CHAPTER 14
INDUSTRY
In mid-1973 industry continued to expand, though at a significantly lower rate than in the mid-1960s. Industrial expansion was being increasingly restrained by the inadequacy of domestic raw material and skilled labor resources. Limits on an increase in imports of materials and essential machinery were placed by the insufficiency of foreign exchange reserve and by the need to reduce traditional exports of consumer goods in short supply on the domestic market. The Soviet Union continued to be the predominant supplier of raw materials, machinery, and technical and technological assistance.
To overcome the limitations on industrial expansion, the leadership of the Bulgarian Communist Party (BKP—see Glossary) and government sought to raise industrial productivity through concentration and specialization of production and through improvements in the management of material and labor resources. Strong emphasis was placed on the introduction of automation in both production and management processes. Heavy stress was also laid on the need to raise the quality of industrial products in order to increase their salability abroad and their acceptance in the domestic market.
The consolidation of industrial enterprises into a limited number of trusts, introduced in 1971 as a measure for increased centralized control in the search for greater efficiency, was being carried forward by means of further regulatory and clarifying edicts. The leadership's ultimate goal of an efficiently managed, technologically advanced, low-cost industry remained the driving force behind all industrial policy decisions.
ORGANIZATION AND STRUCTURE
Virtually all industry is state owned. In 1970 state enterprises possessed 98.6 percent of all industrial assets; they employed 88.8 percent of the industrial work force and produced 89.7 percent of the industrial output. Collective industrial enterprises owned the balance of 1.4 percent of the assets, employed 11.2 percent of the workers, and contributed 9.9 percent of the industrial output. Small private enterprises, mostly artisan shops, accounted for only 0.4 percent of the industrial output.
Size and Location
In 1970 the industrial establishment (excluding the private sector, information on which is not available) consisted of 1,827 state enterprises and 644 collective enterprises, employing about 1.02 million and 129,000 people, respectively. More than one-half of the enterprises in the state industry employed over 200 people, and almost one-fourth employed more than 1,000 people. Enterprises with large numbers of workers predominated in metallurgy; in the glass and china industry; in clothing manufacture; and in the leather, shoe, and fur industry. Beginning in 1971 previously independent enterprises were transformed into branches of countrywide trusts organized along functional lines (see ch. 12).
The territorial distribution of industry during the 1950-70 period was determined in large part by the priority development of heavy industry, the location of which was dictated mainly by the sites of raw material sources and the location of major consuming centers. In this process several cities and districts, including Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, and Ruse, experienced a large population influx from rural areas and attendant shortages of housing and public services. At the same time many villages were deprived of their inhabitants, and homes and public facilities were abandoned.
In 1970 the Central Committee of the BKP laid down guidelines for a program of regional economic development, with a view to attaining an optimal distribution of productive resources (capital and labor). The aim of the program was to arrest excessive urban growth and the associated demands on the country's resources for new housing and other amenities and, at the same time, to help develop backward rural areas. Within these guidelines, decentralization of industry has been undertaken, and plans are being worked out for the socioeconomic development of individual districts under the Seventh Five-Year Plan (1976-80) and until 1990.
In this context the construction of new industrial plants in heavily populated areas has been restricted. Further production increases in these areas are to be attained through modernization of existing facilities and the introduction of more advanced technology. Special measures have also been adopted to promote economic growth in the relatively underdeveloped districts. In part, this program is implemented through the transfer of industrial activities, equipment, and labor from the congested cities and districts to rural areas. Transfers of this kind decreed by the Council of Ministers Bureau in December 1971 and July 1972 involved 195 production units and 25,000 workers and an annual output of 225 million leva (for value of the lev—see Glossary). Under existing plans lasting until 1975, however, industry and employment will continue to expand in some of the most heavily congested cities.
The organization of a smoothly functioning materials and equipment supply system for industry has been an elusive goal of the leadership ever since the inception of the controlled economy. Various approaches to the problem over a period of years have not succeeded in accomplishing the basic task of ensuring a dependable supply of material resources to industrial producers. As a result, the economy has been officially reported to suffer enormous losses through production shutdowns, substitutions of materials that lower quality and increase costs, and hoarding of scarce materials. Heavy losses have also been incurred through improper storage of materials, careless use that entails excessive waste, and pilferage.
Adequate information on the organization and functioning of the industrial supply system has not been available. The latest reorganization of the supply system was undertaken at the end of 1971 with a view to providing a normal flow of supplies for the economic trusts beginning in 1972. Until 1971 the supply organizations had dealt almost entirely with individual enterprises. The reorganization was accompanied by extensive consultations with producers of raw materials, importing organizations, and industrial consumers. The consultations were held in order to clarify the needs of consumers, ensure the availability of the needed supplies, and agree upon specific measures for timely deliveries of materials and supplies.
Particular attention in the reorganization was paid to the problem of reducing the inventories of materials in enterprises and concentrating them in the supply organizations. Decisive measures were taken to halt the former practice of making deliveries of materials large enough to cover requirements for three months or longer. Under the new system, supply organizations are required to make periodic deliveries to consumers on guaranteed time schedules, at short intervals, and in quantities that do not exceed one month's requirements. Adherence to the regulation is to be used as a standard in evaluating the performance of supply organizations.
One of the basic elements in industrial consumer-supplier relations has been the annual contract for estimated material and equipment requirements needed to complete the annual production quota. For a variety of reasons both suppliers and users have often failed to honor these contracts, and the penalties provided for breach of contract have not been sufficient to deter this practice. Breaches of supply contracts have been an important cause of economic difficulties. Supply difficulties have been particularly disruptive because of the traditionally stringent nature of the production plans and the limited availability of resources.
In 1972 the Ministry of Supply and State Reserves planned to take energetic measures to strengthen contract discipline and to use contracts as legal and economic instruments for exerting pressure on both parties to fulfill their obligations. The minister considered it particularly important to put an end to the practice of contract cancellation, either under provisions of official regulations or by mutual agreement of the parties concerned—a practice that, according to the minister, caused huge losses to the national economy.
Structure
Manufacturing is the dominant sector of industry in terms of employment and output. In 1971 manufacturing accounted for 93.9 percent of the total industrial output and provided employment to 88.3 percent of the industrial labor force. Mining and energy production contributed 3.6 and 2.5 percent, respectively, of the industrial output and employed 10.3 and 1.4 percent, respectively, of the labor force. More than half the industrial establishment was devoted to the production of capital goods. In 1971 the capital goods sector employed 52.5 percent of the industrial labor force and produced 56 percent of the output. The relative importance of the capital goods sector had been rising over a period of years, from 36.7 percent of the output in 1948 and 47.2 percent in 1960. During the same period the contribution of the consumer goods sector to total output had declined from 63.3 percent in 1948 to 52.8 percent in 1960 and 44 percent in 1971. As a consequence of the priority development of heavy industry, the supply of consumer goods on the domestic market has been inadequate to meet consumer needs (see ch. 5).
In terms of their employment shares, the largest state industry branches in 1971 were: machine building and metalworking, 25.5 percent; food processing, 14.4 percent; and textiles, 11.3 percent. Next in importance, but with much lower levels of employment, were: timber and woodworking, 7.4 percent; chemicals and rubber, 6.1 percent; and fuels, 5.5 percent. Industrial branches that experienced the most rapid growth in the 1960-71 period included ferrous metallurgy, chemicals and rubber, machine building and metalworking, and fuels. Among the slowest growing branches were timber and wood processing, textiles, nonferrous metallurgy, and food processing.
FUELS AND POWER
Domestic resources of mineral fuels are inadequate for the needs of industry. Through the limitation that it places on electric power development, the fuel shortage—in the absence of a large hydroelectric power potential—may become a major factor inhibiting industrial growth. In 1968 the proportion of petroleum and natural gas in the fuel balance was somewhat more than 42 percent; it is planned to rise to about 60 percent in 1975 and to at least 65 percent in 1980. Virtually all petroleum and natural gas must be imported.
Reserves of anthracite and bituminous coal are insignificant; their production amounts to less than 2 percent of the annual coal output. Brown coal deposits that can be mined economically are nearing exhaustion, and brown coal production declined by about one-third in the 1960-70 period. Low-calorie lignite remains the major fuel base for thermoelectric power stations. Reserves of this inferior fuel are large.
Coal deposits are scattered in about twenty small deposits. Because of difficult geological conditions, however, only a few of the deposits are exploited. Anthracite is mined in the Svoge basin, located in the Iskur gorge area of the Stara Planina, north of Sofia. Bituminous coal is mined in the same mountain range, in the area between Gabrovo and Sliven. The deposit at Sliven was reported to contain a very small quantity of coking-grade coal—a quantity far below the needs of the iron and steel industry. In addition to large annual imports of coking coal, Bulgaria has also imported from 250,000 to 465,000 tons of coke per year.
The main source of brown coal for many years has been the Pernik basin in the upper Struma valley, about nineteen miles southwest of Sofia. In the 1971-75 period brown coal mining is to be substantially expanded at the Bobov Dol deposit in the Rila mountain range, south of the Pernik basin. The Babino mine in the Bobov Dol coalfield is scheduled to become the largest underground coal mine in the Balkans. Reserves in this deposit, however, are equivalent to only about five to six years' production at the 1970 rate of brown coal output.
