In
the last few months, a series of grave industrial accidents, such as coalmine
explosions, have taken place and have caused concern inside and outside China.
Two
years ago, in October Review, No.202, I wrote an article "Market economy
induces severe industrial hazards", in which I pointed out that while
China accelerates the market economy, the scramble for profits causes
enterprise owners and the management to go for production at the expense of
safety. The article carried concrete examples of casualties.
More
casualties have accompanied China's market economic growth. According to
statistics, in 2001, over 1 million accidents happened with 130,000 deaths, an
increase of 20.5% and 10.4% respectively over the preceding year. Of this,
industrial and coalmine hazards numbered 11,402, with 12,554 deaths.1
In
the months of January to May 2002, the number of accidents and deaths had
increased by 9% and 5.8% compared to the same period in the preceding year.2
The
Beijing Youth Newspaper published an editorial entitled "The alliance of
capital and power is the prime culprit for coalmine disasters". It quoted
the words of Tian Chengping, the Party Secretary of the Shanxi Province, when
he visited the site of the coalmine disaster: "production here from the
very beginning has violated the rules. Not one link was compliant with the
rules. So many meetings on safety have been convened, but a lot of work cannot
be implemented when it comes to the grassroots level." Perhaps, one would
wonder why with so many meetings and conferences on safety, with so many
inspections and issuance of government circulars, illegal coalmine extraction
still continues causing severe accidents to become inevitable?
The
editorial's reply to such questions was: "the frequent occurrence of coalmine
accidents is not because we do not have good policies, but because the policies
and the regulations cannot be implemented." The editorial goes on to say
that the local bureaucrats have a direct interest in the illegal mining, and
when accidents happen, they make use of the power in their hands to conceal the
truths.3
The
newspaper and the People's Daily of July 19 reported on some concrete examples
of the inability to implement policies. For example, many provincial and
municipal authorities complained during national safety conferences that though
they had issued production stoppage instructions, the instructions were ignored
and illegal production continued. The Vice Premier Wu Bangguo was quoted as
saying that "the major problem we encounter in our current production
safety work is that we cannot be rigorous about it and policies cannot be
implemented at the lower levels."4
This
indicates the anarchy of capitalist production in China, and the merging of
capital with the privileged bureaucracy. The government's governing power is
also partially paralyzed. Faced with such a situation, the newspaper carries
another article that appeared together with the editorial, entitled "Old
model cannot well govern the market economy". The article proposes a new
coherent, systematized and self-regulatory scientific management system whereby
the leadership and the enterprise will make a two-level pledge and a third
party, the workers organization, will validate the rectifying and preventive
measures, carry out risk assessment and control mechanisms, as well as safety
communication networks and rescue systems.
On
June 29, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress adopted the
"Safety Production Act of the People's Republic of China", which will
be implemented on November 1. With 96 clauses to the Act, according to People's
Daily journalist Zhang Qiang, an accountability system for safety production
accidents will be set up. This means the responsibilities of government
departments, production units, management staff and employees will be clearly
differentiated and designated.
It
is only after half a century since the PRC was set up that an act regulating
safety production is introduced. Generally speaking, it is better to have some
law than to have no law. However, it is doubtful if many of the clauses can be
effectively implemented. For example, it is stipulated that the employees have
the right to refuse illegal or risky work, and have the right to stop work and
evacuate from the site in case of discovery of emergency situations, yet there
is nothing to protect the workers from being sacked. After the implementation
of market economy, the enterprises enjoy full powers to recruit or dismiss
workers. At a time when unemployment is serious, workers may choose to take the
risk rather than quit the job. The trade unions, almost all of which are
official, have the right to make recommendations to rectify measures that
violate workers' legal rights, yet they do not have binding power on the
enterprises.
The
crux of the problem is that the workers, nominally master of the country, do
not have power over production or the running of the enterprises. Enterprises
are run by capital and political privilege combined. For workers to be able to
exercise their power over production as well as social and national affairs,
the Communist Party's one-party rule and the political and economic privileges
of the bureaucrats must be abolished.
13
August 2002
1 Beijing Youth Newspaper, 4 July 2002.
2 China Youth Newspaper, 6 July 2002.
3 Beijing Youth Newspaper, 4 July 2002.
4 China Youth Newspaper, 6 July 2002.