9 - Social deprivation under Soviet full employment

Summary

The official Soviet ideology contends that there is no unemployment in the Soviet Union; that every Soviet citizen has the right to work, guaranteed constitutionally; and that full employment of the able-bodied population has been ensured in the country.

However, these claims must be taken with caution. The first means in effect merely that registered unemployment is absent, because unemployment benefits are not available. In connection with the second it should be remembered that work is not only a right but also a duty and a matter of honor, and that in practice the former neither eliminates open but unregistered unemployment nor assures employment at skill level and in the desired locality. And the third conceals the fact that full employment is economically irrational, i.e., characterized by considerable under-utilization and waste of working time and qualifications.

Since in the Soviet Union full employment is economically irrational in the sense mentioned, it has on the one hand a pronounced social dimension which arises from the nature of command socialism, the regime's policies, and the vested interests of individual role-players; on the other hand, it has adverse economic, behavioral, and attitudinal consequences. And this also raises the question of social deprivation and of official and unofficial response to it.

FULL EMPLOYMENT

Although Soviet sources repeatedly emphasize that full employment is an endemic feature of socialism, Soviet scholars are far from unanimous as to its definition.