Lignite is mined mainly in the Maritsa basin, near Dimitrovgrad in the Thracian Plain, and in the Sofia Basin. The Maritsa basin, particularly the area known as Maritsa-Iztok (Maritsa-East), has become the basic source of coal production, contributing about 50 percent of the country's output. Aside from planned new mine construction, the Maritsa-Iztok complex is to be rebuilt and modernized. Production problems at this mine have not yet been solved satisfactorily. Coal-bearing strata have not been fully identified; equipment is utilized to only about 40 percent of capacity; and the organization of labor is poor. Substantial improvement also remains to be attained in processing the coal for market, in view of its high ash and moisture content. Unsolved problems also remain in the manufacture of coal briquettes.
In the 1971-75 period substantial investment is to be devoted to the expansion and modernization of coal mines. New mines with an annual capacity of about 4 million tons are to be built. Three-fourths of the investment funds are to be concentrated on three major production centers. The relative investment shares of these centers were planned to be: Maritsa-Iztok complex, 41 percent; Bobov Dol complex, 25 percent; and the Georgi Dimitrov mine at Pernik, 10 percent.
Production of marketable coal increased by 83 percent in the 1960-70 period to a level of about 29 million tons. The rise in output, however, was confined to lignite production, which grew more than fourfold during the decade. Production of bituminous and brown coal declined by 42 and 32 percent, respectively. Output of anthracite in 1970 equaled the output in 1960 but was 9 percent below the production level in 1966. Production of both anthracite and bituminous coal amounted to less than 400,000 tons in 1970. Strip mining has steadily grown in importance and accounted for 73 percent of the output in 1970.
The Sixth Five-Year Plan (1971-75) calls for a rise in coal output to 33 million tons—an increase of about 13 percent. In the view of the minister of heavy industry, the planned increase is not large, but its attainment is difficult considering the character and condition of the mines. Experience has justified the minister's assessment. In the first two years of the five-year period, coal output rose by less than 1 percent.
Crude Oil and Natural Gas
Deposits of crude oil are located at Tyulenovo in the Dobrudzha region and at Dolni Dubnik, east of Pleven. Natural gas fields have been discovered near Vratsa and in the area of Lovech, south of Pleven. Reliable information on the magnitude of crude oil and natural gas reserves is not available. Statistics on current imports and official projections of import requirements, however, indicate that domestic production of oil and natural gas will continue to cover only a small fraction of needs.
Production of crude oil rose from 200,000 tons in 1960 to 500,000 tons in 1967 but declined thereafter to 305,000 tons in 1971. Natural gas output, which had increased to 18.5 billion cubic feet in 1969, declined to 16.7 billion cubic feet in 1970 and 11.6 billion cubic feet in 1971. Imports of crude oil, mostly from the Soviet Union, increased almost 3-1/2 times between 1965 and 1971 to a level of 7.5 million tons. In 1972 the Soviet Union alone provided 95 percent of the country's requirements for crude oil and petroleum products. Imports of natural gas from the Soviet Union, through a pipeline still under construction, are scheduled to begin in 1974 at a level of 35 billion cubic feet and to continue at an annual rate of 106 billion cubic feet beginning in 1975. The planned 1975 import volume represents about three-fourths of the estimated requirements in that year.
Crude oil is processed in two refineries, located at Burgas and Pleven, with daily throughput capacities of about 16,500 tons and 5,500 tons, respectively. Except for the small domestic output, crude oil for the Pleven refinery is moved by rail from Black Sea ports. A pipeline network that will connect the refinery with the ports is under construction and is scheduled to enter into full operation in 1975. By that date the capacity of the Pleven refinery is planned to attain 16,500 tons per day. A pipeline under construction for the transport of petroleum products from the Burgas refinery to consuming centers at Stara Zagora and Plovdiv is to be completed sometime in 1973.
The refinery output has not been sufficient to cover all the country's requirements for petroleum products. Net imports of petroleum products in 1970, including gasoline, fuel oils, and lubricating oils, amounted to 2.5 million tons. Ninety percent of the imports originated in the Soviet Union.
Electrical Energy
Installed electric generating capacity and production of electrical energy increased more than fourfold in the 1960-71 period but failed to keep pace with the country's growing requirements. Installed capacity in 1971 was 4.48 million kilowatts, including 3.65 million kilowatts in thermal and 0.83 million kilowatts in hydroelectric stations. During the period the proportion of hydroelectric capacity declined from 50 to 18 percent, and the production of electricity per kilowatt of hydroelectric capacity dropped by more than one-third. The utilization of thermal capacity declined by 13.5 percent.
New power from generating plants scheduled to begin operation in the 1971-75 period totals about 3 million kilowatts. Major power stations to be commissioned include: hydroelectric stations—with a capacity of 1 million kilowatts—on the Sestrimo cascade, in the upper reaches of the Maritsa River and at the Vucha cascade, southwest of Plovdiv; a thermal power plant with a capacity of about 620,000 kilowatts at Bobov Dol, fueled by local coal; and an atomic power station with a capacity of 880,000 kilowatts at Kozloduy on the Danube River, in the northwestern corner of the country. According to government plans, total generating capacity is scheduled to reach 7 million kilowatts in 1975 and 12 million kilowatts in 1980. The more distant plans include the construction, jointly with Romania, of a hydroelectric power complex on the Danube, at Belene on the Bulgarian bank of the river and Ciora on the Romanian side. The Soviet Union has provided large-scale technical and material assistance in the development of the electric power system.
Production of electrical energy amounted to 21 billion kilowatt-hours in 1971, of which 90 percent was generated by thermal stations. Energy output in 1972 reached 22.3 billion kilowatt-hours. The Sixth Five-Year Plan calls for an energy output of 30.5 billion kilowatt-hours in 1975, which is equivalent to an average annual increase in output of 9.4 percent during the five-year period. In the years 1971 and 1972 energy output rose by an average of 6.9 percent per year, so that an average annual rise of 11 percent will be needed in the remaining years to attain the planned goal in 1975. Consumption of electrical energy in 1975 is planned to reach 33.5 billion kilowatt-hours. The planned deficit of 3 billion kilowatt-hours is to be covered by imports from Romania, Yugoslavia, and the Soviet Union.
The electrical transmission network is well developed, and further major improvements have been planned. The network is connected with the power grids of Romania and Yugoslavia. A 400-kilovolt power line from the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in the Soviet Union was reported to have been completed in mid-1972. There was no evidence nine months later that power had actually been transmitted over that line.
Eighteen percent of the total electrical energy supply in 1971 was used by the power stations or lost in transmission. Of the remaining net supply, almost 70 percent was consumed in industry and construction; agriculture received only 4 percent; and transport and communications accounted for little more than 3 percent. Households were allotted about 16 percent of the net electrical supply, and the balance of 7 percent was consumed in trade, public institutions, and street lighting. The major industrial users of energy were metallurgical enterprises and the producers of chemicals and rubber; each of these industrial branches consumed one-fifth of the energy supply to industry.
Expansion of electric-generating capacity and energy output at rates planned by the government has been hampered by a chronic lag in new construction and by inadequate maintenance of existing facilities. The lack of preventive maintenance and disregard of technical requirements in the operation of equipment result in frequent breakdowns requiring major repairs. Such repairs, particularly those involving boilers, turbines, and transformers, pose difficult problems because of the shortage of technically qualified repair personnel and ineffective organization of repair work. Efficiency of operation is also adversely affected by a high labor turnover and the difficulty of finding qualified replacements.
The lag in the completion of new power stations, equipment breakdowns, and insufficient water reserves for hydroelectric stations have caused frequent power shortages, particularly at peak load hours. Elaborate official measures have been introduced to regulate the consumption of electricity and to eliminate waste, including a bonus system for saving electricity. These measures have not proved sufficiently effective, and some enterprises have been reported to earn bonuses by the simple expedient of overstating their requirements in the formulation of the annual economic plans. The State Inspectorate for Industrial Power and Power Control, it was stated by officials, was not in a position to solve the problem of economizing electric power without the active cooperation of every enterprise, plant, and trade union. Additional unspecified measures affecting industry were reported to have been taken in 1973 to reduce peak power loads, and the population was advised to use electricity more sparingly between 6:00 P.M. and 9:00 P.M.
RAW MATERIALS
In 1970 about 54 percent of the manufacturing industry's output was based on industrial materials, and 46 percent was derived from agricultural raw materials; the proportion of industrial materials in manufacturing continued on its post-World War II upward trend in the 1960-70 period from a level of 24 percent in 1948 and 49 percent in 1960. This trend was sustained by the relatively rapid rise in the production and imports of industrial materials compared to the slower increase in agricultural output and imports. Because of the limitation of domestic resources, further industrial expansion will necessitate ever larger material imports.
