Farmers' Autonomous Actions And Institutional Change

This paper has given a general picture of the basic structure and the route of development of Zhejiang farmers' autonomous actions from 1952 to 1992 in the process of constructing villages and communities in China. This paper has looked deep into the formation and results of these autonomous actions under the special situations of the institutions. Based on the above described, this paper hopes to answer the questions on how the farmers push the institutions to change and why these changes frequently happened in Zhejiang.The farmers'autonomous actions in this paper refer to the following: from the resisting actions of the agricultural cooperation movement of China to the experimental reform to the practice of contract production quotas to individual households, from farmers doing businessmen to farmers doing multi non-agriculture business, from farmers leaving their lands to working in the cities and even building the cities. From these autonomous actions, we may find that the fanners have been playing the role which seems neither too revolutionary nor too conservative, but the positive role of reformers and initiators in the institutional reform in a special situation.As far as the results of these actions are concerned, the farmers'autonomous actions so far mentioned have really played an important role in quickening the steps of the institutional change which has not only brought about modifications and changes to the agricultural cooperation movement of China, but also innovated management institutions in agriculture production, quickened the step for the market reform in the area of currency and commerce, enriched the state-owned economic structures which look monotonous, shaken the binary structures of the urban and rural areas and created a way to urbanize the countryside.Although at that time it was hard to find any documents, rules and regulations to support these autonomous actions, yet, these actions have been practicing time and again in the rural areas, and as time goes by, these actions have gradually become naturalized and legalized. Therefore the author regards such kind of actions as creative autonomous actions which can be interpreted as a kind of action out of the need for living and welfare of the people within the arrangement and restriction of the institutions. On the one hand, people have to follow the restriction of the institutions; on the other hand, people have to break through the restriction of the institutions in order to carry out their actions. Such actions are creative and can innovate the institutions.This paper argues that the farmers'creative autonomous actions are the main driving force for institutional change. This driving force can be illustrated from three perspectives at least. The first one is the awareness of raising questions so as to force the government to reflect on and adjust the governmental institutions for adaptation. The second one is to give the government pressure and motivation. The third one is a kind of from-quantity-to-quality change which can result in the innovation of the institutions. The fourth one is the general effect of the actions which can successfully persuade or change those in power to change their mind, which can result in bringing about the changes of those in powers their ways of knowing and their choice for decisions and turning people's actions into the national actions which can help these actions become the system in the government. However, there are conditions for the farmers'creative autonomous actions to become a national practice. Among them, the way of non-radical actions and the good results of the actions are the two factors that should not be ignored.It is generally accepted that the changes in the government brought about by the farmers are regarded as the drived institutional change. There are two implications in this, one is that the main participants in the changes are the farmers, the other is that the impetus for the changes mainly come from the society, which originates from the factors generated from the outside of the system accumulated gradually. They influence the system, and force the people in power to institutional change. According to the different environments of institution, impact institutional change can be divided into "crisis-impact" and "positive--impact".Meanwhile, In the past 40 years since 1952, a series of creative autonomous actions happening in Zhejiang province especially in the central south of the province shows that the local knowledge of natural environments, the customs of industry and commerce, the culture of the pragmatic theory as well as the will and actions of the local government are the main factors that influence the farmers' choice for their actions. First of all, there exists highly intensified contradiction between the man-land and the monotonous management of collective system which is very hard to be compensated. The conflicts between them are salient; therefore, the farmers' demand for change in Zhejiang province becomes quite urgent. Secondly, there exists a sharp conflict between the traditional business culture of being self-employed and family-run and the government system of rejecting self-employedness. Thirdly, the self-generated industry-commercial tradition and the industry-commercial culture from the grassroots have directly affected the farmers' choice of actions, which in turn makes it possible for the farmers to act autonomously. Fourthly, influenced by the tradition of the east Zhejiang school of pragmatic culture, the farmers in Zhejiang seem to possess a kind of spirit which is both down-to-earth and revolutionary. Fifthly, the local government's value attitude and choice for their actions are the key variable quantity.