
From the article of 'Petrel'
No.646 / September 21, 1997
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They declared the promotion of bourgeois reformation.
The farce of the clearly describing of the Deng's theory in the "Rule."
The Chinese Communist Party Rally was held.
The 15th Chinese Communist Party Rally having been held since September 12 is the first party rally after Deng Xiao Ping, and it is a rally the last in this century, and offers the chance to augur the course of China in the future over the 21st century, too.
Let's chase the focus as follows.
They expressed the succession of the Deng Xiao Ping's theory.
There were some focuses in the 15th Rally that had been paid attention as the first rally after Deng Xiao Ping. It may be summarize as follows. (1) How does Jiang Zemin, who lost Deng Xiao Ping as the supporter, build the central system. (2) How to summerize the economic reformation since 5-years ago when they worked out "the market economy of socialism" in the 14th rally, and where to find a new breakthrough. (3) How to promote the stagnating political reformation. (4) How to work on the political rot receiving the people's dissatisfaction and antipathy.
However, it is necessary to tell not to be able to discuss all here by the circumstances of space.
Though we cannot say about (1) finally before seeing the result of personnel changes scheduled at the end of the rally, it is certain that Jiang Zemin is trying to harden the situation along the line promoting reformation and opening that Deng Xiao Ping worked out.
Jiang Zemin who has promoted to the present position by Deng Xiao Ping's selecting and has been promoting the Deng Xiao Ping line can harden the powers just by promoting the reformation and opening with the support of remaining "Authority" of Deng Xiao Ping.
It is an expression of such a standpoint of Jiang Zemin, who reported about politics at the beginning of rally, that he expressed to describe the Deng Xiao Ping's theory clearly in the Party Rule as a "guidance thought" as well as Marx-Leninism and Mao Tse-tung's theory and to "hoist the great slogan of the Deng Xiao Ping's theory highly," and that he declared "It is necessary to watch the right, but the main thing is to prevent the 'Left.' (That is, the conservative sects. ---- quoting person)" He should walk on a difficult road avoiding the relation deterioration with the conservative sects and rallying the reformation sects in the future.
Is the stocks' system "a form of making to public-owned?"
Jiang Zemin said that China is still in "the beginning stage of socialism," that it is a long-term process continueing to middle in the 21st century and they had to make the first problem to develop the power of social production in this step, and he declared that "the diversification of the form of public-owned system" was the key.
"The diversification of public-owned system" is, needless to say, a paraphrase of the thing to make the government-owned enterprise to the stock company. Jiang Zemin tries to say the stock company is "the one form of public-owned system" and in the frame considering the criticism that to make the government-owed enterprise to the stock company is "the making private-owed" and it is the one to destroy the basis of socialism.
He says, "The stocks system is the capital organizational form of the modern ages enterprise and it is possible to use it even in socialism. The reformation of government-owned enterprise is an important duty. We should encourage the amalgamation, advance the personnel reduction, and make up the competing mechanism."
Though the idea that it does not coexist with socialism is sure to be included among the expressions "The stocks' system is the capital organizational form of the modern ages' enterprise," Jiang Zemin is negligent in these kinds of things. Jiang Zemin intends to adopt every thing if it develops the power of production whatever it is the market economy or the stocks' system as the successor of Deng Xiao Ping who said that it was the good cat that catched rat whatever it is white cat or black cat.
Though he is free to use anything, it should be said that it has nothing to do with "Socialism" at the least.
The reformation of the government-owned enterprise has rough going.
The reason Jiang Zemin requests the main problem of the economic reformation to the making of the government-owned enterprise to the stock company is, needless to say, that China comes to the place where the real achievement of the reformation cannot be gained without it. Though the government-owned enterprise would be the basis of Chinese "Socialism," the stagnation in recent years is remarkable, so the "Rationalization" and the efficiency improvement should not be avoided.
