The Wanganui Chronicle WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1948 CONDITIONS IN JUGOSLAVIA

Wanganui Chronicle, 1 December 1948, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1948 CONDITIONS IN JUGOSLAVIA

yHE advantages of Socialism or Communism, runs the recent report, are not yet discernible in Jugoslavia. The advantages that are at the present time in evidence is the abundance of employment, or rather the lack of manpower where it is needed. The country was the scene of a serious conflict during the war and the people showed remarkable courage—an ancient characteristic —in withstanding the German invasion. Whereas the regular army, unable to oust the German occupation forces, were told by America and Britain not to engage in nuisance tactics, the Soviet had its own ideas and assisted Tito to engage in an uneven conflict. The reprisals of the Germans resulted in considerable damage being done to the country and many hardships being inflicted upon the people. Tito, by such costly means, was able to make a more impressive showing than his opposite numbers in the army and eventually to gain full control of the country. Had the Western Allies advice been strictly adhered to the country would have remained fairly dormant during the war, overt action following as soon as decisive assistance could be given to the Jugoslav Army. Thus today the amount of repair work to be accomplished before the economy of the country could function fully would be considerably less than it is. In order to improve the situation from the standpoint of the Communists a process of nationalisation was embarked upon, coupled with a widespread development and repair programme. The people are being called upon to engage enthusiastically in the rebuilding of the country and, no doubt, many are responsive to this patriotic appeal. The repair of roads and bridges and the development of transportation is being carried on coincident with the nationalising of industries. It is, therefore, not possible from outside the country to assess where the absorbtion of labour has chiefly occurred, but it is certain that nationalisation of industry has made it necessary to employ more people in these industries than would have been the ease under private enterprise. But nationalisation has not stopped at the large industries, it has been carried to an extreme degree. According to the Jugoslav official news sources the process of nationalisation of private trade has now been carried quite a long way. Whereas, in 1946- 48 per cent, of all trade was in the hands of private commerce, in 1947 this had been reduced to 12 per cent., and a further reduction has been achieved by a new law which came into effect on May 5. By this law private trade was, in effect, reduced to one-man businesses. The law stated that private commercial businesses could exist under State supervision, but there must be no wholesale private business, and private business must not have branches. The result is a large-scale increase in both towns and villages of State shops. It requires no statistics to establish what has happened. It is well known that the smaller retail units are the most efficient distributors of goods because the owner supervises all operations. It is also known that the wholesale distribution of goods can easily be accompanied by very heavy wastage. The chain store is not capable of doing all the trading and it is on that account that the chain store, with its mass-buying advantage cannot entirely dominate the market. The advantages to be gained by the chain store can easily be offset by the high cost of supervision and it is only by unusual skill in this direction that the chain store system can survive. Where the Government undertakes the task of running State shops it. is at a serious disadvantage in that each individual has not the slightest personal interest in making a profit. Indeed, the making of profits is frowned upon and the result is that there is no criterion of the efficiency of the organisation. The gentle art of ‘Empire building” naturally enters into the picture, the heads of a department justifying higher salaries by reason of the numbers that are employed in the departments which they control. Thus a process in direct opposition to that under capitalism is established, a process which tends to absorb more and more workers to gain a desired result for the head of the department whereas the capitalist gets his bigger profit by employing as few as possible to get the work done efficiently. The end is that under capitalism a portion of the labour force is released for further improvements in the economic machine while in the Socialist machine there is consistently a dearth of labour to carry out essential work. Work is plentiful in a Socialist setup, but it is not fruitfully employed. The result is that the high hopes of the devotees of the doctrine arc never realised and the mass of the people must remain content with being free from capitalist domination but on a very much lower level of living. Were Jugoslavia alone suffering from a shortage of labour and a dearth of results it might be inferred that conditions unique to that country were responsible for the poor fruits obtainable to date. But labour shortages are present in every socialised country in Europe and in New Zealand, where the functions of the btate have been extended to a considerable degree in recent years, mv a s^or^ a^e * s a^so in evidence and from the same causes, lhe Government cannot afford to pay to these public servants the same pay that is—temporarily perhaps—paid to workers in some industries that, are privately operated and so the public servants, whether they like it or not, must suffer a deteriorated standard of living.

Were the State s activities reduced and more members of the abour force absorbed in productive work, then the standard of living would -stand a chance of moving upwards once again. While labour is misdirected, however, in the economic machine, it is obvious that no improvement in living standards can accompany the full employment condition which is the boast of the Socialist and the Communist alike.