ABSTRACT
It does not require an overly perceptive eye to recognize that a struggle among various interest groups for power, prestige, and economic rewards takes place in the Soviet Union, although its manifestations are not those made familiar by the corresponding struggle in Western society. Complaints about actual practice in the determination of wages strongly suggest that these centralized arrangements tend to break down, and that the local factory administration enjoys considerable autonomy in determining the wages of its workers and employees. Certain additional superficial similarities to labor-capital relationships in capitalist societies may also be found in the Soviet version of collective agreements between unions and management. The factory administration in its efforts to enforce industrial discipline enjoys a large measure of support from the bureaucratic apparatus of the regime, including the secret police. The manpower shortage largely eliminates from the employer's arsenal the possibility of firing a worker for any reason except the grossest forms of incompetence.
