Chapter 340: Economic Policy

Although on the surface, the scope of the transmigrators’ dividends had narrowed, this was something tangible and much more realistic than the previous vague “10%” with no specific rules. Cheng Dong also gave a 30-minute report on the matter of stock dividends to explain in detail. At the same time, he also promised to calculate the dividend figures for the year and a half since D-Day and list them in each person’s special dividend account by the end of February 1630.

But this was just a long-term check. Just as some people wanted to collect human specimens for their harem, it was just a meaningless number now. People who saw the current problems clearly all knew that the key was not this so-called “dividend,” but that the current distribution of benefits had not been well resolved.

And this uneven distribution of benefits was closely related to the positions held by the transmigrators. How to eliminate the unfairness of the benefits brought by power itself became another problem that the Law Club had to solve.

Almost everyone knew that there was no absolute fairness in any world. The uneven distribution of benefits came from the difference in positions; the difference in positions came from the difference in each person’s knowledge and ability; and the difference in personal ability came from nature and the difference in education received.

In the final analysis, it came from the requirements of the social division of labor in modern society. That is to say, the difference in positions was inevitable and unavoidable. The problem to be solved now was to avoid the difference in benefits brought by the difference in positions, or to minimize the difference in benefits caused by the difference in positions.

One solution was to separate the benefits of the position and link the benefits to the seat in the Senate, to downplay the uneven distribution caused by the position.

The transmigrators had already carried out institutional construction according to this line of thinking in the past. For example, it was stipulated that the dividend figure was only related to the shares held by the transmigrators and had nothing to do with their positions; the proposal of Ma Qianzhu to set grades and salaries was rejected, and the treatment of everyone was rigidly stipulated so that the highest was only twice as high as the lowest; a subsidy system was adopted to subsidize dangerous and arduous jobs. But all this still could not solve the fundamental problem—the difference in benefits brought by power itself.

Under the current full supply system, how many subsidies were issued and how many dividends were received were obviously meaningless to the transmigrators—it was just a beautiful long-term ideal. The reality was a large amount of arduous work and a monotonous life, which was a great blow to morale. In contrast, being a cadre had many conveniences. A few more hours of electricity than the masses seemed to be entirely for work needs, but it made people feel very unfair: it was true that not everyone was using office electricity to play games and watch AVs, but there were indeed people who were doing so. This seemed very unfair to those who could not enjoy office electricity due to their positions.

Since being a cadre meant enjoying more electricity quotas, and also being able to avoid monotonous and arduous physical labor in the name of meetings and office work, and receiving gifts and flattery from the natives, it would inevitably lead to the phenomenon of “running for office” and “demanding office” among the transmigrators becoming more and more serious.

The Law Club believed that to solve this problem at the current stage, there were only two ways: first, to spend a lot of effort to improve the living standards and treatment of all transmigrators, so that being a cadre was not attractive; second, to quickly formulate a set of cadre management systems, to make the cadre appointment system transparent and institutionalized, and to restrict the various privileges enjoyed by cadres that the masses strongly reacted to.

But these problems could not be discussed one by one at the general assembly. They could only be solved by the new government after it was formed. The general assembly only made a principled resolution: to instruct the new government to formulate a “Cadre Management Regulations” for the Senate to review. Of course, it was most appropriate for the Law Club to undertake this matter. Dong Shiye, as arranged in advance, seized the opportunity to propose a motion, demanding the establishment of a special organization within the new government to handle the drafting of the bill. The motion was quickly passed, and the members of the Law Club couldn’t help but be overjoyed—they had all gotten into the establishment!

Ma Qianzhu, on the other hand, proposed another motion to ease the conflict between the cadres and the masses: he demanded that all transmigrators with positions participate in outdoor and heavy physical voluntary labor once a week. His original intention was to promote “sharing weal and woe” through this method. After this motion was proposed, it immediately received a clear supportive speech from Du Wen, and then fell into a cold silence. No one, whether for or against, proposed to speak again. After Ma Jia asked three times if anyone wanted to speak and received no response, he announced the vote.

“Those who are in favor of the Saturday voluntary labor motion, please raise your hands.” Except for Du Wen, who resolutely followed Commissar Ma, and a few other twenty or thirty people who raised their arms, there was a dead silence.

When Ma Jia called for those who opposed to raise their hands, the whole place was a forest of arms.

“A bunch of hypocrites!” Du Wen muttered. Ma Qianzhu, who was sitting not far from her, felt the same way. The masses not only had sharp eyes, but their minds were also the most realistic.