Iron and Steel
The main deposits of iron ore are located at Kremikovtsi, northeast of Sofia, and at Krumovo in the lower Tundzha valley. Other small deposits of little or no commercial value are scattered in the Strandzha mountains, in the western Stara Planina, and at several locations in the Rodopi (or Rhodope Mountains). The ore in the Kremikovtsi deposit is of low grade; it has a mineral content of about 33 percent and requires beneficiation. Reserves at Krumovo were reported to be of better grade but much smaller. Available evidence suggests that mining at this deposit was discontinued after the mid-1960s. Its site is far removed from the country's two iron and steel mills.
Reserves at Kremikovtsi were estimated a number of years ago to contain from 200 million to 250 million tons of ore. An official Russian-language survey of Bulgaria, published in 1969, cited a figure of 317 million tons for total iron ore reserves but mentioned only the Kremikovtsi deposit as one being mined. In a review of the country's natural resources, published in a Bulgarian technical journal in mid-1970, it was stated that known reserves of iron ore would last another fifty years. At the average annual rate of iron ore output in the years 1968 and 1969 the reported life span of the deposits indicates a reserve of only 133 million tons as of 1970. Whatever the actual reserves may be, domestic iron ore has had to be supplemented by imports of about 1 million tons per year from the Soviet Union and Algeria to meet the requirements of the metallurgical industry.
Reserves of steel-alloying minerals are reported to be available, particularly manganese, chromium, and molybdenum. The quality of the manganese ores, however, is low, and reserves of chromium are insufficient for the needs of the economy. Output data are available only for manganese ore. Production of this mineral declined by about 60 percent in the 1957-70 period, which suggests the depletion of known reserves. The metal content of the manganese ore mined in 1970 amounted to 10,300 tons. In that year the discovery of new manganese deposits in the Obrocha area was reported, the eventual exploitation of which, it was said, would not only provide for all domestic requirements but would also make it possible to export manganese for an entire century.
Although small amounts of ferroalloys are also obtained as by-products of copper, lead, and zinc smelting, imports must be relied upon to cover substantial deficits. Imports of manganese ores and concentrates in 1969 and in 1970 were more than double the volume of domestic production, and imports of chromium and chromite amounted to 3,400 tons in 1969. Nickel and titanium were also imported.
Steel is produced at the integrated Kremikovtsi metallurgical combine and at the smaller integrated Lenin Steel Works in Pernik. With Soviet assistance the Kremikovtsi combine is being expanded to a planned annual capacity of 2 million tons of steel and 2.2 million tons of rolled products by the end of 1975. A third coking plant was put into operation in the spring of 1971, and the production of coke is scheduled to reach 1.4 million tons in 1975, compared to an output of 837,000 tons in 1970. The steel mill at Pernik is to be modernized, also with Soviet assistance.
Production of pig iron and steel increased about sevenfold in the 1960-70 period, reaching levels of 1.25 million tons and 1.8 million tons, respectively. The same was true of rolled steel products, the volume of which rose to 1.42 million tons. Nevertheless, Bulgaria remained a net importer of iron and steel throughout the entire period. In 1970 the import surplus amounted to 272,000 tons of pig iron and 96,000 tons of steel.
Nonferrous Metals
Reserves of nonferrous metals are reported to be more plentiful than reserves of iron ore. Unofficial claims have been made that copper reserves will meet requirements during the next fifty years despite the planned rapid growth in output. Similarly, known reserves of lead and zinc ores were said to be sufficient to supply the needs of available smelters until 1990. A foreign observer, however, noted that plans for large-scale expansion of nonferrous mining and smelting may be frustrated by the deteriorating quality of the ores being mined and that metal output may not rise much beyond the level attained in the late 1960s. In fact, mine output of lead and zinc in 1970 was not higher than it had been in 1960, although the mine output of copper increased at an annual rate of 7.1 percent from 1967 to 1971. In this context it is noteworthy that data on nonferrous metals were omitted from the official statistical yearbook published in 1972.
In 1972 the minister of heavy industry pointed out that the relatively small planned increase in the output of the nonferrous metals industry in the 1971-75 period—22.8 percent—was dictated by inadequate supplies of raw materials. He stated that prospecting for new deposits would be intensified and stressed the urgent need to increase the degree of metal recovery from ores and the need to utilize fully all ore components. Nevertheless, the minister assured his audience that the requirements of the economy for copper, lead, and zinc in the 1971-75 period would be met from domestic production, except for 3 to 10 percent of certain types of rolled metal. He called for the construction of plants to extract the metal from the industry's tailings as a means for partially eliminating the troublesome shortage.
Copper is mined south of Burgas; in the Sredna Gora mountains near the town of Panagyurishte; and in the western Stara Planina mountains, south of Vratsa. A deposit is also being developed at Chelopets, near Sofia. The ore is concentrated locally and is smelted and refined in plants at Eliseyna, Pirdop, and the Medet complex near Panagyurishte. Production of refined copper from ores and reused scrap increased from 14,000 tons in 1960 to 24,000 tons in 1965 and 41,000 tons in 1971. More than half the copper output is processed into copper profiles, sheet, and wire at the Dimiter Ganev plant in Sofia—the only plant for manufacturing rolled products. Bulgaria has both imported and exported copper and copper products.
Lead and zinc are obtained from mines near the towns of Madan and Rudozem, in the eastern Rodopi, and in the western part of the Stara Planina, at Eliseyna and Chiprovtsi. A new lead mine is under development at Erma Reka, in the vicinity of Madan. The Rodopi mines account for the major portion of the ore output. The ore is processed in flotation plants near the sites of the mines and is refined at Kurdzhali, Plovdiv, and Kurilo.
Production of refined lead and zinc rose rapidly in the first half of the 1960s but leveled off in the second. Substantial amounts of these metals have been exported, mostly to Western Europe. Exports, however, have been declining both in volume and as a proportion of output. The decline has been more pronounced in the case of lead, and lead exports dropped from 65 percent of output in 1960 to 22 percent in 1970. The volume of lead exports fell from 53,500 tons to 22,100 tons in the 1965-70 period. Zinc exports declined from highs of 78 percent of output in 1965 and 58,100 tons in 1966 to 64 percent of output and 48,100 tons in volume in 1970.
Bulgaria also possesses small reserves of gold, silver, and uranium. Gold has been found near the town of Trun, not far from the border of Yugoslavia. Silver and uranium deposits are located in the western Stara Planina. The uranium ore is processed by the Rare Metals Combine near Sofia. Gold and silver are also obtained as by-products in the smelting of copper, lead, and zinc. Information on reserves and production of these metals is not available. Aluminum and tin must be imported.
There are reported to be adequate resources of nonmetallic minerals for the production of cement and other building materials, glass, and ceramics. Asbestos, salt, sulfur, and cement are produced in quantities large enough to allow some exports. The quality of asbestos, however, is low, and better grades must be imported for some uses. Exports of cement declined from 715,000 tons in 1965 to 153,000 tons in 1970. Timber and wood pulp from domestic sources are in short supply. Under an agreement with the Soviet Union, Bulgaria has supplied 8,000 workers to the timber industry of the Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic for the development of Siberian timber resources, in return for which the Soviet Union has undertaken to export to Bulgaria about 900,000 cubic yards of timber in 1973 and up to 2 million cubic yards per year after 1975. Similar arrangements exist with regard to paper pulp, iron and steel, natural gas, and other raw materials.
Domestic agriculture provides ample raw materials for the food processing industry, but only a fraction of light industry's needs for fibers and hides. In the 1968-70 period average annual imports of these materials included cotton, 60,000 tons; wool, 2,900 tons; synthetic fibers, 26,000 tons; and cattle hides, 7,700 tons. In addition to the raw cotton, cotton textiles in the amount of 63,000 tons were imported annually.
Because of the general shortage of domestic raw materials and the need to conserve scarce foreign exchange, strong emphasis has been placed on recycling waste materials. A decree on this subject was issued in 1960, and a special Secondary Raw Materials State Economic Trust was created in 1965. Another comprehensive decree was issued in November 1971 because, as stated in its preamble, the importance of collecting and using waste materials had been underestimated, and the needs of the economy were not being met. The new decree was intended to organize the collection and processing of waste materials, including metals, paper, rubber, textiles, and worn-out machinery and household equipment, on a modern industrial basis under the direction of the waste materials trust. Special provision was made in the decree concerning the handling of unused machinery and surplus materials held by economic enterprises, and sanctions were provided for failure to surrender or refusal to purchase such surplus equipment and materials.
INVESTMENT
Industry's share of total annual investment rose steadily from 34.2 percent in 1960 to 47.3 percent in 1969 but declined in the next two years to 43.9 percent. In absolute terms and in current prices, annual investment in industry increased from 466.3 million leva in 1960 to 1.6 billion leva in 1970 and declined to 1.58 billion leva in 1971.
More than four-fifths of the industrial investment in the 1961-71 period was devoted to the expansion of producer goods industries. The proportion of investment funds allotted annually for this purpose was slightly lower in the 1966-71 period than it had been in the preceding five years; it ranged between 84.7 and 87.8 percent in the 1961-65 period and between 81.2 and 85.5 percent thereafter, except for 1970, when it declined to an atypical low of 78.5 percent.