The "Gochin" enterprise ( "Gochin," in Japanese pronunciation, is the meaning such as local or regional. Though it is the group possession system by cities, towns, villages and by the employee in principle, in realities it is becoming the private enterprise. ), the private enterprise, the individual enterprise, and the foreign capital enterprise are born in succession under the name of "the diversification of the possession system" through the process of the economic reformation that started at the end of 1979 in China. And these enterprises have accomplished rapid growth. Contrasting with it, the government-owned enterprise is not only decreasing the weight relatively but also increasing the deficit enterprise, and it has become burden for the nation.
The government-owned enterprises (The number of government-owned industrial enterprises under the independent profit system is about 88,000 companies at the end of 1995) occupy only 30 percent of the amount of industrial production now and it is said that about 1/3 in official statistics, actually near the half of them are the deficit managements.
How was the management deterioration of the government-owned enterprise brought?
The reformation of government-owned enterprise has been advanced until now.
The reduction of instructional indices of production, materials' procurement, sales, and price, and the like, the reinforcement of the independent management system, the replacement of the subsidy with the bank financing were advanced in 1980's. However, the nation had still the power in the capital procurement, the employment of the worker, and the buying and selling of the property, and the enterprise was not able to determine freely.
The reformation of government-owned enterprise in 80's is a reformation by remaining the centralization system, the enterprises that were stimulated the profit motive with being indefinite even the whereabouts of the responsibility expanded the investment with disregarding efficiency and it became the result that the deficit rather increased.
The rate of the deficit government-owned enterprises reached about 30% in 1991 from about 16% in 1988. They could do nothing but make up for the deficit by the national finance and the national finance got stringent.
Though the Jiang Zemin and Li Peng regime to make consciousness of crisis raised by the Soviet collapse in 1991 tried to advance the reformation of the government-owned enterprise further, they are not able to break even into "the possession system." However, the try that experimentally introduces the stocks' system after 1995 starts, Jiang Zemin is trying to introduce and expand greatly the stocks' system facing out the opposite of the conservative sect at this time.
The meaning of the stocks' system introduction
The intention of the stocks' system introduction into the government-owned enterprise is clear.
Partly, there is the aim to decrease the load of the nation by making the capital procurement of the government-owned enterprise not dependent on the nation as to now but procuring in the capital market.
Moreover, there might also be the aim that because the management of the enterprise connects directly with stock prices and the capital procurement ability, the enterprise can do nothing but rationalize management and efficiency improvement will be achieved.
"The purpose of launching out into the all-out adoption of the stocks system is to expect the following effects according to the secretary-general Jiang Zemin's economic strategist.
(1) We can procure the capital by issuing the stocks.
(2) The managements assume the clear responsibility to stockholder and the management improvement is compelled.
(3) It is necessary to make clear financial tables after making the government-owned enterprise to the stock company, so the careless expense and accounting decrease.
(4) It presses the consideration of earnings and encourage the production and the handling according to the market trend." ('The Nikkei Newspaper' September 13)
In short, this is to work the government-owned enterprise that is on the entire national support until now as the capital by exposing to the capitalistic environment. It is the pursuit of the capital function as a capital and the purification as a capital that an enterprise would make the pursuit of profit as the top priority problem and work hard at the management rationalization and efficiency improvement.
This will mean that the economic reformation of China is coming to a new stage certainly.
Because, although the reformation sect insists on the stocks' system to be "the one form of making to public-owned" obstinately, it is "Privatization" of the government-owned enterprise, and it is the shift to the "Private" enterprise clearly. The owner of the enterprise shifts from the nation to the stockholder, that is, the bourgeois and the small bourgeois. Of course, the stockholder will occasionally be the nation or take the form of the employee holdings' system in case of enterprise. However, they might be a transitional form or a supplementary form. Because, the case that the stock company can function enough as a capital is the case that the stocks are "opened to the public" and become "the Joint possession" of the bourgeoisie, and the possession and the function are separated and the management is entrusted to the functional capitalist. To say oppositely, even the stocks' company cannot realize the management rationalization if not advancing there.
However, the making of the government-owned enterprise to the stock company will shake the Chinese "Socialism," that is, the conventional national capitalism system from the basis.
