Eastern Europe: The Bulgarian Way

EASTERN EUROPE

The plan was an ingenious and an obvious one—and one that could be used only in a country where people can be treated like puppets. In Communist Bulgaria a government survey showed that 64,000 jobs were going begging in chemical plants and heavy industries. At roughly the same time, another government survey uncovered 65,917 men who were working at desk jobs that could just as well be filled by women. Solution: effective immediately, the Bulgarian government ordered all able-bodied men under 40 who have held nonprofessional office jobs for less than ten years to transfer to harder factory work; their jobs will be filled by women. Failure to cooperate with this grand shift will mean dismissal from the white-collar position for the worker and a fine of $170 per person for the employer.

And in Bulgaria, where there is also an acute shortage of housing, the loss of a job means loss of the worker’s apartment.