The bulk of industrial investment was channeled into heavy industry, including fuel and energy production, ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy, chemicals, and machine building and metalworking. In the 1960-65 period fuel and energy production were the major recipients of investment funds; in subsequent years machine building and chemicals became the primary targets of investment activity. Ferrous metallurgy was among the five largest investment recipients through 1967, but nonferrous metallurgy dropped from this group after 1964. Beginning in 1967 substantial investment funds were also devoted to food processing—the major export industry and earner of foreign exchange.
Investment allotments to consumer goods industries ranged between 12.2 and 18.8 percent of industrial investment, except for an unusually high allocation of 21.5 percent in 1970. In 1971, however, the investment share of consumer industries dropped sharply to only 14.5 percent. The predominance of investment in heavy industry reflected the leadership's basic economic policy tenet that, with minor temporary exceptions, the production of capital goods must develop more rapidly than the output of consumer goods.
Construction of industrial plants has frequently fallen behind schedule, causing losses of planned production and disruption of the five-year plans. The situation became critical in the fall of 1972 because of the failure to commission on time new facilities that were counted upon to produce in 1973, among other products, 0.5 million tons of rolled steel; 0.4 million tons of mineral fertilizers; 30,000 tons of synthetic fibers; 20,000 tons of cellulose; 11,000 tons of polyethylene; 0.3 million kilowatts of electric generating capacity; and a large volume of machinery and equipment.
The main reasons for the construction lag were delays in the supply of materials and a shortage of construction workers. In an effort to expedite the completion of the most essential projects that were under the direct supervision of the Council of Ministers because of their national importance, the council created a special operational bureau for the coordination and control of the construction activities associated with these projects. At the same time 6,000 workers were transferred to the priority projects from less important construction jobs. These measures did little to solve the basic problems and merely shifted the incidence of construction delays from one category of projects to another.
The labor force in state and collective industry numbered 1.17 million workers in 1971, of whom 542,000—or 46 percent—were women. The labor force had increased by 54 percent compared with its size in 1960, and the number of women workers more than doubled. About 88 percent of the workers were employed in manufacturing; the remaining 12 percent were engaged in mining and energy production. Production of capital goods provided employment for 52.5 percent of the workers, and consumer goods industries absorbed the remainder. One-fourth of the labor force was concentrated in machine building and metalworking, and another one-fourth was occupied in food processing and textile production (see Organization and Structure, this ch.).
By far the largest proportion of women workers—26 percent of their total number—were employed in the textiles and clothing branches of industry, where they constituted 77 percent of total employment. Women constituted the majority of workers in food processing—53 percent—and accounted for 21 percent of the workers in machine building and metalworking. Substantial numbers of women were also employed in chemical and rubber plants, in logging and woodworking, and in the production of leather shoes and furs. Four-fifths of all women working in industry were in blue-collar jobs.
According to official statistics, 95 percent of the workers in 1971 were directly engaged in production; the rest were employed in various auxiliary occupations, such as maintenance and warehousing. Yet in outlining means for raising industrial labor productivity in the fall of 1972, the minister of labor and social welfare included as an objective a reduction in the proportion of auxiliary personnel to about 30 or 35 percent of the number of production workers in industry. About 17 percent of the production workers were in white-collar jobs; information on the total number of white-collar workers has not been published.
The majority of industrial workers are paid on a piecework basis, but the importance of piecework has been declining and has varied widely among industrial branches. In 1971 almost 62 percent of the workers were paid on this basis—a significantly smaller proportion than the 80 percent of workers remunerated in this manner in 1957. The proportion of workers employed on the piecework basis in 1971 was highest in the manufacture of clothing—89.5 percent—and lowest in the production of coal and petroleum—25.2 percent. In construction, 84.6 percent of the workers were paid on the piecework basis.
The average annual wage of all industrial workers in 1971 was 1,526 leva, compared to an average of 962 leva in 1960. On the whole, wages of production workers were somewhat higher than wages of auxiliary personnel, and the pay of white-collar production workers was higher than that of blue-collar workers. The average wage of workers in capital goods industries was 21 percent higher than the wage of workers in consumer goods industries. The wage was highest in mining and lowest in manufacturing. Within the state industrial branches, average annual wages ranged from 2,009 leva in the production of coal and petroleum to 1,196 leva in the manufacture of clothing. Wages in collective industry were generally lower than in state industry; the difference between the average annual wages in these sectors was 12 percent.
Industrial productivity and growth have suffered from a shortage of trained workers and technical personnel. The supply of skilled workers in the fall of 1972 was reported to be only half the number needed to fill available positions. Responsibility for this situation has been placed, in part, on the lack of coordination between the industrial ministries and the Ministry of National Education concerning technical and vocational training programs. There has been a pronounced disproportion in the numbers of trainees in the various technical specialities, and technical training generally has not been up to the level demanded by modern technology. Enterprises themselves have been slow in undertaking to train their own workers. The scarcity of skilled personnel has been accentuated by the export of trained workers to the Soviet Union to help develop the exportation of mineral and timber resources in return for raw material imports.
Poor labor discipline and excessive labor turnover have aggravated the shortage of skilled workers. The turnover has been particularly high among younger workers. Dissatisfaction with the job, or with living and transportation conditions, and the search for better pay have been cited as the main reasons for the turnover. Progressively severe measures have been introduced to enforce stricter labor discipline, but their effectiveness has been weakened by lax application. One of these measures concerning movement of labor gave workers the right to quit their jobs freely but stipulated that any worker seeking reemployment had to do so through district labor bureaus set up for that purpose. The bureaus would direct the job applicants to industries and positions where labor was most urgently needed. Because of the shortage of skilled labor, however, enterprise managers continued to hire new labor without regard to the requirements of the law.
The shortage of adequately trained personnel adversely affects the utilization of available capacity; it entails frequent breakdowns of machinery and inhibits multishift operation of plants. More than 20 percent of worktime is usually lost through idling, and equipment is used at no more than 50 to 60 percent of capacity. New plants completed in 1967 had not reached full production in 1972. Productivity has also been kept low by the lack of mechanization of auxiliary activities, such as loading and unloading, inter- and intrashop transport, and warehousing. In 1972 the minister of labor and social welfare stated that labor productivity in Bulgarian metallurgy was only half as high as in some of the advanced industrial states.
The presence of unemployment has never been officially admitted, but a certain degree of unemployment and underemployment, nevertheless, exists in several rural areas of the country. Recognition of this fact was evident in the decision of the BKP Central Committee plenum, published in March 1970, on the territorial redistribution of production forces (relocation of industry) and in subsequent economic studies concerning this subject.
PRODUCTION
Gross industrial output amounted to about 13.9 billion leva in 1970 and reached 15 billion leva in 1971. According to official data, industrial output more than tripled in the 1960-71 period. The high average annual growth rate of 11.1 percent was accounted for, in part, by the low initial level of industrial development, as a result of which relatively small absolute increases in output were equivalent to high percentage rates of growth. The contribution of industry to national income (net material product) rose from 46 percent in 1960 to 50 percent in 1969 but declined to 49 percent in 1970.
The most rapid growth occurred in basic industries that were given priority in the allocation of investment and labor. Production of the iron and steel industry rose almost ninefold, and the output of fuels, chemicals, and rubber increased more than sixfold. The output of machine building and metalworking industries increased 5-½ times, and the production of electric power, building materials, and cellulose and paper rose about fourfold. Preferential development of basic industries continued through 1972.
The lowest growth rates among basic industries were attained by the timber and woodworking industry and nonferrous metallurgy. Some foreign observers have wondered when the available nonferrous ore reserves have not been exploited more intensively. As for timber production, its volume has been restricted by the limitation of forest resources. Production by consumer goods industries generally increased by from 2.1 to 2.7 times, except for glass and porcelain wares, the output of which rose almost fivefold.
By far the most important industries in terms of output value in 1970 were food processing, and machine building and metalworking; these industries accounted for 25.4 and 20.2 percent of total output, respectively. Next in importance, with 9.1 percent and 7.5 percent of the total were the textile and the chemical and rubber industries. The output of the clothing industry—4.9 percent of total output—surpassed the production of fuels. The contributions of other industries to the total industrial output ranged from 0.9 to 3.7 percent. The structure of industrial output in value terms reflects, in part, the system of prices used in valuing the output.
Although the country's industrial development has had a history of only two decades, industry produces a wide variety of industrial and consumer products, including machine tools, ships, computers, automatic telephone exchanges, and television sets (see table 20). Bulgaria was also reported to possess the largest plant in Europe, and second largest in the world, for the production of electric forklifts and similar industrial vehicles. The quality of many products, however, though improving, has not measured up to average world standards. In 1972 the chairman of the Administration for Quality Standardization, and Metrology stated that his organization was confronted with a difficult long-term task of developing an effective quality control system and of catching up and keeping pace with the constantly rising world quality standards. In his view, attainment of these goals required a fundamental improvement of domestic quality standards, effective organizational and technical measures, well-conceived incentives, and an enormous amount of indoctrination of the personnel involved in production. The chairman was confident, nevertheless, that the country's industry would eventually outstrip the qualitative standards of developed industrial nations in the same way that it had succeeded in outstripping these nations' industries with regard to quantitative growth.
