CAPITALIST ILLS TROUBLE WITH WORKERS NEW CHINESE DOMESTIC PROBLEM

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33874, 20 June 1975, Page 12

CAPITALIST ILLS TROUBLE WITH WORKERS NEW CHINESE DOMESTIC PROBLEM

(Bti

COLINA MacDOUGALL

r, in the “Financial Times.")

(Reprinted by arrangement)

Even the Chinese are not immune to industrial go-slows a ® e demands, and production downturns. Discreet though they are about t neir domestic problems, there is continually growing evidence to show ~ow intractable these have become.

I The programme of economic development is plainly flagging and the current Five Year Plan, due to end this year, is probably behind schedule. Inevitably this (slump will affect purchasing from the West, already badly hit by foreign exchange shortages. With the population now about 900 m (as it must be by now if the official figures for the 1950 s are anywhere near correct) they can ill afford a slowdown.

Prolonged unrest at China’s two major steel plants, Wuhan and Anshan, last year cut national steel production by about 2m tonnes, informed observers believe. That means that output was only about 23m tonnes. Inevitably that must have had repercussions on manufacturing industries, and the current delays in importing Japanese steel must have aggravated the situation.

China announced no official production figures at the end of last year except for the oil industry, the star performer which pushed output from 50m tonnes to an estimated 65m tonnes in 1974,

fand contrary to normal policy there were few provincial I increase figures given. ' Even more telling, the New (China News Agency avoided all figures when reporting (performance in the first (quarter of this year, and only i a handful emanated from (provincial radios. The current ■Five Yetr Plan, which, if (things were going well (would figure prominently tn (propaganda, is barely mentioned,

Labour troubles

The Chinese must also have serious problems with industrial equipment. The backbone of their heavy industry was provided by the Soviet Union and is now 20 years old. Even the handful of plants supplied by Western Europe in the 1960 s is now 10 years old, and the latest purchases are not yet on stream.

j Much of this machinery has been run through intensive periods like the Great Leap Forward or the post Cultural Revolution years when there was no time for maintenance work. Chinesebuilt plants must have suffered in the same way.

These mechanical problems are aggravated by serious labour troubles. Here, the steel, coal mining, and railway industries seem to be the worst affected. Recently it was announced that steel production at Wuhan in April rose by 57 per cent above the figure for March. Since no new equipment was installed, that almost certainly implies an earlier drop of at least a third below capacity because of some kind of go-slow or perhaps breakdown.

On the railways the growth of the economy in the last few years has placed strain on both staff and equipment. One officially documented case-history indicates the kind of problem the Chinese face.

In Anhwei province, the huge coal mining area of Huaipei, which supplies Shanghai, speeded up production, but according to Anhwei radio, the line that carried the coal was both unable to cope with the additional load and faced such problems from “sabotage” and serious accidents that a “defence force” of neighbouring peasants and railway staff was formed.

Railway strains

“Sabotage” in China covers a multitude of troubles: probably badly maintained equipment and track were at least as much to blame as deliberate carelessness or damage. The Anhwei railways had other problems. Staff ignored regulations, trains were late, rolling stock was held up. Some enterprising folk were even “using the railways as a means for private gain,” in a manner which the broadcaster preferred not to describe.

Although Anhwei seems to have been the worst affected, other lines in China have had similar trouble. It is worth remembering that in the Cultural Revolution, of all the industrial workers, railwaymen had the strongest grievances and caused the

most disturbances. As indispensable technicians, who unlike most Chinese travel widely and are able to compare conditions in different parts of the country, they can put strong, if indirect, pressure on the Government.

In the past they always resented threats to reduce material incentives, such as the bonuses they receive for punctuality, safety, and inspecting tracks. Such a threat is once again implicit in the “anti-bourgeois” drive to 'study Chairman Mao’s theory of proletarian dictatorship. '

Wage demands

Indisputably there is a strong if partially concealed demand from all industrial workers for better wages and a higher standard of living. At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution the industrial workers raised an outcry for improved rewards. At that time they were told that these problems would be settled when the movement was finished, but in fact it does not seem to have been that wage scales came under new scrutiny until 1973. Last year that seems to have petered out, thanks perhaps to the more radical bent of the top men after the Tenth Party Congress in August 1973, or perhaps thanks to the realisation that China is simply not affluent enough yet to allow consumption to rise.

Both these factors go some way towards explaining the “anti-bourgeois” campaign. What power struggles, if any, are concealed behind it is far from clear, but the general message to the people is one of obedience, hard work, and austerity. However, press and radio have clearly explained, both as a warning to radicals who would like to abolish them and to Rightists who might think they would last forever, that at China’s current point of development it is still essential to keep wage differentials. These are laid down in the national eightgrade wage system, under which workers throughout the country at the same level get about the same pay. This might be seen as some concession to the workers, but there is little chance of more. “To each according to his work,” said the May “Red Flag," was a principle that could not be eliminated, but should be prevented from breeding capitalism. Even if China had a fully co-operative work force it would still face difficulties. Railway lines are still in the main single track, mining equipment is old, handling facilities at ports are limited. In spite of family planning, the population continues to mount.

Economic development is uneven. The oil and petrochemicals industry has been the recipient of huge State investment (as presumably is defence); that must have meant the neglect of other ipdustries. The growing imbalance of the economy combined with restlesness of industrial workers is bringing with it even more complex problems which the Chinese will certainly not solve easily.

Across I—This should be observed to prevent that sinking feeling! (8, 4) 7— Craft collection. (5) 8— Airman misdirects the rifle. (5) 9— Profit from one transaction. (3) 10— Upnjsh in tenancy payment on the rise again, (9) 11— Provide support, but cause some delay. (4, 2) 12— See 21 Across. 15— Unlimited description of an exhausted kangaroo! (9) 17— The ring of French poetry. (3) 18— Fascination producing injury after the magic haa finished. (5) 19— A crowd for newspapers. (5) 21 & 12Ac. Its inclined to attract European visitors. (7, 5,2, 4) Down 1— A way to congratulate fhe Irishman astride the horse? (3, 2,3, 4) 2— Look at some of the prose essays. (3) 3— Stop press news behind schedule on the street. (6) 4— Fast flier needed for marine rescue equipment. (4-5) 5— A prominent feature about one disturbance. (5) 6— Do work of corresponding significance. (5, 1,6) 7 — Terminally breath-taking. (5) 10—Golfer, boxer or delivery operator! (9) 13— What the laundry-worker does for clubs. (5) 14— Border near the enclosure made of rope. (6) 16— Industrious agencies will provide custom. (5) 20— Take down, part of a lecture attentively. (3) Solution tomorrow Yesterday’s solution

Across: 4, Massage; 8, Bother; 9, Planted; 10, Throne; 11, Rating; 12, Dilating; 18, Tuck-shop; 20, Senile; 21, Starve; 22, Temples; 23, Career; 24, Selects. Down: 1, Ebb-tide; 2, Sterile; 3, Peanut; 5, Allergic; 6, Sanity; 7, Gleans; 13, Interest; 14, Charged; 15, Appears; 16, Secede; 17, Simple; 19, Kit-bag.