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Household responsibility system
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Household responsibility system
The household responsibility system (simplified Chinese: 家庭联产承包责任制; traditional Chinese: 家庭聯產承包責任制; pinyin: jiātíng liánchǎn chéngbāo zérènzhì), or contract responsibility system, was a practice in China, first adopted in agriculture in 1979 and officially established in 1982, by which households are held responsible for the profits and losses of an enterprise. This system, which came to replace collective farming, maintained public ownership of land and some of the means of production, but made production the responsibility of households. Households still had to contribute to state quotas but could make their own decisions about what to plant on contracted land and could sell via a multi-tier price system that included the lowest price for payment to the state up until the quota, a higher rate for above-quota sales to the state, and market price for crops allowed to be sold at fairs.
The household responsibility system replaced collective farming. In the household responsibility systems, households contributed to state quotas but could also make their own decisions about what to plant on contracted land and could sell via a multi-tier price system that included the lowest price for payment to the state up until the quota, a higher rate for above-quota sales to the state, and market price for crops allowed to be sold at fairs. This was enabled by three policy changes: (1) the state increased the price it paid to purchase staple crops, as well as some other agricultural products, (2) the state reduced the number of agricultural products which were subject to state monopsony and monopoly, and (3) the state reestablished rural markets for produce and other commodities.
Agricultural production increased under the household responsibility system, which in Chinese Marxist discourse was described as liberating the productive forces.
By the late 1970s, China's collectivization and centralization of agricultural production faced several challenges, of which the shortage of agricultural products was the most urgent and serious. Droughts in rural areas resulted in serious food supply crises in urban regions. Some dissatisfied peasants began redistributing land to households on the condition that each would contribute output to the government. In 1978, 18 households in Xiaogang, Anhui came up with a new arrangement where each household was responsible for their profit and losses of production, which was known as the first trial of the household responsibility system.[citation needed]
In December 1978, the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was held in Beijing. During the meeting, the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Accelerating Agricultural Development was passed, which proposed "devolving production responsibility to production units" (包产到组). However, the policy still prohibited delegating production responsibility to households (包产到户).[citation needed]
Initially, these policies were only allowed as an exception applicable to poor and remote areas where peasants struggled for subsistence. A political disagreement developed over whether household contracting should also be permitted in places where collective farming had performed well. Opponents of household contracting included leaders who believed it would be a backwards step ideologically, as well as provincial leaders who anticipated that household contracting would weaken mechanized agricultural production.
In early 1979, the National Agriculture Council was founded, which started a heated debate over whether China should adopt the household responsibility system within the Chinese central government. In March 1979, the National Agriculture Council held the Seven Provinces and Three Counties Meeting on Agriculture Development, during which the majority of representatives displayed a supportive attitude towards this proposal. However, the opposing voices were also strong. Wang Renchong, the Head of the National Agriculture Council, kept emphasizing the advantages of the collective economy and opposing the idea. In the end, Hua Guofeng, the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party at the time, concluded that collective production did work, yet a certain amount of flexibility was also needed. Also, Hua Guofeng agreed that "for the impoverished households in remote regions, it is appropriate to delegate to them the responsibility and rights for their production." Hua Guofeng's words were written into the official documents of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and it was the first time that the idea of household responsibility system appeared in the official document of the Central Committee of the CCP.[citation needed]
In January 1980, the People's Communes Management Meeting was held in Beijing. In the meeting, Zhou Yueli, the Director of the Agricultural Committee of Anhui Province, introduced the system of agriculture development in Anhui. Zhou reported that by the end of 1979, 51% of production teams had adopted the production unit responsibility system, and 10% had adopted the household responsibility system; there was a significant production growth and 25% of the underdeveloped regions asked to adopt the household responsibility system. However, Zhou's idea received severe criticism from many representatives from other regions and provoked a huge debate over whether the household responsibility system was the right approach to take. In the end, Deng Xiaoping concluded the debate with the observation that household responsibility was a highly complicated and critical issue, and that it was unlikely to reach a simple conclusion.[citation needed]
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Household responsibility system
The household responsibility system (simplified Chinese: 家庭联产承包责任制; traditional Chinese: 家庭聯產承包責任制; pinyin: jiātíng liánchǎn chéngbāo zérènzhì), or contract responsibility system, was a practice in China, first adopted in agriculture in 1979 and officially established in 1982, by which households are held responsible for the profits and losses of an enterprise. This system, which came to replace collective farming, maintained public ownership of land and some of the means of production, but made production the responsibility of households. Households still had to contribute to state quotas but could make their own decisions about what to plant on contracted land and could sell via a multi-tier price system that included the lowest price for payment to the state up until the quota, a higher rate for above-quota sales to the state, and market price for crops allowed to be sold at fairs.
