Routledge Revivals Social Welfare in Socialist Countries First published in 1992, this book analyses social welfare in eight socialist countries, at that time: Czechoslovakia, China, Cuba, Hun- gary, Poland, Yugoslavia, North Korea and the Soviet Union. For each country it considers the ideological framework underlying the social welfare system and describes the historical development of both the system and the political and socio-economic context. Each chapter looks at the structure and administration of the systems in place and how these are financed. This is followed by a consideration of the nature of different parts of the welfare system, a survey of social secur- ity, personal social services and the treatment of the following key target groups: the aged; those with disabilities and handicaps; children and youth; disadvantaged families; the unemployed; and the sick and injured. Each chapter concludes with an assessment of the effectiveness of the system considered. This page intentionally left blank Social Welfare in Socialist Countries Edited by John Dixon and David Macarov First published in 1992 by Routledge This edition first published in 2016 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 1992 John Dixon and David Macarov The right of John Dixon and David Macarov to be identified as editor of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Publisher’s Note The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent. Disclaimer The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact. A Library of Congress record exists under LC control number: 91023873 ISBN 13: 978-1-138-94713-9 (hbk) ISBN 13: 978-1-315-67025-6 (ebk) Social welfare in socialist countries Edited by John Dixon and David Macarov First published 1992 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge a division of Routledge, Chapman and Hall, Inc. 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 © 1992 John Dixon and David Macarov Typeset in Times by Michael Mepham, Frome, Somerset Printed and bound in Great Britain by Mackays of Chatham PLC, Chatham, Kent All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Social welfare in socialist countries. - (Comparative social welfare) I. Dixon, John, 1942- II. Macarov, David III. Series 361.65091717 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Social welfare in socialist countries / edited by John Dixon and David Macarov. p. cm. - (Comparative social welfare series) Includes index. 1. Public welfare—Europe, Eastern. 2. Public welfare—Communist countries. I. Dixon, John E. II. Macarov, David. III. Series. HV238.S63 1992 361.9171'7—dc20 91-23873 CIP ISBN 0-415-07150-X Contents Contributors vi Preface vii Acknowledgements xii 1 Social welfare under socialism 1 John Dixon and Hyung Shik Kim 2 China 10 John Dixon 3 Cuba 47 Carmelo Mesa-Lago and Sergio G. Roca 4 Czechoslovakia 75 Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs 5 Hungary 98 Gabor Hegyesi, Anna Gondos and Èva Orsós 6 North Korea 131 Hyung Shik Kim 7 Poland 156 Ewa Les 8 Soviet Union 184 Aleksandr a Wiktorow 9 Yugoslavia 208 Miroslav Ruzica Appendices 235 Index 254 Contributors John Dixon is Association Professor in Management and Executive Director of the David Syme Management Education Centre, Monash University, Canberra, Australia. Anna Gondos is the President of Lares Human Services Co-operative, Budapest, Hungary. Gabor Hegyesi is a Lecturer in the Department of Social Policy, Institute of Sociology and Social Policy, Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary. Hyung Shik Kim is a Senior Lecturer in Human Services, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia. Ewa Les is Manager of the Social Service Workers’ Department, Institute of Social Policy, Faculty of Journalism and Political Science, Warsaw University, Poland. David Macarov is Emeritus Professor in Social Work at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Carmelo Mesa-Lago is a Distinguished Professor and Director of the Centre for Latin American Studies, University of Pittsburgh, USA. Eva Orsos is a Counsellor in Social Policy, House of Parliament, Budapest, Hungary. Miroslav Ruzica is a Professor in the Department of Behavioural Science at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, USA. Sergio G. Roca is a Professor of Economics at Adelphi University, Garden City, USA. Aleksandra Wiktorow is a researcher at the Institute of Labour and Social Affairs, Poland. Preface This is the latest volume in a series which compares social welfare systems throughout the world. As in the previous volumes, consistency was sought by asking the contributors to discuss the environment, including ideology and/or values, history, and the political and socio-economic context: the structure, administration and financing of social welfare; specific target groups, of which six were suggested; and an assessment concerning adequacy and future probabilities. Beyond this, contributors were free to elucidate the social welfare programmes in their countries in their own way. For purposes of consistency, social welfare has been defined a priori as: the whole set of compulsory measures instituted to protect the individual and his or her family against the consequences of an unavoidable inter­ ruption or serious diminution of the earned income disposable for the maintenance of a reasonable standard of living. (Rys 1966, p.242) Similarly, the personal social services were defined in advance as: distinguished from cash benefits; provided in response to recognised personal needs; requiring the assistance of qualified personnel. For purposes of consistency and simplicity, all monetary units are expressed in national currency units, and no attempt has been made to convert them into comparable units. The currency units for the countries included in this volume are: China : Yuan Cuba : Cuban Peso Czechoslovakia : Koruna Hungary : Forint North Korea : Won Poland : Zloty Soviet Union : Rouble Yugoslavia : Yugoslav Dinar viii Preface The original proposed title for this book was SOCIAL WELFARE UNDER COMMUNISM, but it quickly became evident to the editors that although there are countries which designate themselves as communist, and others as Marxist, and others - with the same intent - as People’s Republics, these differ widely in their forms, as well as in their ideologies. In any case, no country has attained the communist ideal: ownership of all means of production by the people, and the withering away of the state apparatus. Since many of these states - as the contributions in this volume will indicate - consider themselves socialist states, the working title was changed to SOCIAL WELFARE UNDER SOCIALISM. However, this title might be construed as containing an implicit bias - that socialism was something imposed on people, rather than chosen by them. Since this book is intended to describe, and not to evaluate, social welfare programmes, the final title chosen was SOCIAL WELFARE IN SOCIALIST COUNTRIES. This did not solve the problem of categorising some countries as socialist and others as not, but due to the inherent length limitations of the book, it was decided to concentrate on those countries which seem to be the clearest examples of socialist economies, in order to highlight similarities and dif­ ferences between them, and between them and other types of countries. Insofar as the social welfare aspect is concerned, this, too, proved a problem. Since economic determinism is one of the basic theories underlying communist thought, it was originally theorised that in a communist country, and even in socialist regimes, there would be no need for social welfare programmes as such, for social work, since economic equality would obviate the kinds of human problems felt to be characteristic of capitalist economies. In Israeli kibbutzim (the plural of kibbutz), for example- where the operating principle is ‘from each according to his [s/c] ability and to each according to his need’, thereby putting the kibbutz closer to the communist ideal than many socialist countries - there was neglect of, and often resistance to, social work activities for many years. Similarly, in the early history of many socialist countries there were only fragmentary services, or they were subsumed under other activities - family problems dealt with by judges, for example. Admitting that problems still existed was seen by some as denying the fundamental rationale of the philosophy. Indeed, one prospective contributor to this volume declined to participate, on the basis that ‘there are no social welfare programmes’ in his country. Increasingly, however, there has been recognition of the need for help with a wide range of human problems, and with it, the acceptance of government-sponsored social welfare programmes, both for specific popu­ lations, such as the aged and the unemployed; and for the general publ ic, such as children’s or family allowances, illness insurance, and maternity benefits. With capitalist countries depending on individual initiative in the econ­ omy, and socialist countries based on centrally-planned economies, there has Preface ix nevertheless grown up a wide area of convergence insofar as social welfare programmes are concerned.