Broad-sweeping wage reforms were instituted in the Soviet Union during the Khrushchev era, from 1956 through 1962. These were intended to move Soviet industrial workers away from the mindset of overfulfilling quotas that had characterised the Soviet economy during the preceding Stalinist period, and toward a more efficient financial incentive. Throughout the Stalinist period, most Soviet workers had been paid for their work based on a piece-rate system. Thus their individual wages were directly tied to the amount of work they achieved. This policy was intended to encourage workers to toil and therefore increase production as much as possible. The piece-rate system led to an enormous level of bureaucracy and contributed to huge inefficiencies in Soviet industry. Additionally, factory managers frequently manipulated the personal production quotas given to workers to prevent workers' wages from falling too low. The wage reforms sought to remove these wage practices and offer an efficient financial incentive to Soviet workers by standardising their wages and reducing their dependence on overtime or bonus payments.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wage_reform_in_the_Soviet_Union%2C_1956%E2%80%931962

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1348:

The first-ever appointments to the Order of the Garter, an order of chivalry founded by King Edward III of England and still bestowed on recipients in the Commonwealth realms, were announced. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Garter

1951:

American journalist William N. Oatis was arrested for espionage by the Communist government of Czechoslovakia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_N._Oatis

1967:

Soyuz 1 , the first mission of the Soviet Soyuz spacecraft, launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome carrying cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_1

1979:

Activist Blair Peach suffered fatal head injuries after being knocked unconscious during an Anti-Nazi League demonstration in Southall, London, against a British National Front election meeting in the town hall. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blair_Peach

1985:

The Coca-Cola Company introduced "New Coke" to replace its flagship soft drink Coca-Cola, which generated so much negative response that the company put the original formula back on the market less than three months later. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Coke

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

handsy (adj): 1. (informal) Prone to touching other people with one's hands, especially inappropriately. 2. (golf) Moving the hands and wrists excessively when making a stroke or swing http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/handsy

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

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The poet’s eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;

And, as imagination bodies forth The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen

Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing A local habitation and a name. --William Shakespeare http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare