Page:NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE SURVEY 18; CZECHOSLOVAKIA; THE SOCIETY CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110015-7.pdf/17

 APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110015-7

As indicated by the retail price index (Figure 10), the Husak government has made a major policy of countering inflationary pressures by prohibiting significant rises in the prices of consumer goods. The supply of both domestic and imported consumer durables has steadily increased. The published statistics on the marketing of consumer goods during 1959-71 (Figure 11) indicate upward trends in sales of automobiles, furniture, refrigerators, and television sets. According to preliminary results of the 1970 census, 73% of all households had a television set, 69% had an electric washing machine, 61% had a refrigerator, 51% had a vacuum cleaner, and 17% had an automobile. In mid-1973 Czechoslovakia was the only European Communist country without waiting lists for the purchase of automobiles, and there was roughly one automobile for every four families.

Although the consumption of textiles, clothing, footwear, and household goods is relatively high in comparison with most other European Communist countries, these items have often failed to satisfy the sophisticated tastes and demands for quality on the part of most Czechoslovak consumers. Under regulations in force since 1966, industrial concerns are liable to pay fines for failure to meet exacting standards of quality control over their products. However, little progress appears to have been made in improving the quality of consumer durables. One of the principal reasons for a consistently high rate of personal savings, particularly in collective farm households (Figure 9), has been the lack of desirable goods and services. Moreover, none of the available measures of personal consumption reflect the inconveniences and frustrations experienced by people who had had to wait in line to buy many products, the shortages and overcrowding of living quarters, the difficulty of obtaining repair and other services, and the lack of numerous small personal and household items that are easily available in the West.

Under Communist rule, crime and other social problems have developed to increasingly serious proportions. However, in absolute terms crime, particularly violent crime, is lower than in the West. The rising incidence of crime can be attributed largely to the disdain for authority that has unwittingly been inbred into the population by a system seeking to control the individual's thoughts and actions from infancy. The crimes committed include a wide range of misdemeanors and economic offenses, motivated in some cases by public petulance as much by a desire for personal gain. The number of prosecutions increased by 50% during the 1960's according to Czechoslovak statistics, with approximately 142,000 cases being tried in 1969. Only half of these prosecutions resulted in convictions, a fact which the regime today attributes to the former laxity of the judicial system. Crimes involving property—particularly massive pilfering from state enterprises—have accounted for most of this increase throughout Czechoslovakia. In 1971 some 56,000 persons were tried for theft, and the number of those not apprehended was estimated to be considerably larger.

Throughout Czechoslovakia the increase in crime has been most acute among juveniles and those in the 17-24 age group, who in 1969 accounted for 62.4% of all criminal offenses. The failure of the Communist system to alleviate the social problems affecting youth has caused the party to reassess its attitude toward the young and to reexamine the educational system and numerous other institutions. This reassessment began in 1963, and under the Dubcek government youth

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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110015-7