The Dilemma of Collective Labor: An Examination of China's Rural Economy Before Reform and Opening Up
Before the reform and opening up, China's rural economic model was mainly collectivized. In theory, this model aims to promote the socialization and modernization of agricultural production, but in practice, collective labor encounters many difficulties, resulting in low efficiency and insufficient production. Why is that?
1. Lack of incentives
In the collectivized rural production system, there is no direct ownership relationship between the peasant and the land, which means that the output of the peasant's labor is not directly proportional to the input of his labor. As a result, many farmers lack sufficient motivation to work.
Example: For those who work hard, they get almost the same pay as those who are lazy, which directly weakens the motivation of farmers to work.
2. The management system is not perfect
In collective agricultural management, due to multiple management levels and low efficiency, production management is chaotic, the promotion and application of agricultural technology is restricted, and productivity cannot be reasonably brought into play.
Example: In collectivized agriculture, decision-making is often subject to administrative intervention rather than based on market demand and production conditions.
3. Lack of competition
The lack of competition with external markets in collective agricultural production leads to low production efficiency. Farmers' poor understanding of market demand leads to a disconnect between production and demand.
Example: In the early days of collective operation, due to the failure to take into account market demand, there was a large amount of food in many places, while there was a serious shortage of commodities on the market.
Conclusion:
The collective labor model before the reform and opening up was beautiful in theory, but in actual operation, it was difficult to effectively promote the development of the rural economy due to various reasons. With the advancement of the reform and opening up policy and the implementation of the household joint production contract system, the rural economy has developed rapidly, and the lives of farmers have also been significantly improved. This also proves from another aspect that the collective labor model was not applicable in rural China at that time.