In a short visit to China and having seen their industry, what struck me was the efficiency, the innovation and the commitment of the workers in State enterprises. Generally the drive for privatisation around the world has been that State-run industries fail or are inefficient and sclerotic. Yet China is an exception among some countries.
Outsiders and detractors give reasons such as authoritarian regime, forced labour, lack of freedom to complain etc. However, a short visit to China showed a different picture. They have workers committees or groups. Their views, criticism and ideas to improve the working environment are taken on board. Managers who fail workers are held to account.
In one of the Steel Factory, every worker and manager had to take a Health and Safety course on a virtual chair where the latest technological tools were installed. They had to wear VR (Virtual Reality) headsets that simulated almost all kinds of dangers, accidents etc that could happen in the factory. This refutes the theory of expendable forced labour. In fact few industries outside China might have this degree of sophisticated Health and Safety procedures in place.
Nor did the staff or workers appear down beaten. They seemed quite proud of the work they were involved in. Even in market places, there didn’t appear to be evidence of forced, underpaid or subjugated labour.
True, what foreigners see in China, may not be what is happening in back streets. But there is plenty of so called slave labour in many countries, including leading western countries that produce cheap clothes, farm produce etc. In the UK, it is well known that there are press gangs that supply labour to farms during picking season. There are underpaid or very low paid workers in the care sector, road building etc, brought from outside the country. The USA farm industry relies on the ‘undocumented’ labour force which cannot work officially.
One of the arguments made by critics of immigration in many western countries is that the establishment deliberately permits it to enable rich landowners, industrialists and other business owners to undercut domestic labour with workers from outside or even illegal vulnerable labour that is cheaper, does not grumble and almost in a gig economy without the safeguards, holidays etc that would otherwise be expected. Facts and fiction often get intermingled in trade propaganda wars.
A middle management Chinese lady in a State-run enterprise said that her mother prefers her not to work in private industry because ‘they go bankrupt’. Government jobs don’t pay much and there aren’t openings for advancement. But in a State run enterprise, there is opportunity, reward for hard work, for innovation, for problem solving and for increasing productivity.
That is an interesting phenomenon when compared with State-run enterprises in many western and other countries. Most public sector enterprises appear to become inefficient, run into considerable debt needing tax money to bail them out and generally lack innovation.
Authoritarianism also doesn’t answer the question. After all, the Soviet was quite authoritarian. It collapsed on its inefficiency which led to economic combustion. Many other communist countries eventually gave way to capitalist economies because their version of communism was inconsistent with productivity.
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There also seems to be a misunderstanding of China’s so called authoritarianism. There is plenty of consensus building at the coalface of work and decision making. There is considerable decentralisation of power. Some provinces or states, even have their own ‘foreign ministry’. However as political power reaches upper echelons of central power, democracy starts to be less important. China seems to prefer stability at the top, a sort of continuity, meritocracy and guidance.
Perhaps this is closer to Chinese civilisation. Not all civilisations or cultures operate as well as voting democracies. The word democracy is one of those words such as peace, that is politically correct and emotive. We all need a voice and we all seek peace. But human race has evolved in different civilisations over a few thousand years.
The expression of one’s voice has evolved in different ways. In western society based on rights, the individual demands to be heard through the legal right of expression or a right to be heard. It is one system and not necessarily perfect as a number of compulsions restrict that right, including being in a job where excessive criticism of those in control can lead to dismissal. The law is one thing, practical reality is another.
In some civilisations, the voice is heard without the need for a regime of rights or demands to be heard. Some ancient civilisations have developed a subtle and complex system of working as cohesive communities with responsibilities towards each other, to those in authority and those who are being managed or being ruled.
This was evident in the working environment. In order to get the maximum from their workers, managers make their worker colleagues feel important and part of the team. The manager’s own career prospect seems to depend on happy and productive workers.
No country is perfect. Some countries have more to hide than others. Some countries deflect attention from their own defects and excesses by pointing at the drawbacks of others. And some countries simply couldn’t care.
However, facts cannot be obscured about China. According to World Bank, the country has reduced its extreme poverty from some 80% to less than 2% in a matter of four decades. That is an achievement in itself. The level of technology and efficiency is extraordinary with the country now on verge of making trains that will run faster than airplanes! This degree of speed cannot be reached without due regard for human life and safety. The development reach is phenomenal.
China’s model is unlikely to work in many other parts of the world. It is based on Chinese civilisation. This is an expression of what China usually calls ‘with Chinese characteristics’. One clear difference seems to be that in western civilisation, relationship between the ruled and rulers is based on the ‘rights’ or demand to be treated well, demand to be heard, demand to be considered equal. This is part of the route western civilisation evolved from the period of absolutist Divine Kings.
In China on the other hand, the onus is on the other side. Those in power are obliged to treat the subjects with respect, with dignity and to hear their voice in order to maintain what Chinese call ‘harmony’. In both systems there are imperfections and breakdown. To smooth those have to be done differently.