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Class for the Classless. The central government planners are still on top, and the new executive types have a long way to go before they can control economic policy. But their numbers are growing, their ideas are winning steadily wider acceptance, and the new moves toward capitalistic methods are giving them a chance to exercise their managerial capabilities. Quarterly performance bonuses are now widespread behind the Iron Curtain, and the Czech government has introduced "elastic price policies" tied to the market. In Poland, 36 enterprises are involved in a pilot project to determine if output and quality can be improved by pushing for a profit. Hungary has imposed a 5% interest charge on machinery and supplies to encourage plant managers to use capital more efficiently.
The young technocrats are one of the principal forces behind Rumania's defiant drive toward all-round industrialization and economic independence from Moscow. Throughout the Soviet bloc, they have already impressed their Western counterparts as able hard bargainers. Mostly between 30 and 45, they have also managed to create a few incentives for themselves as well as for the workers. They get much larger salaries, bigger bonuses and first crack at scarce apartments, send their children to the best schools, have cars and often expense accounts. Their wives are more soignée than most—and so are their mistresses. They seem to enjoy adding a bit of class to the classless society.