The household responsibility system replaced collective farming. In the household responsibility systems, households contributed to state quotas but could also make their own decisions about what to plant on contracted land and could sell via a multi-tier price system that included the lowest price for payment to the state up until the quota, a higher rate for above-quota sales to the state, and market price for crops allowed to be sold at fairs. This was enabled by three policy changes: (1) the state increased the price it paid to purchase staple crops, as well as some other agricultural products, (2) the state reduced the number of agricultural products which were subject to state monopsony and monopoly, and (3) the state reestablished rural markets for produce and other commodities.
Agricultural production increased under the household responsibility system, which in Chinese Marxist discourse was described as liberating the productive forces.
By the late 1970s, China's collectivization and centralization of agricultural production faced several challenges, of which the shortage of agricultural products was the most urgent and serious. Droughts in rural areas resulted in serious food supply crises in urban regions. Some dissatisfied peasants began redistributing land to households on the condition that each would contribute output to the government. In 1978, 18 households in Xiaogang, Anhui came up with a new arrangement where each household was responsible for their profit and losses of production, which was known as the first trial of the household responsibility system.[citation needed]
In December 1978, the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was held in Beijing. During the meeting, the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Accelerating Agricultural Development was passed, which proposed "devolving production responsibility to production units" (包产到组). However, the policy still prohibited delegating production responsibility to households (包产到户).[citation needed]
Initially, these policies were only allowed as an exception applicable to poor and remote areas where peasants struggled for subsistence. A political disagreement developed over whether household contracting should also be permitted in places where collective farming had performed well. Opponents of household contracting included leaders who believed it would be a backwards step ideologically, as well as provincial leaders who anticipated that household contracting would weaken mechanized agricultural production.
In early 1979, the National Agriculture Council was founded, which started a heated debate over whether China should adopt the household responsibility system within the Chinese central government. In March 1979, the National Agriculture Council held the Seven Provinces and Three Counties Meeting on Agriculture Development, during which the majority of representatives displayed a supportive attitude towards this proposal. However, the opposing voices were also strong. Wang Renchong, the Head of the National Agriculture Council, kept emphasizing the advantages of the collective economy and opposing the idea. In the end, Hua Guofeng, the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party at the time, concluded that collective production did work, yet a certain amount of flexibility was also needed. Also, Hua Guofeng agreed that "for the impoverished households in remote regions, it is appropriate to delegate to them the responsibility and rights for their production." Hua Guofeng's words were written into the official documents of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and it was the first time that the idea of household responsibility system appeared in the official document of the Central Committee of the CCP.[citation needed]
In January 1980, the People's Communes Management Meeting was held in Beijing. In the meeting, Zhou Yueli, the Director of the Agricultural Committee of Anhui Province, introduced the system of agriculture development in Anhui. Zhou reported that by the end of 1979, 51% of production teams had adopted the production unit responsibility system, and 10% had adopted the household responsibility system; there was a significant production growth and 25% of the underdeveloped regions asked to adopt the household responsibility system. However, Zhou's idea received severe criticism from many representatives from other regions and provoked a huge debate over whether the household responsibility system was the right approach to take. In the end, Deng Xiaoping concluded the debate with the observation that household responsibility was a highly complicated and critical issue, and that it was unlikely to reach a simple conclusion.[citation needed]