Re: Economics and law/bureaucratic order made real

[Chris Doss <lookoverhere1@xxxxxxxxx>]

Now, based upon Chris Doss' explanation of Soviet
manufacturing, does
not the experience of Soviet manufacturing weigh
against Charles'
hypothesis?  Would not the Soviet experience suggest
an emphasis not on
safety under socialism, but an emphasis on job
security, which had the
necessary tradeoff of lowering the relative importance
of safety?

David Shemano
---

I think this is in general true. It is also the case
that there was little positive incentive for good work
(yes, there were bonuses for exceeding the plan or
whatnot, but they weren't very large). Income was
based on length of time spent at a given job, not on
performance. This created a great deal of resentment
among the workforce. (An acquantance of mine, an
Ingush woman named Madina -- a typical Ingush/Chechen
female name -- is very bitter because her father, a
gifted engineer, at least in her eyes, was unable to
rise above the so-called salary "ceiling." This
started to change under Gorbachev in one of his few
popular moves.

Now, work in the military was regarded as essential to
state security, so slacking off would be considered a
variety of betrayal of state interests, and so not so
lightly treated.

Then again, in the Stalin era, someone who was late to
work would be considered a Trotskyist wrecker and sent
to Siberia. So people worked hard then. :)



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