Table 20. Output of Selected Industrial Products in Bulgaria, Selected Years, 1960-71
SECTION IV. NATIONAL SECURITY
CHAPTER 15
PUBLIC ORDER AND SECURITY
To maintain order and to retain control of the population, party and governmental authorities rely on a number of police and security organizations that are able to exert physical force and, also, upon a group of large social organizations that are able to apply social pressures. When individuals, in spite of the efforts of the law enforcement agencies and the social organizations, engage in antisocial or criminal behavior, the courts are charged with handing down appropriate sentences, and the penal institutions are concerned with rehabilitating the individuals for eventual return to society as cooperative and productive members.
People's Militia units throughout the country are the local police forces that enforce the laws, combat crime, and monitor the population. They are assisted in local law enforcement by part-time voluntary paramilitary auxiliaries and, in serious situations, by a small, centrally organized, full-time internal security force that can act as a light infantry unit and move quickly to any part of the country. State security police, evolved from the secret police of the 1940s and 1950s but much reduced in size, deal with crimes that are national in scope or that pose a threat to the society or its institutions. Authorities credit the security police with having almost eliminated the possibility of large-scale subversive activities. The militia, its volunteer auxiliaries, and the security units are organized within the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Border and construction troop organizations are administered separately. The Border Troops, charged with defense of the country's boundaries and with control of a border zone around the country's periphery, are a part of the Bulgarian People's Army and are under the Ministry of National Defense. The Construction Troops are labor forces, but the bulk of their personnel comes from the annual military draft, and they are organized into regular military units and are subject to military regulations and discipline.
The rights of the individual citizen are defended in the 1971 Constitution and in the Criminal Code of 1968, which was not altered by the constitution. The latter states that a crime can only be an act so identified in the code and for which a punishment is prescribed. These principles can and have been abused—the state is set above the individual, and the judicial machinery is within an agency of the executive branch of the government—but those who exercise the machinery have become increasingly responsive to its guiding statutes. The limits on punishments that are set down in the code allow somewhat greater sentences to be handed down upon those committing crimes against the state or state property than upon individuals or private property.
INTERNAL SECURITY
State and Internal Security Forces
During the time of readjustment after Joseph Stalin's death in 1953, Bulgaria's police state period gradually came to a close. In the postwar period until then, the country had had police machinery modeled on that of Stalinist Soviet Union, with state security troops (secret police) and garrisoned interior troops equipped like mobile army infantry units. The state security troops, the garrisoned interior troops, and the regular police forces are estimated to have totaled about 200,000 men.
Although state and internal security organs have been shifted among ministries and renamed, and there has been an occasional move to abolish them, they continue to exist in Bulgaria. Although the organizational form is probably much the same as before, that is, an internal security force and a state security police, the security apparatus has only a fraction of its former personnel and has been shorn of its more arbitrary powers. According to some observers, Bulgaria has emerged from a police state, wherein security forces held arbitrary powers of arrest that instilled fear in the people, to a police bureaucracy in which the militia meddles in peoples' lives to the point of public frustration. People no longer have reason to fear the tyranny of a secret police, but they have developed a strong resentment of the petty militia regulations that affect their daily lives.
State security functions—those that deal with espionage, treason, and the group of so-called political crimes aimed at undermining or upsetting the system—have been performed by a separate secret police organization that was typical in communist systems, particularly during the Stalinist period. An overriding preoccupation with state security has not been as prevalent in Bulgaria as in many communist countries, because the communist government had established itself firmly in control of the country in a relatively short time. Nonetheless, a sizable secret police force existed for many years and, after a reign of terror lasting until 1948, the secret police contributed to a general atmosphere of repression that lasted until the mid-1950s. After that time most police functions were assumed by the People's Militia, and the secret police faded into the background, greatly reduced in size and importance but still functioning within one of the government ministries.
After the unsuccessful coup d'etat of April 1965, there was a resurgence of secret police activity with the creation of the new Committee of State Security. As the political situation stabilized in the late 1960s, the Committee of State Security was reabsorbed into the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where the remaining units of state security police continue to operate. They are evidently considered necessary in order to take care of relations with foreigners, to collect some military intelligence at the governmental level, and to monitor any potential espionage or criminal activities that might pose a threat to the state. The day-to-day role of the small remnant of the internal security force is unknown. This elite, militarized unit, however, is probably held as a bulwark against any large-scale, organized dissension.
The People's Militia
The People's Militia (local police) deals with crime and maintains routine day-to-day contacts with the people. The militia operates under the control of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and has intermediate administrative offices at the level of the okrug (district) and local police stations at the rayon (municipal) or obshtina (urban borough or village commune) level. Although the primary control descends from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, all militia organizations have a degree of responsibility to the people's councils at their levels.
Local militia forces ordinarily work only in the areas under the jurisdiction of their people's councils. In urgent circumstances they may be called upon the Ministry of Internal Affairs to assist the militia in neighboring areas, and they may even cross okrug lines. To operate outside their own areas on their own volition they must have the permission of an agency in the ministry.
The police are charged with maintaining order, enforcing the laws, protecting personal and public property, and regulating traffic. They assist governmental and party agencies in the execution of their various resolutions, orders, and instructions. They monitor the rules of residence and the collection of taxes. In the event of natural disasters or major accidents they are equipped to rescue, to give first aid, and to transport victims to medical facilities. They supervise observance of quarantine measures imposed by health authorities. They monitor drinking establishments to ascertain that alcoholic beverages are not served to alcoholics, obviously drunken persons, juveniles, and drivers of motor vehicles. They are instructed to combat rowdy and irresponsible behavior—hooliganism, begging, and vagrancy—and other antisocial manifestations. They see that unsupervised and stray children are provided for.
Many militia functions are peripheral to the primary police duties of law enforcement and criminal investigation. Such functions include social controls having diverse objectives ranging from gun control to keeping undesirables off Sofia streets during visits of foreign dignitaries. The police have unusual powers in dealing with beggars, vagabonds, and others in the category that they classify as socially dangerous. Some of the controls are directed at preventing crime; others appear intended to reduce the possibility of incidents on occasions when the presence of such persons could be embarrassing. The regulation allows the police to prohibit individuals from visiting specified towns or areas or even from leaving their residences for a twenty-four-hour period. Some may be prohibited from meeting certain other specified persons or from frequenting certain parts of towns. Such restrictions can be for definite or for indefinite periods of time. Persons may be denied the use of common carriers or the privilege of attending sports events or of visiting certain public institutions. Some, prostitutes for example, may be denied the right to become telephone subscribers. If they think it advisable, the police may require some persons whom they are monitoring to report to them on a daily or other regular basis.
Individually held weapons, ammunition, and explosives are accounted for and are registered with the militia. Certain forestry and farm personnel, hunters, sportsmen, and youth organizations are authorized to retain controlled weapons. Explosives are permitted when they are required in, for example, construction projects. By law there is no production of cold weapons—brass knuckles, daggers, scimitars, and the like—in the country.
The police collect or maintain a major share of local records for the obshtina people's councils. These records deal with vital statistics, citizenship, identification, travel visas, registration of residences, licenses and permits, and employment data. A person acquires Bulgarian citizenship in the circumstances that are accepted in most other countries—by ancestry, place of birth, or naturalization—but there may be somewhat more than the usual number of situations in which he may lose it. Persons are deprived of citizenship if they leave the country unlawfully, leave lawfully but fail to return within a reasonable time after their visas expire, go abroad to avoid military service, acquire foreign citizenship in a manner not specified in Bulgarian law, or if they conduct themselves abroad in ways that are contrary to Bulgaria's interests or that are unworthy of a Bulgarian citizen. Persons not ethnically Bulgarian are released from their citizenship upon emigration, although they are not released unless all of their obligations in the country are settled.
Laws governing the stay of foreigners in the country also are administered and enforced by the militia. According to the revised law that took effect in 1972, the whereabouts of a foreigner is subject to the same rules that apply to Bulgarian citizens. His hotel or other local address, therefore, must be reported to the militia within twenty-four hours of his arrival at each stop. Tourists are usually unaware that such detailed records of their stays are being maintained, because hotel personnel ordinarily take care of the reporting. If the visitor stays at the home of a Bulgarian, that citizen must report his presence on the same twenty-four-hour basis.
A foreign visitor may travel freely otherwise, except that he may not go to certain restricted areas or to the border zone at any place other than at one of the designated crossing points. He must leave the country when the time specified in his visa has expired unless he has a criminal charge against him and is awaiting trial, has been sentenced and is serving a term in prison or at a correctional labor camp, or has the obligation to provide support for a person in the country.
Border Troops
The Border Troops are part of the Bulgarian People's Army and are organized within the Ministry of National Defense. Border units resemble regular military forces more than they do the police. They are considered militarized security units, and some 15,000 men serve in them.
