uced in mid-1971. Observers of Romanian
political affairs asserted, however, that there were no major changes in
the system and pointed out that the new statutes still did not give
labor unions the right to take the initiative in matters concerning
wages or the living standard. In this regard the unions could fill only
a watchdog role to assure that the regulations approved by the
appropriate party and management bodies were being correctly carried
out.

PARTY POLICIES AND PROGRAMS

The major domestic programs that the party sought to promote centered on
the country's economic development, the integration of national
minorities, the extension of so-called socialist democracy, and the
PCR's cultural-ideological campaign. As a means of strengthening its
leading role, the party leaders acted to improve communication between
the central PCR organs and the county, city, and commune organizations
and, at the same time, took additional steps to win mass support.

The Economy

In the area of economics the PCR continued its primary emphasis on
industrial development and was only secondarily concerned with
agriculture and consumer goods. This emphasis was evidenced in the
economic plan adopted for the 1971-75 period, approved by the 1969 party
congress, which concentrates on heavy industry at the expense of
consumer goods. Although Romania was primarily an agricultural country,
the PCR leadership in the early 1960s, rejected the plan of the Council
for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) for a division of labor between
the participating communist states that would have had Romania place the
greatest emphasis on the development of agriculture. Instead, the PCR
launched a drive to modernize the country through industrialization (see
ch. 14; ch. 10).

The policies pursued by the PCR are designed to maintain firm party
control of the economy. In the formulation of Romania's economic
development plans, the will of the party is predominant, and the degree
of party control was augmented by the territorial and administrative
reorganization of 1968 when economic commissions were established in
each of the new counties to function under the direct supervision of the
county PCR committees. These commissions made it possible for the party
to have a direct hand in the local economic programs.

During 1970 and 1971 party leaders noted that, whereas the annual
production increase envisaged by the Five-Year Plan (1971-75) had been
f