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The organization of work in collectivized agriculture and the social control of economic activity in the USSR. During the period of agricultural collectivization in the USSR, afer initial efforts in the direction of centralized organization, the persistence of socio- economic problems very soon dictated an organization of collective work based on territorial brigades for mixed crop cultivation and/or livestock raising. However, subsequent developments radically altered the nature of the problem, with, firstly, the acquisition of machines by the brigades, then the general adoption of industrial-type wage structures in socialized agriculture, and lastly, during the 70's, with a striking increase in the use of advanced agricultural mechanization. This encouraged fresh attempts at a centralized and highly specialized organization of agriculture, this time along strictly « industrial » lines. Yet again the basic problems peculiar to agriculture dictated a compromise with this radical « industrialist » outlook, this time rationalized as the « nuclear collective », i.e. the brigade or szveno of « mechanisers », which would gradually replace the old, and still predominant, mixed mechanized field brigade. The idea of economic participation and shared responsibility behind these new collective units, which are still relatively small in number, has even gone so far as to envisage an extreme form of work unit « without norms », genuinely self-managing in respect of both organization and remuneration of its activities. But the economic success of this movement tends to be inhibited by a number of generalized « systemic » obstacles. This is one reason why an attempt is made, in the second part, to explain the restructurings which are in progress, and their results, in the light of the imperatives and mechanisms, peculiar to the Soviet system, for the social control of economic activity, and the ways in which they interact : the unavoidable dysfunctions and limitations of the « command economy » (central and direct planning of all economic activity) at the level of the sub-units of the system, require a complex of corrective mechanisms, of which the main ones are as follows : 1. Radical reform of the basic design for the « command economy », relying on maximal simplification of the production apparatus by concentration and specialization of sub-units. This, much more than « negative » considerations of technical and micro-economic optimization, is the main reason for the spectacular forms that « agrarian industrialization » has sometimes assumed, particularly in crop production. But these units come up against particular socio-economic problems which are still endemic in agriculture. 2. Partial, and indeed quite peripheral, recourse to economic stimulation and déconcentration of sub-units. But this speedily enters into conflict with the prevailing logic of the command economy and its consequences. 3. Recourse to the essential complementary factor represented by the specifically Soviet practice of integration and « collective control of people » as such, whose central pivot is the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The second part is thus concerned with analysing the laws governing the combination, both contradictory and complementary, of these different mechanisms of social control, and this analysis is applied to the subject of agricultural activity, which affords a particularly revealing example of the operation of these laws.

The « second » economy and inequalities. The activities of the "second" economy (illicit production or exchange of goods and services, theft, resale at a negotiated price of goods in short supply, corruption, etc.) are each and all aimed at changing the established income relativities and regulations relating to the official operation of the economy. Can it be said that this results in a greater degree of social differentiation, or on the other hand does it lessen the disparities in income and privilege? The question raises certain methodological problems, since by definition there is a dearth of official information. This article looks at the available data on the second economy for the U.S.S.R., Hungary and Poland, identifying those sectors of the population which enjoy a "second" income, and endeavouring to situate them in their appropriate places on the official wage scale. The most favoured groups are qualified workers in the building and finishing trades, peasants, trade personnal, administrative cadres and health workers. Since these groups figure at all levels of the official wages scale, the article concludes that the effect of the "second" economy on income distribution remains indeterminate.

Poland : Failure of an economic policy, and the system challenged. The depression through which Poland has been passing since 1979 is the result of serious imbalances caused by the economic policy of Edward Gierek during the 70's. This policy, introduced after the violent uprisings on the Baltic coast in December 1970, and the fall of Gomulka, represented a forward dash to escape the difficulties facing the regime. II was aimed at effecting accelerated modernization of the system of production, together with a rapid rise in the people's living standard ? a thing which no socialist economy has ever been capable of achieving, the high level of investment being incompatible with accelerated growth in the production of consumers' goods, given low productivity and waste of productive resources. Massive recourse to credits and technology from the West was responsible for the success of the "model" until 1975-76. The disequilibria which were bound to arise from continued implementation of the system of bureaucratic management (internal disequilibrium caused by rapid growth in nominal incomes and the supply of goods and services at heavily subsidized fixed prices, and external disequilibrium due to a deficit in foreign trade and growing indebtedness) were aggravated by a certain degree of liberalization which encouraged the growth of multiple forms of corruption, pressure groups, and falsification of economic statistics. The "external constraint" which led, from 1977, to restriction of imports from the West, was largely responsible for the disorganization of production and the depression, these factors being further accentuated, from the summer of 1980 onward, by a social upheaval which challenged the very nature of the totalitarian State. The Polish military, on the 13th December 1981, succeeded only in halting the challenge to the system; but the extent of the imbalances which have yet to be corrected leaves them extremely little room for successful economic manœuvre within a framework of uncertain political normalization.

Social inequalities in Poland. Drawing on a considerable body of sociological research, the author reflects on the material and social disparities evident in Polish society. Interest centres mainly on families living in relative penury, and she argues that the negative factors contributing to this situation are cumulative, as are the positive factors at the opposite end of the income scale. The question is whether this situation is more or less stabilized, or whether there is a degree of social mobiltity in Poland at the present time. It would seem that disparities in income may be lessening, whereas disparities in social status remain markedly the same, with social inequalities perpetuated from generation to generation.

The Polish rural commune beween bureaucratie administration and territorial self-management. The dead-end in which Polish agriculture finds itself is a consequence of the failure of the policy of gradual socialization of agriculture followed by the Polish leadership. At the receiving end of this policy, since the administrative reforms of 1973, the rural commune (gmina) has proved to be the ground on which the conflict between State and peasant has developed and intensified. Latent tensions arising from the bureaucratic management of the local socio- economic system, and the dysfunctions of a co-operative system controlled by the State, have ended in open conflict over the present methods of organizing agriculture. From the outset of the Polish summer, the peasants joined in the popular movement, seeking social and political renewal by incororating self-management and self-determination within the co-operative framework. As an organized social group, modelled on the independent and self-managing Solidarity, individual peasants gave concrete expression to their desire for participation in the management of agricultural and related activities. Local initiatives have developed within the institutional framework of the commune, to a point where the fundamental aspirations of those concerned, that is, social control of co-operative organization, have emerged unequivocally. This study, based on research in the field, examines the dynamics of the social movement in the countryside, while taking account of the diversity of local conditions in terms of political and social alignments.

Self-management and religious belief. Recent history confirms that ideas of self-management or participation can exist in workers' consciousness alongside other beliefs, particularly religious ones. Fundamental questions arise : is religion a retrogressive factor? Is it, and should it remain, non-committal in the face of growing socialization? Can it act as a motivating force to the extent of becoming a significant integrating factor? The author endeavours to answer these questions on the basis of research undertaken over a number of years in Yugoslavia and other east European countries. It would appear that there is nothing inherently incompatible in ideas of self-management and participation on the one hand, and religious belief on the other, since they are all organically, or at least dialectically, interlinked in the human consciousness.

A digest of the main events of 1981 in the People's Republic of Korea. As usual, the author notes the various events in internal and foreign affairs which have taken place in the People's Republic of Korea in the past year. He draws particular attention to the increasing scarceness of information on economic activity during 1981 (could this be indicative of a recession?) and observes that the irresistible rise of the son of Kim Il-Sông continues.