Their mission is described as safeguarding the country's frontiers against penetration or illegal crossing. Because they are a part of the regular armed forces, it is presumed that in time of war they would work in coordination with those forces. If the enemy were to penetrate into Bulgaria, the Border Troops would be expected to control the area immediately behind the ground forces. If Bulgarian armies were driving the enemy beyond the borders, they would probably remain at the old border or establish a new one if the leadership expected to retain any newly occupied territory.
The most strictly defended borders are those shared with Greece, Turkey, and Yugoslavia, but the border with Romania is also defended. The Border Troops operate a number of patrol boats, both on the Danube River, where it forms the border with Romania, and along the Black Sea coast. The troops also control the movement of people into and within a border zone, which is a strip approximately eight miles wide in from the border. Smuggling, however, even large-scale smuggling, is the concern of the Ministry of Internal Affairs customs police and not of the Border Troops.
Construction Troops
A Bulgarian institution that is unique among the Eastern European communist countries is the organization known as the Construction Troops. Thousands of young men who are not called for service in the regular armed forces are drafted into the Construction Troops, from which the government derives productive labor at the same time that it instills military discipline and political indoctrination into a large segment of the young male population. Similar organizations have been maintained since the establishment of the original Labor Service in the early 1920s, which was a means of circumventing the World War I peace terms that prohibited large conscript military forces. Obligatory military service was restored during the 1930s and, as part of the change, the Labor Service was militarized. It was made a part of the army and remained so during World War II, when it became known as the Labor Army.
Two types of compulsory labor forces emerged after the communist seizure of power in 1944. The Labor Army continued in existence and, following the example of the Soviet Union under Stalin and of the other states in the Soviet post-World War II orbit, Bulgaria also placed those of its citizens considered politically dangerous in forced labor camps. These were the prison colonies populated by victims of the secret police, persons who might or might not have had proper trials but who were considered to be enemies of the party or the government. Some camps were temporarily located at sites where large numbers of manual laborers were needed, but more often camps were at permanent locations. Buildings at all camps were flimsy, and facilities were minimal. In the early period, while the Communists were establishing their control over the country, about 1 percent of the population was imprisoned at hard labor in such camps at any given time.
In the early 1970s the Construction Troops organization that had evolved from the Labor Army was military in form and character. Its men were provided from the annual draft and were subject to military regulations and discipline. Its officers, who had regular military ranks, were provided from the armed forces or had been prepared for that specific assignment in the Construction Troops own school. The headquarters of the organization, however, was a main administration responsible directly to the Council of Ministers; it was not within either the Ministry of National Defense or the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Furthermore, the work of the organization was heavy construction and, at least in peacetime, the greatest portion of it was unrelated to any requirement of the armed forces. The Construction Troops worked on various construction projects on a five-day-week basis but assumed a military routine on Saturdays, which were devoted to platoon and company drill and to political education classes.
Until the mid-1960s the troops were used mainly in roadbuilding and land reclamation. By the early 1970s more than one-half of their work was in factory, housing, water supply, and other such construction. Its 1972 projects included building a tire manufacturing plant and a resort hotel complex and harnessing a river for hydroelectric power, recreation, and supplies of irrigation water and city water. One of the organization's spokesmen claimed that there was not a large-scale project underway anywhere in the country where its troops were not at work.
The men acquired in the annual draft serve two years, which satisfies their military service obligation. Almost all of the conscripts in the Construction Troops work as unskilled laborers. During or at the end of their two-year tours, those who enjoy or show a special aptitude for construction work may volunteer for extended duty tours and serve as noncommissioned officers. Some of those who are accepted are sent to technical schools for further education.
Career officers who are educated in the Construction Troops service academy are expected to serve for ten years after graduation. This school, the full title of which is the General Blagony Ivanov People's Military School for Officers in the Construction Troops, offers a so-called semihigher course of instruction. Applicants to it must have completed their secondary education, and its three-year course can be used for undergraduate transfer credit toward a university-level degree elsewhere. Many graduates continue their education at the Higher Institute of Construction and Engineering in Sofia, from which they may receive a further career specialization and bachelor's or advanced degrees.
CIVIL DEFENSE
Authorities responsible for the civil defense program justify their efforts by arguing that modern warfare has virtually eliminated the difference in importance between the armed forces at the front and their support in the rear areas. They stress that it is essential to provide for continued production and delivery of supplies, primarily foodstuffs, that are needed for survival. Such arguments have been effective in Bulgaria, and civil defense training is compulsory for all citizens from twelve to sixty years of age.
The civil defense organization is staffed at all administrative levels in the country. It is within the Ministry of National Defense in the national government and has committees under the people's councils in each okrug and rayon or obshtina. Committees or working teams are also set up in manufacturing plants, enterprises, schools, and collectives. Indicative of the importance placed upon civil defense activities, its national chief in the early 1970s was one of the deputy ministers of national defense, a level shared with only the topmost officers of the military establishment.
Civil defense tasks are divided into three categories. The first includes provision of shelters and defense for the population, providing warning of attack, and training of the people for implementation of dispersal and evacuation plans and for defense and salvage work. The second includes implementation of measures intended to maintain production and to keep transportation, communications media, and power supplies in operation. The third includes industrial salvage, restoration of production, fire fighting, decontamination, and provision of medical assistance.
Specific work assignments vary widely in differing locations and enterprises. For example, industrial teams train to maintain or restore production. Agricultural teams work to save crops, farm animals, or to protect feed and watering spots. People's councils at all levels, party and youth groups, and the mass organizations are instructed to assist in specific ways and to volunteer in other ways as opportunities arise.
Enthusiasm for civil defense activities varies widely. One town with a population of just over 1,000, for example, built or modified areas to shelter 6,000 people. In more typical situations tasks such as those of civil defense that have little to contribute to the needs of the moment receive much lower priority.
PUBLIC ORDER
The Communist Party and Social Organizations
The most important element in establishing control of the country at the inception of the post-World War II communist government was the Bulgarian Communist Party (BKP—see Glossary), with the iron discipline it held over its carefully chosen members and its single-minded planning and direction. After gaining control, the party attempted to retain its exclusive character, insofar as possible recruiting as members only those whose loyalty was unquestioned and who could organize and lead.
To maintain control based on a broader segment of the population, the party then encouraged the development of a number of social and special-interest organizations, designed to appeal to the interests of as many of the people as possible and to enlist them in activities that shape public opinion, regulate the conduct of the people, and support the party and its policies. These organizations ranged in size from the extremely large Fatherland Front and the trade unions to the painters, writers, and composers unions, whose memberships numbered between 100 and 800 (see ch. 9).
With the exceptions of the party, the Fatherland Front, and the small artists unions, these groups are called mass organizations. The small unions do not qualify because they are far from massive in size; the party and the front have the requisite membership, but they are set apart from the others. The Fatherland Front attempts to gather members from all other socially or politically active organizations in the country, combining as many as possible of them within it. Its membership includes nearly one-half of the country's population. The party, although ostensibly a member organization of the Fatherland Front, is set above all other organizations. It controls and directs the others and requires them to support it in general and specific ways (see ch. 9).
The largest of the mass organizations are, in descending order, the trade unions, the Bulgarian Red Cross, the Dimitrov Communist Youth Union (Dimitrovski Komunisticheski Mladezhki Suyuz—commonly referred to as the Komsomol), the Bulgarian Union for Physical Culture and Sports, and the Bulgarian Union of Tourists. Their memberships range from about 1 million to approximately 2.5 million. The Bulgarian Agrarian Union, the Bulgarian Hunting and Fishing Union, the Teachers Union, and the Scientific and Technical Union are much smaller, having memberships between 100,000 and 200,000. The Fatherland Front attracts nearly 4 million people; the party has 700,000 members.
Youth Programs
The first sizable leftist youth organization in the country, then called the Union of Working Youth, was formed in 1926, and by 1940 it had a membership of approximately 15,000. It and the party furnished most of the partisan fighters that harassed the Germans and the pro-German government of the country during World War II. Both the party and the youth group grew stronger during the war, largely because the partisan cause was more popular than that of the government.
The youth organization became the Dimitrov Communist Youth Union after the war. The new name did not come about from a major reorganization or reorientation of the group; transition to its postwar status was smooth, but it saw fit to honor Georgi Dimitrov, who had by then become the most powerful and famous of the party's leaders. Even after its renaming in Dimitrov's honor, the organization has usually been referred to, in official government communications as well as in conversation, as the Komsomol, which is the name of the Soviet Union's youth organization.
The Komsomol became the organization through which the party reached the nation's youth. Its responsibilities were expanded, and its membership grew rapidly. In the ideal situation the entire youth segment of the population of eligible age, both male and female, would be members of the organization. In 1970 its 1.16 million members did include about 77 percent of those between fourteen and twenty-four years of age. Some of the organization's leaders, instructors, and exceptionally active members stay in the group beyond the upper age limit of twenty-four, but their number is too small to alter the membership statistics significantly. Male members outnumbered female members by a large margin; 88 percent of the eligible males were members, only 66 percent of the females. The disparity in membership by sex reflects the fact that more of the organization's activities—sports and premilitary training, for example—appeal to or are oriented toward the future needs of the males. Membership is either a prerequisite for admission to higher educational institutions or makes admission much easier.
