This chapter analyzes various aspects of the workforce, both under communism and afterward. It looks at the limitations some people had under communism in terms of choosing their preferred occupations and advancing in their careers, and how those opportunities were impacted by their parents and party loyalty. The chapter also examines how private property was taken by the government during communism, and how privatization worked in the Czech Republic and Hungary after the regime change. Finally, it is thought that the stronger the economy, the more satisfied citizens will be with democracy. To see whether this is the case, the current economies of the Czech Republic and Hungary are examined along with people's feelings about them.
TopThe Communist Economy And The Workforce
Both Hungary and the Czech Republic had centrally planned economies during communism. In a centrally planned economy, the government owns and operates means of production and decides how much of each product it wants to be produced. It then develops state firms to handle the production and hired managers of the firms to determine how many materials are needed. A key problem, though, is that managers almost never received the right amount of materials at the right time, so they would often pad their budgets and material requests (Verdery, 1996). As discussed more in Chapter 7, this arrangement often resulted in shortages of goods.
Having a centrally planned economy also meant government-controlled employment and the workforce. Everyone was expected to work, so unemployment was close to zero (Johnson, 1995). About 80% of interviewees spoke about there being no unemployment during communism. One Hungarian man said if you did not have a job, you were seen as a public menace. He said that everyone had an identification booklet that showed your job, and you could not be jobless for more than three months.
Similarly, a Czech man said that everyone was required to work and had to be able to prove it if asked by having their employer’s stamp on their identification card. He said even though people were employed during communism, they often did not really work. For example, he worked for a train cargo company and often saw people show up to work drunk and spend most of the day sleeping it off. He said a legacy of communism is not wanting to work.
A Hungarian man said that while there was no unemployment, there were often multiple people working the same job. This, along with low wages, provided little incentive for people to work hard. A Hungarian scientist said during communism, the cleaning lady at his office building, who only worked four hours per day, made almost twice what he did. He said that did not give him a lot of motivation, and he also got no real respect. He said it was very sad for him because he wanted to be a scientist from the time he was ten years old.
There was a shared sentiment among a number of interviewees that non-labor jobs were not paid as well or respected as much. One Hungarian woman was a kindergarten teacher making 3200 Forints (around $11) per month. She was also given a place to live for only 100 Forints a month—so very cheap—but she had to share a room with three other people. Several other teachers mentioned having to share rooms or apartments with other teachers.