As we all know, in the latter part of Brezhnev's administration, the economic situation of the Soviet Union has become very severe.

In many areas, such as industry, agriculture, animal husbandry, transportation, housing, the production of consumer goods, and so on, the economic development of the Soviet Union has fallen to the point of almost coming to a standstill.

The main reason for this is that the mode of economic growth has remained unchanged for a long time, and the main reason restricting the change of the mode of economic growth is the traditional highly centralized planned economic system of the Soviet Union.

From the in-depth discussion with Andropov, Yang Weiping could clearly feel that Andropov deeply understood that if the Soviet social system was not reformed, the system itself would face a catastrophe.

Therefore, Andropov attached great importance to the reform of the system, especially the economic system. He repeatedly stressed that the profound qualitative change in the productive forces and the improvement of the production relations corresponding to them are not only imminent, but also imperative. This is an objective necessity and cannot be transferred by any individual's will. There is no way around it, and there is no way to avoid it. Only by comprehensively improving the management system and reforming the economic mechanism can we make full use of the superiority of the socialist mode of production.

It is precisely on the basis of this thinking that Andropov hit it off with Yang Weiping's proposal for the "Oriental Union version of the TPP" and happily decided to use the Soviet Far East as a pilot.

At the same time, Andropov also made attempts at reform in parts of the Soviet Union on three fronts.

First of all, in order to link the interests of the laborers with the final results of agricultural production, solve the acute problems existing in agriculture, and promote the development of agricultural production, Andropov boldly promoted the system of agricultural credit collectives and household contracts. In addition, the Central Political and Political Bureau of the CPSU and the All-Union Agricultural Conference respectively made resolutions on the widespread implementation of the collective contract system and the household contract system in collective farms and state farms.

Contracting organizations sign contracts with farms and farms, establish economic accounting relationships, and implement a collective contractor labor reward and remuneration system according to the quantity and quality of the final actual product. The contracting organization has the autonomy to decide on issues related to production operations. Contracting organizations are established on a voluntary basis and their leaders are elected.

As a result of Andropov's more vigorous measures, in 1983 the Soviet Union's rural collective contracting organizations developed rapidly. By June 1985, the total number of contracted operations organizations and contracted family groups had increased several times to 357,000, with more than 90 million hectares of cultivated land contracted. It accounts for more than 35% of the total area of public cultivated land in the country.

With less labor and capital consumption, the contractor produces 20-30% more output and increases labor productivity by 20-30% than the non-contractor. In addition to the collective contract system, since June 1983 there has also been a form of household contract system in some regions of the Soviet Union, in which farms and farms have handed over livestock and land to the peasants, provided them with loans, machinery, fertilizers, etc., and signed contracts with the peasants for the sale of agricultural products.

The emergence of the family contracting group has not only greatly reduced the management personnel of farms and farms, but also greatly improved the production efficiency. Pravda highly praised and affirmed this emerging agricultural model. It is said that this kind of household master contract system is a form of public economy and belongs to the scope of socialist production relations. It also emphasized the huge potential of the household contract responsibility system for improving labor productivity, which can organically combine the interests of the whole people, the collective and the individual.

Second, the promotion and improvement of contracted work teams in industry and construction. As a form of labor organization, the work team was tried in the construction industry during the Brezhnev period, but the results were not satisfactory. Andropov summed up the experience and lessons of his predecessors, further perfected this organizational form, and then vigorously spread it throughout the Soviet Union.

In June 1983, the Central Committee of the CPSU promulgated the Law on Labor Collectives, which formulated the statutes and regulations for the work teams. In December of the same year. The Central Committee of the CPSU also issued a resolution on "On the Further Development and Improvement of the Efficiency of Labor Organization and Labor Incentive Forms in Industry". Subsequently, the Council of Ministers took corresponding measures. Until the end of September 1985. The number of workers in the contracted work team was 80 per cent of the total number of industrial workers in the Union, and 75 per cent of the workers in the construction industry were involved in the contracting organization.

As an independent economic accounting unit, some of the work teams signed contracts with the enterprises, and obtained corresponding labor remuneration according to the quantity and quality of the final products specified in the contract. The savings in the wage fund are also at the disposal of the work team.

More than 90% of the work teams are in charge of a form of labor organization, and the implementation of saving commissions or other incentives, to a large extent, fully mobilizes the enthusiasm of the workers in production. The productivity of some advanced industrial teams can increase by about 12 percent per year, which is nearly two-thirds less than before the adoption of this form.

Other than that. Andropov was also determined to further expand the autonomy of state and collective enterprises.