Statistics notwithstanding, party and other national leaders complain that Komsomol membership is lower than it should be, but they have greater concern about the number who are members merely for expediency and who are apathetic toward the organization's activities. A low point in the Komsomol's appeal was reached during the 1960s and, sensing an urgent need to reattract the cooperation of the nation's youth, its programs were given a major reevaluation and overhaul beginning in about 1968.
The youth problem in 1968 was probably less serious in Bulgaria than it was in many Western countries and other communist countries, but it had reached proportions that warranted action. Among symptoms cited by the authorities was apathy toward education, work, and party ideology. Young people in rural areas seemed anxious to move to the cities, where idleness, crime, and so-called parasitic living were increasing. Consumption of alcohol by young people was up markedly.
Many young people were described as silent nihilists, persons who were characterized by unresponsiveness and vast indifference. No expression of group youth protest, for example, was recorded between the inception of the communist government and the late 1960s. When individual complaints were solicited, however, they appeared to come out freely. Some said that they would have cooperated but spoke of the anemic and empty lives of the youth organizations where the dull, boring meetings consisted largely of upbraiding sermons full of pious admonitions and reprimands. Others assumed an offensive posture, indulging in self-praise, pointing out shortcomings in party work, complaining about the lack of individual freedom and the lack of opportunity for showing initiative, and criticizing the older generation.
Consumption of alcoholic beverages is common enough in typical families so that early exposure to it is considered natural, but its use by young people became excessive enough to be considered a national problem in the mid-1960s. According to a survey published in 1971, more than 50 percent of the students in Sofia secondary schools consumed alcohol regularly. Percentages were considerably higher in provincial secondary schools. Few of the youthful users had consumed it over a long enough period to have become addicted, but more than one-half of the inebriated persons brought to sobering-up facilities in Sofia hospitals and clinics were young people.
Authorities blame advertising of alcoholic beverages, imitation of Western fashions, disillusionment, and monotony in daily living for most of the increase in youthful drinking. They also blame lax parental control, but the surveys concluded that the influence of contemporary social habits and the pressures of peer groups were forces more powerful than those exerted by the family.
Measures have been undertaken to reduce the so-called parasitic element that according to party and governmental spokesmen, is composed of those who neither study nor work. As early as 1968 the minister of national education was given six months to organize a nationwide program to cope with the problem, and the Center for Amateur Scientific and Technical Activities among Youth and Children was created to coordinate planning. The Committee for Youth and Sports, the State Committee on Scientific and Technical Progress (renamed the State Committee for Science, Technical Progress, and Higher Education), the Komsomol, and the trade unions were charged with contributing ideas and assistance. As a result of the center's activities, the next year each okrug was directed to organize schools with three-month-long vocational training courses and to canvass its area for young people who required the instruction. Enterprises in the okrug were directed to cooperate by indicating the skills they most needed, by furnishing facilities and, finally, by hiring those who completed the training.
As of 1972 the program had achieved spotty or inconclusive results. Most spokesmen considered it as satisfactory as could have been expected. They did not consider that it reflected badly on the effort when a few groups reported that about 30 percent of the students who completed their classes never reported to the jobs for which they had been prepared and that others stayed at work for only a short time. Other observers consider that the authorities are concerned over a problem much of which does not exist or that is blown out of proportion to its seriousness. For example, 85 percent of the offending group were girls or young women. A few of them were undoubtedly ideological malcontents, members of youth gangs, prostitutes, or criminals, but a large majority considered themselves living inoffensively at home or, at the worst, were working at small family enterprises. In rural areas they might have been attending the family's private agricultural plot or the privately owned livestock.
CRIME AND JUSTICE
Crime
The country's most widely quoted authorities on crime view it as a social phenomenon, that is, actions by people within society against the interests of the society as a whole or against the principles directing it. Combating crime, therefore, becomes a matter both of law enforcement and of social edification and persuasion. Although they adhere to the argument that in a developing communist society most of the crime is related to holdover attitudes from the old society and to unavoidable contacts with such societies still existing, they do not expect to eradicate crime according to any existing timetable.
Petty crime is an irritant to the leadership, not so much for the damage or lasting effects of the individual criminal acts, but because such acts reflect an attitude on the part of the perpetrators indicating that they hold the society, if not in ridicule or contempt, at least in less than proper respect. Such attitudes prompted an official in the Ministry of Internal Affairs to state, "Social democracy does not take a conciliatory attitude toward petty criminals, or tolerate individuals who disturb the public order or who are engaged in a parasitical life." The actual amount of petty crime is less worrisome to the authorities than the fact that it is increasing. Also disturbing are statistics showing that most of those apprehended for it are in the eighteen-to-thirty-year age-group.
Authorities have found themselves facing a problem in relation to petty crime that is in no way unique to Bulgaria. Misuse of government property, including theft and pilfering, has become rampant and is considered forgivable by those who are guilty because "everybody does it." The courts have become reluctant to hand down harsh sentences upon people who consider that they have done no wrong and, at least in the opinion of some government spokesmen, lenient court sentences have helped foster a view that theft of public property is wrong only because it is so described in certain of the laws.
The authorities also point out that statistics accumulated on such thefts reported in 1970 are revealing in other respects. Almost 90 percent of those recorded fell into the category of petty crime, but about one-half of them were carried out by overcoming locks or other barriers protecting the property. Over one-half of the persons apprehended for such thefts were repeaters. Analysis of other records also indicated that in all but a very few cases the most serious crimes were committed by individuals who had begun their criminal careers by stealing.
At the same time the courts were handing down sentences of the minimum punishment for theft or even less than the prescribed minimum. More often than not, the culprits were given suspended sentences. Of those convicted of serious theft, less than one-half were sentenced to a period of deprivation of freedom considered appropriate—that is, the six months or more prescribed in the criminal code.
More serious are the crimes of violence, political crimes, and economic crimes involving abuse of management positions or large amounts of property. In the period since the mid-1950s crimes of violence have increased; political and serious economic crimes have decreased.
Citizens convicted of political crimes no longer constitute the bulk of the prison population, as they did during the early post-World War II period. Active or aggressively vocal opposition to the regime is usually called ideological subversion, diversion, or revisionism, and it is described as activity or expression of thoughts related to the old society and not in accord with the policies of the new. It is still listed among the more serious crimes. Officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs blame both external influences and dissident internal factions for having caused the Hungarian revolution in 1956 and the Czechoslovak troubles in 1968. They say, however, that such events are unlikely in Bulgaria because the ministry's state security agencies are busy combating foreign intelligence efforts and the native elements that would bore from within. The success of their efforts is credited with having reduced political trials to only a few each year.
Economic crimes include those of dishonest or illegal operation of an enterprise, the misuse of socialist property by its management or workers, currency manipulations, and improper sale or transfer of property. If inefficient management practices are serious enough to result in less than optimum production, they are considered criminal, but sufficient guilt has been difficult to prove, and those accused are rarely, if ever, prosecuted. They are occasionally reprimanded, transferred, or dismissed for bureaucratic practices. Management personnel who are brought before the courts are usually tried for corruption, using their positions for personal enrichment, or violation of administrative or financial regulations.
Workers can be prosecuted for theft, waste, willful damage, or illegal use of materials. Poor labor discipline, shirking on the job, or nonmalicious negligence may result in individuals or entire work shifts being brought before party groups or trade union committees. Action in such cases usually involves counseling, social pressure, or the like.
Consumption of alcohol is not excessive when compared with that of other European countries, but it has been increasing steadily and has been a major contributor to crime and antisocial behavior. During the 1960s per capita consumption of absolute alcohol increased by a factor of nearly 50 percent, from 4.01 quarts per person annually to 5.93 quarts. Strenuous efforts on the part of the country's leadership to combat the trend resulted in a decrease between 1968 and 1970, but the dip in consumption was temporary. Per capita consumption in 1971 reached the highest level yet recorded.
Police are involved in aspects of the programs combating the rise in consumption of alcohol and alcoholism because alcohol has figured increasingly in crime. Nearly 90 percent of those charged with rowdiness or disturbing the peace were under its influence, as were increasing percentages of those apprehended on rape, assault, and murder charges.
Many more men than women have alcohol problems, but the percentage of women problem drinkers has risen more rapidly. Similarly, consumption by youths is less than that of adults, but the numbers of youths becoming habitual drinkers has been increasing. Many of the campaigns against the use of alcohol are also directed against smoking and drugs, although neither of these is considered a cause of serious concern. Smoking is viewed as an evil that may be damaging to the user's health but that has no serious social consequences. By 1973 drugs had not become a serious problem.
The police monitor a large number of alcoholics whose conditions are chronic but who can work. These persons get a period—ordinarily from six months to a year—of compulsory treatment. This may include work therapy in groups that are supervised to the degree necessary to prevent the members from acquiring alcoholic beverages.
