Chapter 57

The city has given Guangming Street two places to attend the meeting. If Director Mu does not attend, it will be a waste of an opportunity.

Considering that he had attended meetings in the Municipal Party Committee Auditorium before, Ye Manzhi had an inexplicable admiration for the auditorium and always felt it was a pity to give up this opportunity.

So, after asking around in the office, she took Liu Jinbao, who was free and liked attending meetings, to the city.

It had snowed heavily last night. When the two of them braved the biting cold wind and rushed to the auditorium, they saw quite a few people gathered in front of the bulletin board on the east side of the auditorium.

Ye Manzhi trotted over to take a look. It was the "List of Award-Winning Industrial Model Workers of Binjiang City in 1956" posted by the Municipal People's Committee.

Three red papers were posted in the order of model units, workshops, departments, groups and individuals.

Guangming Sub-district Office is the last one among the model units.

Listed behind large units such as power plants, mining bureaus, and railway administrations, it looks a bit inconsistent.

Fortunately, there is a "Wangjiawa Iron Production Cooperative" to accompany them, and this unit does not sound like a big unit.

Liu Jinbao squeezed into the crowd and quickly glanced through the list of winners.

When he saw the last one, he said excitedly, "Xiao Ye, the winning unit will get a bonus!"

"How much can you take?"

"I don't know. It just says there's a banner and a bonus of 150-450 yuan."

The bonus flexibility is quite large, and it is probably related to the size of the unit.

Giving 150 yuan as a reward to the power plant and the mining bureau is not enough to fill their teeth.

But for a street office with only two yuan of monthly office expenses, 150 yuan is a huge sum of money.

They are very satisfied to get a reward of 150 yuan!

The two young people were excited about the unexpected bonus. They happily went to the auditorium entrance to register and received their conference passes.

The conference lasts two days.

At the opening ceremony on the morning of the first day, the person who delivered the opening speech was Ye Manzhi's "acquaintance", the Deputy Mayor Liu who had been used by her as a tiger skin.

"Fellow industrial model workers, fellow comrades: The 1956 Binjiang City Industrial Model Worker Representative Conference is now officially opened."

"This conference is held to summarize and exchange advanced experiences in industrial production. While recognizing achievements, it is also necessary to point out shortcomings and suggest directions. We will further mobilize the enthusiasm and creativity of model workers and the vast majority of employees, and strive to complete and overfulfill the national construction tasks for 1957."

"In 1956, under the leadership of the Party and the Chairman, we launched a labor competition to increase production and save money on the industrial production front..."

Deputy Mayor Liu was speaking on the stage while Ye Manzhi was taking notes in the audience.

Fortunately, the leaders spoke very slowly, so although there was a lot of content, she was able to remember the general idea.

Seeing her writing furiously, Liu Jinbao couldn't help but whisper, "What's there to remember about this kind of opening speech? The full text of this opening speech will be published in the newspaper tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. If you want to learn, just read the newspaper."

"Hey, you don't understand!"

Liu Jinbao was just there to watch the fun and didn't feel any pressure, but Ye Manzhi still had the task of speaking on stage. She was cramming at the last minute, wanting to extract some key information from the deputy mayor's opening speech to enrich the content of her own speech.

This morning was mainly about the opening ceremony. After Vice Mayor Liu’s speech, only three representatives from model units were arranged to speak on stage, and then it was time for lunch.

The conference gave each participant two meal coupons and a movie ticket.

With the conference pass and meal coupon, you can have two lunches in the cafeteria east of the auditorium.

After the meeting, you can also use your ticket to watch a movie in the auditorium.

I don’t know the name of the movie, the staff just said it’s an industrial documentary.

Ye Manzhi and Liu Jinbao had never seen such a scene before!

When they came out for a meeting, not only was the meal provided, but they were even invited to see a movie!

"The Industrial Bureau is really rich!" Liu Jinbao sighed. "If I told Zhao Erhe about the treatment at the meeting, he would definitely regret not coming!"

"Haha," Ye Manzhi muttered as she looked for an empty seat in the cafeteria, carrying her lunch box. "The Industrial Bureau is incredibly wealthy. It keeps 50% of the profits from local state-owned factories. Just imagine how rich they are! Treating us to two meals is a piece of cake!"

