control. In the early 1970s this
quest has brought about the reorganization of industry wherein
industrial enterprises have been grouped into huge trusts at the same
time that collective and state farms have been similarly grouped into
so-called agroindustrial complexes.

The consolidation of agriculture into extremely large complexes, begun
in 1970, was intended to raise productivity through concentration of
effort, specialization of production, and increased control by the
central government. The reorganization is a long-range program that is
expected to be completed by 1980, at which time authorities predict that
farm incomes will have risen to equal industrial incomes and, because
agricultural enterprises will be run just like factories, the social
differences between peasants and workers will have been eliminated. By
1973 results of the reorganization that had already occurred were mixed,
and it was still too early to assess the long-range value of the
agroindustrial complexes.

In the industrial sector the consolidation of various enterprises into
trusts was undertaken in the early 1970s for the same reasons that the
agroindustrial complexes were formed, that is, greater efficiency
through concentration, specialization, and increased control. Bulgarian
industrial growth since World War II had been remarkable, considering
particularly the inadequate base of skilled labor and natural resources
in a country that had been predominantly agricultural. Bulgaria's need
for raw materials, machinery, and technological assistance during its
long period of industrialization and the Soviet Union's willingness to
supply them accounted in large measure for the extremely close economic
ties between the two countries. Because the growth rate had begun to
slow toward the end of the 1960s, the BKP decided to try a massive
reorganization of the economic structure as a remedy for the situation.

In addition to the political and economic systems of the country, the
social system has been a major concern of the party and government ever
since the BKP took power. Social restructuring has resulted in a system
wherein the party elite occupies the highest level. This group is small
and represents the apex of the social pyramid. The next level down,
which is much broader, includes lesser party functionaries,
professionals, administrators and managers, technicians, and all
white-collar workers. The next level is made up of blue-collar
indu