All-around Contracting: Analysis on the Logic of Production Organization Change

The arrangement and efficiency of labor organizations in agricultural cooperative movements are topics worth exploring and practicing. During the time period under study, methods such as “production-based labor,” “contracting to the group,” and “all-around contracting (dà bāo gān)” gradually emerged in some rural areas. Among them, the remuneration system based on labor under production-based labor reasonably solved the situation of farmers not exerting effort but rather exerting more effort, as some farmers took the path of individual farming, which contradicted the initial goals of the commune; without violating collective production cooperation, to actively mobilize farmers to produce, rural production organizations evolved into work groups but could still not solve the problem of labor efficiency. It was not until the economic goal of “focusing on improving agriculture as soon as possible” was established that rural production organizations finally returned to a family focus. Of course, while changes in rural production organizations and management methods are generally influenced by national policies and ideologies, more importantly, they are permeated with the economic logic behind the changes in rural production organizations and the impact of the state on rural society in this change in production organization.