Liu Jinbao was surprised and said, "You even know this!"

"After all, I am now the acting factory manager!"

The Municipal Industrial Bureau does not care about small unplanned factories like the coal furnace factory.

These are what she learned in the training class for grassroots cadres.

I originally thought that the advanced training class would mainly talk about Marxism-Leninism, but I didn't expect that it would also mention a lot of practical content, which made Ye Manyi dare not miss a single class.

She spotted an empty seat, walked over with her lunch box and asked, "Comrade Shao, can we share a table?"

"Please sit down!" Shao Yingchun nodded and asked with a smile, "Which unit are you from?"

"We're from the Guangming Sub-district Office in Zhengyang District. It was our turn to speak this afternoon," Ye Manzhi praised. "Comrade Shao, what you just said was really great!"

Shao Yingchun is the representative of Wangjiawa Iron Production Cooperative. This time, their cooperative won the title of "First-Class Model Towards Semi-mechanization".

She just finished her report this morning.

"It was also my first time speaking on stage, and I was very nervous."

Ye Manzhi asked curiously, "I remember when you were speaking just now, you mentioned that your cooperative has been exceeding its targets in recent months, and that workers are even using their spare time to produce unplanned products. Will the Commercial Bureau and the Supply and Marketing Cooperative still underwrite the excess production?"

"No, we have to find sales channels on our own for products beyond our production targets."

"Then aren't these unplanned products you produce a burden?"

Ye Manyi knows only too well how difficult it is to find a market for unplanned goods.

Shao Yingchun smiled and said, "It's not bad. Our planned products are mainly simple agricultural tools. They are sold quite well in the free market in the village."

Upon hearing this, Ye Manzhi and Liu Jinbao were both surprised and asked, "There's a free market in your village?"

If the state wanted to establish socialist commerce, it would have banned the free market long ago.

Industrial products are processed and ordered, and purchased and sold in bulk, while agricultural products are purchased or sold in bulk.

The price of each commodity is set by the state, while the price in the free market follows market trends and is too "free".

Ye Manzhi hasn't seen a free market for several years.

Liu Jinbao muttered, "You guys in the village are pretty brave, aren't you?"

Isn't this a crime against the wind?

"Our township's free market was allowed by the city," Shao Yingchun explained. "City leaders are piloting free markets in rural areas, and our township is one of them. It seems they want to increase farmers' income. After farmers fulfill their state-unified purchase and marketing obligations, any excess agricultural and sideline products can be sold in the market. We can also sell some of the small handicrafts produced by our cooperative."

Ye Manzhi asked foolishly, "When farmers sell their crops, the money belongs to them, right?"

"Of course."

Ye Manzhi said enviously, "My hometown is also in the countryside. It would be great if we could have a free market there too."

Her grandparents pick a lot of wood ear mushrooms and fungus every year. If they can be sold in the market, it can bring a lot of income to the family.

Wangjiawa is too far away, but you can ask where other pilot projects are.

This news made Ye Manzhi and Liu Jinbao very excited.

There is less than a month left until the Spring Festival. If the city really launches a free market pilot in rural areas, they can go to the countryside to attend the big market!

This is something that hasn’t been happening in years!

*

Ye Manzhi had a free lunch and heard the good news, and was happy all afternoon.

However, when she sat back in the auditorium in the afternoon, she began to pick her fingers nervously again.

When the conference announcer asked the representative of the heavy machinery factory to come on stage and the representative of Guangming Sub-district Office to prepare, her heart rate jumped to the peak and she seemed to have difficulty breathing.

Liu Jinbao seemed to be even more nervous than her, and kept shaking his legs while sitting on the chair.

"Xiaoye, you'll be fine, don't be nervous!"

This entire row of chairs were connected together, and he was shaking his legs next to them, causing Ye Manzhi to shake along with him.

She said speechlessly: "Okay, why are you shaking? Can you be more motivated?"

"I'm just worried about you!"

"I'm not in a hurry to eat, so why are you in a hurry to lick the plate?"

Liu Jinbao stopped shaking his legs and said angrily, "Who licked the plate?"

"Haha, I'm talking about you!"

Ye Manzhi argued with him for a while, but when she heard the announcer's reminder and walked up to the podium, her mood had calmed down a little.

