating, "No matter how well they do, I do not believe they can surpass our factory. If they possessed such capability, there would be no opportunity for me, Wang Yan, to sit here."

Thus, no one raised further objections. After discussing the matter together, they finally established some basic principles. With the matter settled, implementation could begin.

Previously, Wang Yan's proposal to County Head Xu had not been approved, and the higher authorities had reached no conclusion nor expressed any intention regarding land. However, now with the incident at Xiaogang Village, the state neither opposed nor intervened, indicating that action could be taken concerning rural land.

Furthermore, with Little Lei Family in the county following suit and the county facing such circumstances, the land issue had become immediate and urgent. Otherwise, delaying until next year, when land would be distributed across the entire county, would make matters difficult to handle.

Now that a result had been reached through discussion, an official county-wide document would be issued immediately after the meeting, settling the matter and thereby avoiding much future trouble...

After discussing this matter, County Head Xu sighed: "Wang Yan, if the establishment of the group company is truly approved, why not take over all the factories in the county? Currently, the major large factories have already been merged into the Textile Factory; those few remaining make no difference. Everyone agrees, right?"

Upon County Head Xu's words, everyone in the conference room burst into laughter.

By today, they all knew that the general trend was unstoppable; no one could say anything against it, so they could only laugh it off.

Wang Yan had not expected County Head Xu to be so accommodating; before he had even asked, the man was directly forcing the offer upon him.

He immediately calculated the factory's financial situation, then nodded with a smile: "Very well, let us begin advancing step by step starting tomorrow; it is inevitable sooner or later. I estimate that our proposal to establish the Jin Ling Group will most likely be approved, though it may take some time. This period will be sufficient for our preparations."

"Do not speak too definitively; this matter is hard to predict," said Secretary Gong, who was now actively cooperating with the work, shaking his head.

"It does not matter," Wang Yan said indifferently. "Regardless of whether it is approved or not, we shall execute according to the organizational structure of the Jin Ling Group; it merely lacks a name, that is all."

He indeed thought exactly this way and truly intended to act accordingly.

Although the Textile Factory was currently flourishing under Huang Huang Xinxin's leadership with a very promising outlook, in reality, its organizational structure was neither clear nor efficient.

This resulted from the Textile Factory's development model. It did not expand gradually on its own but rather grew through rapid annexation. Within merely two years, it expanded from over three hundred employees to currently exceeding ten thousand. Naturally, many internal problems existed, merely concealed by rapid development and surging benefits; sooner or later, they would erupt.

For instance, a large number of factory directors had unclear responsibilities and authorities, and various operational procedures were complex and lengthy; these were all flaws.

Previously, this was acceptable, but now that we have ascended to a new level, Wang Yan naturally took the opportunity to clarify everything at once, eliminating major problems before they could erupt.

Thus, this meeting, which had lasted from morning until night, concluded. Having settled many significant county affairs, everyone relaxed, cigarettes dangling from their mouths, departing in small groups of two or three.

Of course, this was not the end of the workday; rather, they would stroll around, grab a meal, and continue working, as the content of today's meeting required urgent implementation.

As everyone stepped outside, stretching their arms wide and loosening their muscles and bones, they suddenly all fell silent.

It was now sunset; the setting sun hung in the west, adorned with red clouds filling the sky.

The large loudspeakers of the various Textile Factory plants were playing songs as usual, clearly audible even within the county government compound.

The song went like this:

On Beijing's Golden Mountain, light shines in all directions~

The afterglow of the setting sun spilled across the county government compound, where the people capable of deciding this county town's fate listened to this song.

Wang Yan stood with his hands behind his back, gazing into the distant horizon.

The setting sun also dyed his face red...