Because, if the government-owned enterprise is made the stock company, the management is entrusted to the managers and the bureaucrat's power can do nothing but be reduced.
Of course, though the bureaucrat will aim at slipping to the manager, and the relation between the huge company and the nation might be strong, the national bureaucrat's power and its position will decrease. The reason that the conservative sect depending on the national bureaucrat is opposing to the complete introduction of the stocks' system is here, too.
We must wait until the future to know what degree the making to the stock company of the government-owned enterprise advance. It is controlled by the degree of the resistance of the conservative sect and the maintenance of the capital market. However, it will be able to be said that there is the condition of making to the stock company. Because, as the Soviet Union before was also so, we can think that the idle capital money in shape of so-called bureau deposit reaches the considerable scale in China, too.
"The savings of the people reach 4,500 billion yuan, and the cash holdings reach 600 billion yuan, too." ('The Asahi News paper' September 11, 1 yuan are about 15 yen now) If so, some parts of it will be allotted to the purchase of the stocks, and thus, we cannot deny the possibility that the idle capital money is mobilized.
Anyway, the meaning of the making of government-owned enterprise to stock company might be large. Because, the making of government-owned enterprise to complete stock company means the own denial or the qualitative changing of the national capitalism. If the national capitalism trying to realize the improvement of management efficiency can do nothing but dissolve the government-owned enterprise, and advance the making to stock company and the making to private enterprise, it is an own denial of the national capitalism, is it not? Of course, though it is likely to exist a wide economic management by the nation, the meaning and the role of national management will change if the government-owned enterprise is greatly reduced. Cannot we say it is a result of the contradiction existing in the national capitalism that the national capitalism cannot continue if it does not make itself to "Private" capitalism?
Intensification of the confrontation between the capital and the worker
In addition, the management rationalization by the introduction of the stocks' system is inevitably accompanied by "personal cutback" as Jiang Zemin also says. Then, neither the increase of unemployment nor the increase of worker's dissatisfaction is avoided.
The total of the worker of the government-owned enterprise in China is about 110 millions' persons, and the making to the stock company will exhaust the few parts as "personal surplus."
The policy that busted the deficit enterprise to reorganize it has been intentionally taken recently (The government-owned enterprise that is sentenced the bankruptcy goes up to 6,232 companies in 1996, it is 2.6 times of the previous year.) and the unemployed are increasing, the unemployment rate of the urban area is 3% in official statistics.
However, if we include the personal surplus in the government-owned enterprise (If they are dismissed), the unemployment rate is thought to be going to become the twice or more, 7.5%. Nobody has the certain strategy how to absorb this large amount of unemployed.
It is reported that the protest behavior of the unemployed has happened frequently even now in various places. The government-owned enterprise worker who had been dismissed in Sichuan province went out to a large-scale protest action from June to July. About 300 unemployed workers of the government-owned enterprise sat on the road in Harbin-city Heilongjiang province and it was not possible to pass road before the province government all day long in the beginning of August. The demonstration of the government-owned enterprise worker and the retiree occurs frequently in Shenyang-city of Liaoning province, etc.
Thus, the making of the government-owned enterprise to the stock company can do nothing but deepen and developed the confrontation between the worker and the capital.
The democratization and the rot prevention end in title.
Though Jiang Zemins are talking about the democratization and the rot prevention of politics further, these end both in an abstract title and these will not satisfy the worker and the people at all.
However, the democratization demand of politics will rise inevitably as the progress of the economic reformation. Because, if the bourgeois class and the small bourgeois class are formed, and the interests of various classes come to conflict, the each class comes to request the self-insists politically and own political right. If someone suppresses it one-sidedly, the vigor of economy will be lost.
However, on the other hand, a great democratization is the reduction of the national capitalism bureaucrat's power and it is also the deprivation of vested rights from them.
Though the democratization of China will trace the zigzag process in this dilemma, it will expand gradually according to the demand of the bourgeois, the small bourgeois stratum and the pressure of the working class. And, the conscious worker in China will use and expand the democratization even if it is small, and develop the fight. The history is not a mere repetition.
(Kenichi Suzuki)