of 1.6 million. The
organization's responsibilities toward those of its age group parallel
those of the UTC and involve political and patriotic training. Until
1966 the Pioneers Organization functioned as an integral part of the
UTC, but since that time it has been under the direct control of the
party Central Committee.

The General Union of Trade Unions

As the official organization incorporating all blue-collar and
white-collar workers, the General Union of Trade Unions (Uniunea
Generala a Sindicatelr din Romania--UGSR) is the largest of the
country's mass organizations, with a reported membership in early 1972
of 4.6 million. Headed by a general council, the UGSR consists of twelve
component labor union federations and forty area councils, one for each
county and the city of Bucharest. The Central Council is structured with
a chairman, appointed by the PCR Central Committee, seven secretaries,
and an executive committee of twenty-seven full and nine alternate
members. There are an estimated 12,000 local union units.

The primary function of the labor unions is the transmission of party
policies to the rank and file. The UGSR statutes specify that the
organization will carry out all of its activities under the political
leadership of the PCR, and a similar provision is also included in the
statutes of the county UGSR committees. In addition, the statutes of
the central body require the organization to work to mobilize labor
union members to ensure the implementation of party policy. A 1969
resolution of the Central Council of the UGSR declared that all labor
union activities would focus on the mobilization of the working people
to fulfill the state economic plan.

In early 1971, after a period of increased labor discipline problems and
following a time of severe labor unrest in Poland, the PCR took steps to
reform the labor union organization. Announcing what he termed as the
democratization of the UGSR and its component unions, Ceausescu promised
the workers genuine protection of their interests and a voice in the
appointment of industrial management. The goal of the PCR program was to
improve the unions without losing party control, and Ceausescu defined
democratization as meaning that the labor unions would serve the party
as a framework for the organization of consultations with the masses and
as a forum where workers can debate the country's economic and social
development.

New UGSR statutes were introd