said to be inordinately low. There are reported to be many
enterprises in which the established norms are substantially
overfulfilled despite the fact that the effective workday does not
exceed 6 to 7 hours. These norms, it is said, require only about 5-1/2
to 6 hours of work per day and are thus responsible for a 25- to
35-percent loss of output or, conversely, of labor wastage. Yet, despite
the low norms, about 14 percent of the workers fail to complete their
assigned tasks. Although a Politburo decision in April 1967 called the
attention of Party, government, and economic organs to the importance of
correct labor norms, this matter has been generally neglected and little
has been accomplished. Many of the existing norms have become obsolete.

The Politburo's program that was adopted toward the end of 1969 for
raising productivity is based essentially on an appeal to the social
consciousness of all participants in the economic process and calls for
improved performance in all aspects and at all levels of production
through greater self-discipline and more stringent controls. A practical
difficulty faced by the leadership in the execution of its program is
the lack of a precise concept of productivity and of an effective
methodology for establishing sound productivity targets or for measuring
actual performance. The problem is particularly pronounced in
agriculture. Experimentation with new concepts and methods has been
underway for some time under the joint guidance of the State Planning
Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Mining, and the Ministry of
Construction. Results of the experimentation are to serve as a basis for
further decisions by the Council of Ministers in 1970.

A distinctive feature of the country's labor scene is the practice of
mobilizing large numbers of the population for so-called voluntary work
on various types of construction and agricultural projects, including
the building of railroads, housing, and irrigation canals; land
improvement; harvesting; and the planting of trees. Thousands and, at
times, tens of thousands of individuals from all walks of life,
including members of the armed forces, are assembled by the government
to carry out specific jobs with simple tools or with their bare hands.

Party dogma holds that these projects, which use vast numbers of people,
reflect the Party's strength, the might of the masses, and the great
reserves to be found in their midst. The projects are