Christmas Benefits in 1951

Public Response to the Restriction of Christmas Benefits in 1951 – Reports of Regional State Police Directorates

After the 1948 coup, the state not only interfered in private ownership but also into the labour relationships, wages, social security, healthcare and education, and everything was subjected to central planning and the monopoly of power of the communist party. Czechoslovak economy became “Sovietised”, which meant that heavy engineering was given an inadequately strong boost at the expense of other industries, and there was pressure to achieve full employment despite the fact that that labour market was limited. All these changes failed to resolve the root issue, which was an increase in wages and efficiency of economy. The post-war rationing system was still in force, and wages were often too low to meet the market prices. Such disproportions were supposed to be compensated for by various employment bonuses, social incomes, various forms of subsidised services, family and also Christmas benefits.

Following a sharp drop in Czechoslovak economy, many employee benefits were cut down. One such measure was the government’s decree dated 19 November 1951 restricting Christmas benefits, soon to become Act 104/1951 on the Christmas Benefit dated 19 December 1951. According to this measure, the benefit was to be paid only to those employees whose gross wage was less than 5000 KC. This inevitable led to a wave of protest. After the decree was mentioned in the media, there were, for instance, demonstrations in Brno.

The archival material presented herein is part of the collection of State Police Directorate, code no. 310, and contains reports from the regional directorates of State Police compiling adverse responses to the restriction of the Christmas benefit among the employees of selected industrial plants in Czechoslovak regions. What is interesting is the response of the Communist Party members in these plants, especially those in the managerial posts. Their response was adverse especially because of the fact that they had not been informed of the intention to restrict Christmas benefits in advance, and suddenly had to find a suitable way of how to explain this measure to their staff. In consequence, the workers began to mock them as “firemen” trying to “extinguish the anger”.

There were also some other forms of protest that, despite the difficult time, did not lack the sense of black humour, for instance, the carrying of a coffin with the Christmas benefit in Susice, South Bohemia. Workers also threatened to refuse coming to their shift, in some places they even returned their party and trade union membership cards in protest, and also drew the attention to the fact that foreign radios were a better and more trustful source of information than Czechoslovak Radio.

Source: ABS, State Police Directorate, code no. 310, call no. 310-114-1.