In the later period of Brezhne's administration, although the resolution on structural reform also emphasized the expansion of enterprises' autonomy in production and operation, there were still many interferences and restrictions from higher levels in the actual implementation process. To this end, on July 25, 1983, Andropov facilitated the adoption of a resolution of the CPSU Central Committee and Council of Ministers "On Supplementary Measures for Expanding the Rights of Industrial Production Complexes (Enterprises) in Planning and Economic Activities and Strengthening Responsibility for Other Results".

The resolution decided to reduce the number of planned targets issued to enterprises and increase the role of contracts. The government departments will evaluate the enterprises in terms of product variety, quality, supply period, completion of product sales plan, and new product production and profit growth according to the contract, and the wage and material incentive funds will depend on the final results of production.

At the same time, enterprises have the right to independently use the production development fund, social and cultural facilities, housing construction fund and part of the science and technology development fund. The administrative department of the enterprise, after consultation with the trade union, has the right to use the saved wage fund to pay additional wages to the staff who are doing better work. All of this undoubtedly greatly mobilized the production enthusiasm of enterprises and individuals.

Although it is said that Yang Weiping has not been in the Soviet Union for a long time, from the various intelligence materials provided by Karenia and the conversations with Andropov, Yang Weiping is very pleased to see that Comrade Lao An has achieved remarkable results in strengthening labor discipline, rectifying social order, and promoting the reform of the economic system.

There have been considerable changes in cadres and personnel at all levels in departments in the Soviet Union, and the Central Committee of the CPSU has strengthened political and ideological work and public opinion propaganda. It is emphasized that the role of various institutions, such as the party, government, trade unions, comrades' adjudication committees, and people's supervision committees, should be brought into play to form a strong public opinion and jointly condemn all kinds of violations of law and discipline.

In short, every violation of law and discipline "became the object of Andropov's struggle." It is precisely because of this that Andropov became famous in the eyes of the Soviet people. High hopes were placed on him from all strata of society, including soldiers, workers, peasants, and intellectuals.

There is a general hope and even a belief that they are not destined to live endlessly in a barren political life, and that they can get something better. Andropov himself, on the other hand, saw the measures taken as "a reward for the deep expectations of the broad masses of the people."

In 1983, the Soviet Union's gross industrial production exceeded its annual plan, reversing years of declining growth and unplanned growth; agricultural production also developed considerably, with the total value of agricultural output increasing by 10 per cent over 1982; the efficiency indicators of the national economy as a whole were also greatly improved, and the productivity of social labor increased by 4.5 per cent.

In 1984, the GDP of the Soviet Union increased by 8.2 percent compared with 1983, the wages and remuneration of workers and peasants increased by 20 percent year-on-year, and the market supply improved markedly. The grain, oil, food, toothpaste, toothbrushes, towels, bed sheets, down jackets, shoes and hats, color televisions, refrigerators, tape recorders, video cameras, walkmans, washing machines, washing powders, shampoos, conditioners and other daily necessities produced and sold in the Far East can basically meet the needs of the whole Soviet Union, and even a small amount is exported.

Based on this gratifying situation, Yang Weiping is still quite optimistic about Andropov's next move to "comprehensively deepen and promote the reform of the Soviet economic system". Because Comrade Lao An has won the hearts and minds of the Soviet people.

As for whether Andropov can achieve a final victory in the struggle against the traditional conservative forces in the Soviet Union, this is not something that Yang Weiping can control.

The only thing Yang Weiping can do is to support Comrade Lao An spiritually and morally on behalf of the Eastern Union Union, but he will definitely not make a big taboo to interfere in the internal affairs of the Soviet Union.

In a certain sense, Yang Weiping's visit to the Soviet Union is also a kind of solidarity with Andropov's steady ruling power.

At this point, as long as the economic growth of the Soviet Union continues, even if it is at a slower rate, the national economy of the Soviet Union will never collapse in 1991. Unless there was a coup d'état in the Soviet Union during this period, someone overthrew the Central Committee of the CPSU led by Andropov and brought the Soviet Union back on the track of history.

However, for now, Yang Weiping feels that the probability of this happening is still quite small. And with Andropov's current state of physical health, as long as there are no accidents, it is basically not a big problem for him to live for another ten or twenty years.

Besides, with Yang Weiping exposing the evil intentions of the US imperialists' "Star Wars program," the Soviet Union no longer went all out to research space military technologies such as space-based directed energy weapons as it did in history. Rather, according to some suggestions put forward by Yang Weiping, we will selectively work on the basic disciplines of cutting-edge science and technology such as electromagnetism, lasers, high-energy particles, and microwaves.

As for the research and development of the "Beidou Navigation" global positioning system, Yang Weiping "very unkindly" did not plan to play with the Soviet people. After all, this thing belongs to the strongest killer weapon of high-tech warfare in the future, and the so-called desire to harm people is indispensable, but the desire to defend people is indispensable. At any time, it is more reliable to leave some hole cards for yourself. (To be continued......)