Boosting productivity in Bulgaria (nothing new)

Original article

BOX-FOLDER-REPORT: 6-1-157
TITLE: Boosting Production in Bulgaria
BY: Stankovic
DATE: 1962-1-16
COUNTRY: Bulgaria
ORIGINAL SUBJECT: Research and Evaluation

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CURT (B) - BOOSTING PRODUCTION IN BULGARIA F-112

Munich, January 16, 1962 (Research and Evaluation -
Stankovic) - The Bulgarian leaders are now doing their utmost to
increase labor productivity by using slogans of "moral and
political" stimulation rather than promising workers material
benefits for good work, according to Risto Bayalski, the special
correspondent of the Belgrade daily "Borba" in Sofia.

Writing in the paper's January 12 issue, Bayalski said that in Bulgaria future successes are based on two chief pillars: 1) the perfection of the process of production and 2) anticipated "patriotic enthusiasm at work" to be shown by the workers. Generally speaking, in Bulgaria nothing is said or written about material stimulus; it is not even mentioned as an element of the increase of labor productivity", Bayalski said.

Everything is done in the fashion of a mass campaign. Similar to the Chinese who once proclaimed the struggle against "four evils", the Bulgarian leaders have proclaimed the campaign called "the four bosom friends" operation. These "four bosom friends" are:

1) "the stotinka" (the hundredth part of a Lev);
2) "the gram";
3) "the centimeter"; and
4) "the minute".

• The stotinka" slogan means to avoid any waste and to save raw material;
• "the gram" calls for production of "everything" and as much as possible;
• "the centimeter" slogan propagates that "everything produced in meter form (such as textiles) should be longer than planned, even when the plan is based on the maximum possible calculation";
• "the minute" means to produce faster "thus making leaps forward in economic development".

Even though Bayalski did not mention China by name at all, his report is obviously aimed at alluding to past Bulgarian emulation of China by presenting the situation in Bulgaria as if its leaders were using certain Chinese formulas to increase labor productivity and production in general.

The title of Bayalski's report reads: "The 'Four Bosom Friends' Operation", he claims that no material stimulus is even mentioned but emphasizes throughout that "patriotic enthusiasm" is extolled instead; he further stresses that the awards for good workers are of a moral and political nature (for instance the names and pictures of enterprises and individuals who have distinguished themselves by following the line of the "four bosom friends" operation are regularly published even on the front pages of the Sofia and provincial papers); and finally his allusion to the "leaps forward" in economic development - all this gives one the impression that the Yugoslav journalist was more intent on voicing his indirect criticism of what is going on in Bulgaria, than on giving an objective picture of developments there. This is the more so if one knows that the struggle for material stimulus in Yugoslavia has taken on such proportions that Yugoslav workers would today ridicule anybody demanding that they increase their labor productivity and production simply because of "patriotic enthusiasm".