She stood in the center of the podium, about to take out her speech, when her mind suddenly buzzed.

In order to look good when speaking, she took off her military coat.

She was so nervous and bickering that she forgot to take the speech from her military coat pocket when she went on stage!

The auditorium was filled with conference delegates. Standing on the bright podium, she couldn't even find her previous seat.

She couldn't ask Liu Jinbao to bring the manuscript up, right?

That's too embarrassing.

Seeing that she hadn't moved, the announcer reminded her, "The representative of Guangming Subdistrict Office may begin his speech!"

Ye Manzhi could feel countless gazes focused on him, especially in the first row, where the mayor and leaders of various units sat.

There were reporters from several newspapers in the aisle between the podium and the auditorium.

If she fails on stage today, she will be embarrassed in front of the entire city!

Ye Manzhi took a deep breath and got his brain working again as quickly as possible.

She ignored her left hand which was numb from nervousness, walked to the microphone, and tried her best to control her voice so that others would not hear the trembling in her voice.

"Hello, fellow industrial model workers, leaders, and comrades! I am Ye Manzhi, a representative of the Guangming Subdistrict Office in Zhengyang District. This conference has awarded the Guangming Subdistrict Office the title of 'Second-Class Model of Towards Socialist Industrialization.' I thank the conference for recognizing our work achievements."

"Some of you here might be confused. The conference awarded ten model unit awards, and the first nine were first-class models. Why did the one at Guangming Street become a second-class model?"

Some people in the audience nodded.

The list of winners has been posted on the bulletin board outside, and almost all the participants have seen it.

The awarding of model units is indeed rather strange.

Following a row of first-class models, there is a second-class model.

Ye Manzhi calmed her heartbeat and said with a smile, "It's a shame to say that other units won awards for large-scale industry or semi-mechanized handicrafts, but our Guangming Subdistrict Office won an award because of its outstanding achievements in family handicrafts."

"In the fourth quarter of 1956, Guangming Street's cottage industry revenue increased by 312% year-on-year and 303% month-on-month. This growth rate ranked first in the city! Therefore, the city leaders wanted us to come to the conference to share our success stories!"

Wow——

An 80% increase in the first few units is already something to brag about.

The increase in this small street office is more than 300%. Is this a sky-high increase?

Although the base of family handicraft industry is relatively small, it is still remarkable to have such an increase.

Many representatives from grassroots units at the scene sat up straight.

Streets and villages should organize and develop family handicrafts, and perhaps we can learn some useful experience from Guangming Street.

“Before I share my experience, I would like to tell you a little story.”

"There's a grandmother named Liu in Binjiang City who has a lifelong habit: washing clothes by the river! Even though her home has municipal tap water, this habit was formed at a young age, and the old lady can't change it!"

Some people may complain, but it may not be because they can't change their habits, but perhaps they want to save some water bills.

"Older people used to wash clothes with a mallet, but Grandma Liu's mallet broke this summer. She went to five supply and marketing cooperatives near her home and even to the city's department store, but couldn't find one."

"Grandma Liu thought her tools might be outdated, as no manufacturer was producing laundry mallets anymore. So, following her daughter's advice, she went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy a washboard. However, a funny thing happened again. Grandma Liu went to five more supply and marketing cooperatives, but none of them had any stock or only had samples for display. Grandma Liu returned empty-handed, and finally her daughter bought a washboard from a public-private joint venture grocery store on the outskirts of the city."

Ye Manzhi looked at the audience and said with a smile, "I didn't make this up; it's a real thing that happened. Those who are interested can look at the fourth page of the Binjiang Daily on August 27, 1956. The section on people's livelihood that day introduced Grandma Liu's experience."

"People may not pay much attention to such trivial matters in life. In fact, in addition to the out-of-stock items such as washboards and mallets, many household items such as brooms, brushes, rolling pins, clothespins, and kitchen knives, which are used by every household, have also been out of stock one after another."

"According to statistics from the Binjiang Handicraft Wholesale Market, the number of items sold there decreased from 1,396 to 532 last year. As Grandma Liu experienced, the shelves of stores selling these goods are mostly empty, with some displaying only a few samples. Market managers say this decline hasn't completely stopped."

