Action Z
The action Z (Czech: Akce Z ) was in the days of socialist rule in Czechoslovakia an unpaid activity of the population. These were various ancillary activities in areas that were not carried out by the state administration - be it for financial reasons or as a result of incorrect planning .
Officially - similar to the Subbotniks in the GDR - it was voluntary work. As stated in Section 27.1 of Government Decree 14/1959, it was a question of maintenance measures (Czech: z velebování). In the 1950s and 1960s, this typically included cleaning up and greening settlements.
Increasingly, however, this activity has left the area of self-help of the citizens and increasingly involved extensive actions in the area of complex investment plans in the economy. This involved, for example, the construction or modernization of apartments and settlements, the construction of the sewer system, etc .; In this way numerous general stores were built in smaller communities as well as, for example, cultural centers in the cities.
Over time, such activities were firmly planned, there were management bodies, guidelines, methodological instructions from the State Planning Commission, the actions were recorded in the economic plans and corresponding investments were planned: voluntary self-help has become an integral part of the central development plan .
These actions, forced by the state administration, reached proportions that were already addressed and criticized in the Federal Assembly in the early 1970s. On the one hand, the achieved values and their increase of 30 percent compared to the previous year are proudly reported, on the other hand, it is criticized that the solution is not in the area of self-help (they “no longer have the character of self-help actions”), but rather in a “qualitatively better one Preparation and elaboration of investment expansion plans ”, and it is also admitted in clauses that this could affect the future preparedness of the population.
The figures known for 1972 are also convincing: if you add up all the new values, they amount to around 10 billion crowns, which brought the state savings in the budget for investments of around 1573 million crowns. Among the newly created values, which represent around 20 percent of the budget of the local authorities for investments, the following objects are named for the year 1972 alone (in a state with 15 million inhabitants at the time): 1408 km of sewers, 2396 km of traffic routes, 113 new kindergartens , 38 primary schools, 61 school gardens, 48 school canteens, 16 day nurseries, 36 school workshops, 1,540 bus shelters, 63 medical centers, 609 cultural and similar houses, 125 gyms and similar sports facilities, 50,224 m 2 of sales area for various shops, etc. For this reason, a guideline was created proposed to limit the amount to 5 million crowns per single action.
Only apparently these actions were voluntary. In reality, a certain amount of pressure was exerted on the citizens, participation in the actions was documented, and citizens whose participation was unsatisfactory were at least met with discussions, threatened consequences in the workplace, etc.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Vládní nařízení 14/1959 Government Decree 14/1959 of March 14, 1959 (Czech), accessed on July 6, 2009
- ↑ Vyhláška MF a SPK 118/1960 Announcement of the Ministry of Finance and the State Planning Commission 118/1960 of July 30, 1960 (Czech), accessed on July 6, 2009
- ↑ Vyhláška MF a Státní banky 6/1964 Announcement 6/1964 of the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank on financing, in particular Notes 15 and 18 (Czech), accessed on July 6, 2009
- ↑ a b c Minutes 8.schůze FS z June 27, 1973/1 / www.psp.cz Shorthand minutes of the session of the Federal Assembly on June 27, 1973, Part 1 (Czech), accessed on July 6, 2009
- ↑ a b Minutes 8th schůze FS z June 27, 1973/2 / www.psp.cz Shorthand minutes of the session of the Federal Assembly on June 27, 1973, Part 2 (Czech), accessed on July 6, 2009