Increasing tourism has resulted in special problems in resort areas. Spokesmen note that what they refer to as petit bourgeois attitudes toward moneymaking have shown up, especially at the new Black Sea coastal resorts. Local people inflate prices for tourists, accept and encourage tips, and buy and sell merchandise illegally. On some occasions the Bulgarians exploit their guests; at other times the foreigners exploit the local population. Most seriously viewed of the adverse tourist influences are the introduction of unacceptable ideology and foreign encouragement of moral laxity which, according to the authorities, pervades the area. Occasionally, however, there is an example of an ideological diversity in a direction opposite that of lax morality. One group of tourists was evicted from the country after distributing what the police described as forty Bibles and 150 godly booklets. Many tourists enter the country by automobile; traffic has become congested, and violations of traffic laws are more numerous than the police can cope with.
Criminal Code
The criminal code's preamble states that its purpose is to protect the society and the state, the person and the rights of its citizens, the economy, and the state's property and laws and to educate the citizens in the rules of life in the socialist society. It defines crimes as socially dangerous acts that are identified and declared by law as punishable.
In addition to the qualification that a crime must be set down as such and declared punishable, the individual is further protected by the stipulation that he may be punished only when he has been found guilty of one of the listed crimes by a proper court. The punishment may be only what is set down in the code and declared consistent with the crime, and it may be imposed only by the court trying the case.
Adults, eighteen years of age or older, are criminally liable. Minors, between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, are criminally liable if they are judged capable of understanding the act and its significance and of controlling their actions. Juveniles under fourteen years of age and mentally deficient persons unable to understand the nature or significance of a criminal act are not criminally liable.
Courts may hand down punishments of eleven different varieties. In addition to fines, confiscation of property, and confinement, they may sentence a guilty person to corrective labor or compulsory residence without confinement. They may deprive an individual of the right to occupy certain governmental or public positions, of the right to practice certain professions or activities, of the right to residence in a specified place, or of the right to earn decorations and awards. If he is on duty with the military, a court may remove his rank. It may also administer a public reprimand, alone or in combination with another type of punishment. The sentence, however, should be within the upper and lower limits in the amounts of fines or the time period for which the other sentences may apply. Such limits are set down in the code.
The death penalty is never a mandatory sentence in peacetime. It is optional for a considerable number of crimes, but it is handed down only if the circumstances of a particular crime that is before the court are exceptionally serious. When the maximum sentence is deprivation of freedom and does not include a possible death sentence, the duration of the sentence will be no longer than fifteen years. If the maximum sentence can be death, twenty years deprivation of freedom may be substituted for execution.
The stipulated sentences for crimes against the state tend to be more severe than sentences for crimes against individuals. Theft of public property is punishable by confinement of up to eight years, of private property by no more than three years. Robbery involving public property may result in a sentence of from three to ten years; if it involves private property, the range is from three to eight years.
Although the individual's rights appear to have more than ample safeguards, the situation may be less utopian than the wording of the criminal code would suggest. For example, a 1973 amendment to the laws pertaining to personal property states that "when a citizen is found to possess more property than he could reasonably have acquired from his regular income, he is considered to have acquired it illegally unless he can prove to the contrary."
Courts
All of the formal judicial machinery of the country is within the governmental organization under the Ministry of Justice, but special courts—such as those of the military establishment—may be administered separately and independently in their lower echelons. Although the ministry serves as a part of the executive branch of the government, as the interpreter of laws it can check upon their compatibility with the constitution and other legislation. It might also function as a check upon the powers of the legislature and upon the other ministries in the executive branch. So far as is known, however, during the framing of legislation its professional expertise is used only to provide technical advice on the phrasing or structure of the text, to make sure that it says in legal terms what the framers intend (see ch. 8).
The Ministry of Justice is responsive to the policies of the BKP, although the minister appears to be chosen for his professional qualifications. In the early 1970s the incumbent was one of the very few important officials in the government who did not also have a high-ranking party position, and only one of his immediate staff was a member of the Central Committee of the BKP. None of the others is believed to have had an equivalent party status.
Each people's council has a legal department or a group that provides it with legal counsel. The chiefs of such departments at obshtina level are appointed and relieved by the okrug people's council.
The size and legal qualifications of the legal staff vary with the population of the okrug or obshtina. The departments at okrug level and those of the larger obshtini have staffs that are relied upon for competence in a wide range of criminal and administrative procedures; the legal problems that are encountered by a remote rural obshtina are usually minor.
Legal departments are charged with monitoring the activities of the people's councils and their committees to keep them consistent with the law; with interpreting laws for the people's councils and for inhabitants in the area of their jurisdiction; with strengthening the contractual and financial disciplines of the people's councils and of enterprises within their areas; and, as a by-product, with tightening the safeguards on public property. Most of the daily work of the departments consists of giving legal counsel to the people's councils and of reviewing the councils' resolutions to ensure that they conform to national laws and party policies.
Penal Institutions
The Ministry of Justice is responsible for the overall administration, activities, and security of prisons. Outside guards are provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to the regulations, the primary responsibilities of prison administrators are to rehabilitate and to reeducate inmates.
Reeducation includes political reorientation, general education, and vocational training. All inmates are obligated to receive political indoctrination, which is intended to reorient them toward becoming cooperating members of the community. All of them are also required to perform useful labor—for vocational training, prison income, and benefit to the state. General education is compulsory for all prisoners under forty years of age who have not completed eight years of primary schooling. Vocational training, other than that derived from prison labor, varies with facilities available.
The physical facilities for confinement are classified as prisons, labor-correctional institutions, and correctional homes. The correctional homes are for minors. According to the seriousness of the offense and other factors, a prisoner may be confined in light, general, strict, or enforced strict disciplinary regimes, one of which is specified in his court sentence. The light regime is prescribed for first offenders who are serving time for minor crimes. The enforced strict regime is applied to recidivists, as an alternative to the death sentence, or to those considered dangerous or willfully and excessively uncooperative. The stricter regimes have less comfortable cells and furnishings, more rigid discipline, fewer individual privileges, and tighter security.
Prisoners are segregated by age, sex, and disciplinary regime. Women and minors serve their sentences in separate prisons or correctional homes. They are subject to much the same schedules as those in the prisons for male adults, except that theirs have no enforced strict regime. According to the law, those serving in different regimes are to be confined separately, and repeaters are to be confined in separate prisons from first offenders. Because there are a limited number of prisons, it may be necessary to meet the law's requirement for separation of prisoners by having different regimes in wards or buildings of the same prison complex.
The law on prison labor states that prisoners have the right to employment and political education and, at the same time, that they have the obligation to do the work and receive the political indoctrination. Inmates are given work assignments within seven days of their arrival at a prison. Their wages are based on the norms for the same kind of work done in enterprises throughout the country, and the same work and safety regulations apply. Inmates receive 20 percent or more of their wages. None except minors, incapacitated persons, or individuals who would work but who are for some reason unemployed may receive money from the outside.
Prisoners have the right to communicate with the prosecutors and courts that investigated and tried their cases and to submit petitions to them and to the Ministry of Justice. They may also see the chiefs of their prisons, correctional homes, or labor-correctional institutions in person. Other rights include time outdoors, exercise, visitors, correspondence, food parcels, possession of personal effects, and meetings and special correspondence with lawyers or other persons having a status or authority relative to their sentencing or confinement. The amount of time outdoors and correspondence and the numbers of visitors and parcels allowed vary with the severity of the inmate's disciplinary regime.
Correspondence and parcels are opened and inspected by prison officials. Visits are monitored; conversation must be in Bulgarian unless the administration has or can find a person who can understand the language to be spoken. Inmates are not allowed to gamble, consume alcohol, use narcotics, or sell or exchange personal property with other inmates. Minors may not smoke. Prisoners and their property may be searched.
Prisoners are rewarded for good behavior and punished for bad. When his pattern of conduct has become apparent over a period of time and it appears appropriate, a prisoner may be moved into a lighter or more severe disciplinary regime. If he has insufficient time remaining in his sentence to be moved into a different regime, he may be given extra privileges or be denied some of those to which he would ordinarily be entitled. Commitment to solitary confinement is limited to two weeks at any one time.
A number of sentences do not involve confinement. For a group of offenses related to poor working discipline, an individual can be given a corrective labor sentence. This usually involves harder work, somewhat longer hours, and strict supervision on the job. The law also provides for sentences that restrict the movement of an individual. In the most severe of these, he may be banished to and be required to remain in one certain area. In other situations he may be prohibited from visiting specified areas or, in the least severe case, he may visit but not take up residence in some specified locality.
Another such sentence involves "internment without deprivation of liberty." This sentence restricts the individual to his place of residence or to another specified place. The term is usually from one to three years but, in the case of a repeated crime or in some other special circumstance, it can be for as long as five years. The essence of the penalty is that it consists of a restriction to the confines of the area within which the offender lives and works. He may not hold a job outside of the area, but he does not live in a special billet, nor is he isolated from his neighbors and local society. The usual objective, when this type of sentence is handed down, is to keep the individual in his home environment, where he retains responsibility for his share of the family support and is subject to its influences.