There was suddenly a lot of discussion in the audience, and the city leaders in the first row also tilted their heads to communicate with each other.

Some people think her words are alarmist, but the statistics of the wholesale market cannot be falsified.

This may be the reality that everyone does not want to see.

Ye Manzhi felt her fingers seem to be less numb. She took the microphone and continued, "After noticing this situation, I thought of many possibilities. Why did so many small household items suddenly disappear? The reason is that there are fewer factories producing small household items."

"The past year has been a year of rapid industrial development in Binjiang. In his opening speech, Vice Mayor Liu mentioned that thanks to the concentration of tools, funds, and the rational deployment of technical personnel, the city's total handicraft output value reached 200 million yuan in 1956, a 70% increase over the previous year."

"Although the variety of small daily commodities in the wholesale market has decreased, more than 800 new varieties have been added to the large-scale industrial sector. These products have played a significant role in supporting industrial and agricultural production."

"Speaking of this, I have to mention our city's industrial policy—serving agricultural production, serving large-scale industry, and serving the lives of urban and rural residents."

"To achieve this goal, many units began to cooperate, with small workshops becoming cooperatives, and small cooperatives becoming large ones. After collectivization, many units saw a significant increase in production capacity, so they all wanted to move from producing simpler daily necessities to producing supporting products for large-scale industry."

Representatives from factories and cooperatives below the stage nodded in agreement.

If factories want to survive, producing more profitable products is an inevitable trend.

With the technology level to build airplanes, who would still produce shovels?

This is also a waste!

"According to a survey of the three main industries of metal, wood, and sewing, 85% of the city's production cooperatives have more than 100 employees, 15% have fewer than 50 employees, and almost no cooperatives have fewer than 10 employees. These cooperatives not only have large numbers of employees, but also a wide variety of products, some even offering hundreds of types, which creates great inconvenience for management."

"I specifically visited the city's largest wood processing factory, the Zhengyang District Tenth Wood Products Cooperative. Almost all wood-related products in the district, including lumber processing, coffin making, wooden furniture, and wood dyeing, are produced here. However, due to the large variety of products and the difficulty in management, the Tenth Wood Products Cooperative now only produces bulk products such as office desks and chairs, ping-pong tables, and filing cabinets. Smaller daily items like washboards, paneling boards, and chopsticks have been discontinued."

"In addition, the Wangjiawa Iron Production Cooperative, who just spoke this morning, is in the same situation."

Seeing the serious expressions of the city leaders in the first row, Ye Manzhi hurriedly waved his hands to explain.

"Leader, I'm not here to complain about these cooperatives! Their production and operations are doing exceptionally well, and they're constantly making technological progress. We can't criticize them!"

The atmosphere in the audience relaxed and a burst of laughter was heard.

"Having said all this, I simply want to remind all my colleagues at the grassroots level that those cooperatives have merged one after another, pursuing higher goals! The small household goods they've abandoned are actually a great opportunity for us to develop our cottage industry!"

"What are the characteristics of a cottage industry? It's a large number of people, scattered personnel, limited space, and most of the practitioners are housewives and idle laborers. To put it bluntly, our cottage industry has low technical level and is easy to turn around."

"As long as we do a good job of market research, we will have no problem selling the products produced by our family handicraft industry."

"Of course, market research can't be done half-heartedly. Last month's market conditions may not apply to next month. Our comrades in the streets and towns should always send people to wholesale markets or supply and marketing cooperatives to learn about market conditions."

Ye Manzhi looked down at the audience and raised her voice. "Take, for example, a few orders from Guangming Street in October. The carpentry team from the Second Residents' Committee produced 50 washboards in three days. After delivering them to the neighborhood supply and marketing cooperative, the team leader wanted to continue production, but was stopped by our market consultant. Because washboards were in sufficient supply at the nine supply and marketing cooperatives in the district, but cutting boards were in short supply, the carpentry team immediately changed their plans and switched to producing cutting boards. In just one month, they produced 14 types of products in 22 sizes, all of which were purchased by the supply and marketing cooperative without exception."

"In addition to 'following the market and selling according to the season,' the family handicraft industries on Guangming Street have also actively responded to the city's call for increased production and conservation. They have collaborated with large industries and produced many small commodities using leftover scraps from some factories."