The elders present were sure of one thing: within the first five-year plan, they would sooner or later all get a position, big or small, and would not have to be the current “hatless chiefs.” To set up a damn “Saturday voluntary labor” now, wouldn’t that be asking for trouble in the future? Besides, the cadres coming to do physical labor now were just putting on a show. What good would it do them?

The masses’ thorough utilitarianism made Ma Qianzhu feel very depressed. It seemed that the masses were still backward in nature and needed constant education. Ma Qianzhu then wrote the following words in his small notebook: “Parliamentary democracy is essentially backward, a place where people find rationality for their own weaknesses…” He read it silently several times, tore the note, and shredded it.

To show its determination to improve the living standards of the transmigrators, the general assembly proposed to add the words “to improve the living standards of every elder in the short term” to the “General Program—Goals and Tasks of the Transmigration Group” section, and instructed the General Office to come up with a specific plan.

The “Goals and Tasks of the Transmigration Group” section also clearly stated the recent goals of the Transmigration Group. The recent goals—at the completion of the first five-year plan, to unify the whole of Hainan and occupy Taiwan; to control the sea power of the Guangdong-Fujian coast; to establish military/trade bases in Southeast Asia, Vietnam, the Korean Peninsula, and Northeast China; to build a primary industrial system in Lingao with mechanical industry, chemical industry, and shipbuilding as the main body; to complete the improvement of the modern agricultural system in Lingao; to complete the reform of the civil administration system in the densely populated areas of northern Hainan, to explore and accumulate experience for the future reform of the civil administration system in the whole of China.

The ultimate goal of the Transmigration Group: to establish a new world led by the Transmigration Group and re-established according to the “new order” on a global scale.

The theoretical circle in the Transmigration Group had not yet made a specific vision of how the “new order” of the future world should be established, but the new world would inevitably be different from the time and space they came from.

This long-term goal was too grand, and most of the elders would not be able to see it. Most people believed that it would be enough to unify the entire East Asian region and occupy Australia and New Zealand in their lifetime. When discussing the long-term goals in the common program, a rhapsody was triggered. Everyone put forward countless ideas on how to enjoy the fruits of the revolutionary victory, so much so that Ma Jia had to repeatedly interrupt the speeches, asking everyone not to go off-topic and only to express their views on the goals themselves.

The “Common Program” formulated the fundamental principles and policies of the economic construction of the Transmigration Group.

The economic policy of the Transmigration Group was state capitalism, implementing an economic policy of “state-owned economy, cooperative economy, individual economy of farmers and handicraftsmen, private capitalist economy, and state capitalist economy” coexisting.

Heavy industry, chemical industry, mining, and scientific and technological research and development would all be in the hands of the Transmigration Group. Except for a few industries and departments, private capital would not be allowed to enter; light industry, agriculture, transportation, trade, and finance would be open to private capital—the Transmigration Group would take measures to encourage private capital from the Ming Dynasty to invest in these industries in Lingao.

The general policy for the rural economy was: to vigorously promote the “cooperative economy,” encourage farmers to form free combinations, and promote the scale and intensification of rural production; to directly purchase land to build modern state-owned farms; to vigorously support operational landlords, and to use both administrative and economic means to combat the traditional land tenancy system and abolish the “permanent tenancy system”; to encourage middle peasants, rich peasants, and small landlords in the countryside to expand production, and to force poor peasants and tenants to gradually leave the land and become hired laborers; to abolish rural usury, increase the income level of farmers, and improve their consumption capacity.

The program stipulated that all mineral deposits, water flows, forests, mountains, grasslands, wastelands, and tidal flats on the territory of the Transmigration State belonged to the Transmigration State, and their disposal rights would be decided by the Senate. For the original private property rights holders, the Transmigration Group would adopt a system of redemption at a certain price.

The program promised to protect the private property of the natives, including land ownership. This article caused a great deal of controversy. The opposing side believed that this would lead to land annexation and a new round of social turmoil; the supporting side refuted this with the concept of “those who have constant property have constant hearts.” The two sides debated on this issue until finally, a compromise agreement was reached. A premise was added before the article “protecting the private property of the natives”: “without endangering the fundamental interests of the Transmigration Group,” and another article was added: “When the Transmigration Group needs it, it can implement expropriation measures on the property of the natives, and appropriate compensation may be given according to the specific situation when expropriating.”

“In the future, if there is too much land annexation, can’t we just do a ‘land expropriation’?” Jiang Qiuyan, who proposed this motion, said nonchalantly. “As for compensation, just give them a little something. Are we afraid of the natives making trouble?”