"For example, our ironwork team uses the leftover iron scraps from Factory 656 to stamp soda bottle caps. The remaining scraps can be used to make hairpins, and the remaining scraps can be used to make eyelets for shoes or the tips of shoelaces."

Ye Manzhi walked out of the podium and gestured on her leather shoes.

"With this process, not even the scraps of sheet metal are wasted. As long as our staff organizes each link well, even small home-based handicrafts can collaborate and achieve significant increases in production and savings!"

The production process she described is extremely economical.

Many representatives in the audience were stunned.

Deputy Mayor Liu is the leader in charge of industrial production and is responsible for mobilizing enterprises to increase production and save costs.

Although the output of this street is not large, people have heeded the city's call.

Large factories generally do not charge for their leftover materials, so street residents can make money by using the free leftover materials with only some effort.

No wonder the handicraft income in Guangming Street has increased significantly.

Deputy Mayor Liu was the first to applaud Guangming Street’s actions.

With the leader taking the lead, other audience members also offered their applause.

Ye Manzhi quickly reviewed his speech in his mind, and it seemed that there was nothing he had missed.

So she began to speak the closing remarks she had prepared long ago.

"1956 has come to an end. In 1957, the Party and the State require us to further consolidate the great achievements made in socialist construction. At the same time, we are required to carry out a campaign to increase production and save money in the spirit of building the nation through diligence and thrift. Our Guangming Subdistrict Office was awarded the title of Second-Class Model at this conference. In the new year, under the leadership of the Party, we will continue to learn from the First-Class Models, strive to successfully complete the First Five-Year Plan, and create the most favorable conditions for the implementation of the Second Five-Year Plan!"

After finishing his speech, Ye Manzhi bowed deeply and walked down from the podium amid the applause of the audience.

After returning to the audience, she quickly asked Liu Jinbao, "How did I perform just now?"

"It seems to be different from the speech you prepared?"

"Ah? Did I say something wrong?"

"You seem to speak better than you write!"

Ye Manzhi was secretly delighted. "Hehe, I didn't write the content of the leader's speech in my speech draft. I temporarily added Deputy Mayor Liu's speech when I was on the stage."

Having completed his mission, Ye Manzhi completely relaxed.

She found it very easy to listen to the speeches of several units afterwards.

On the first day, only the model units gave speeches, and on the second day, the model workers gave speeches.

After the meeting ended that day, Liu Jinbao suggested, "Why don't we collect the bonus for being a second-class model? It's at the Municipal People's Committee next door."

"Okay, I've brought my work ID. I'll collect the banner and bonus today to avoid any further complications."

The two walked out of the auditorium and headed to the Municipal People's Committee Office Building not far away.

However, before I got close, I saw from afar hundreds of workers holding up banners in front of the People's Committee.

They walked over quickly and found that those holding the banners were rickshaw pullers who had lost their jobs.

There were actually several familiar faces in the crowd, probably residents of Guangming Street.

"It's over! Director Mu was waiting for them to cause trouble at home, but instead of going to the streets, they came straight to the city!"

Liu Jinbao grabbed a middle-aged man and asked, "Brother, after the city bans rickshaws, they will definitely assign new jobs. What are you guys making such a fuss about?"

"Haha, we have to make a fuss. Look at how many rickshaw drivers there are in the city? Thousands or tens of thousands, right? Why does the city need so many bus drivers? Aside from those with connections who can drive buses, who knows where the rest will be arranged."

The crying child gets the milk, so no matter what, you still have to make a fuss.

"Besides, rickshaws have been banned and we don't have any jobs now. Who will pay us while we wait for work?"

The drivers complained among themselves.

The leaders of their transportation agency and street office also rushed over after receiving the notice from the city.

Ye Manzhi saw Director Mu coming with the director of the transportation agency.

As soon as the other person jumped off the back of the bicycle, she stepped forward and explained the situation.

Then he whispered, "Director, the city leaders will be calling in representatives for a talk soon. I just heard today that the city has launched free market pilot programs in several townships. Can we discuss setting up a pilot program in Guangming Street as well? We could then allow these temporarily unemployed rickshaw drivers to participate in home-based handicraft production, making some unplanned daily necessities, and then selling them on the free market to help everyone get through this difficult period."

Then she can go to the market right at her doorstep!