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Show Washington Snapshots Nationalized factories in Bulgaria Bul-garia are producing from 30 to 60 less than before the Reds took over, according to returning American Amer-ican newsmen who are familiar with the country. The plants were seized by grin-toting grin-toting militiamen who ousted the owners. A total of about 6,000 plants were seized about Christmas. Christ-mas. The owners were searched, relieved of cash, keys, and most of their private possessions. Then they were told to find Jobs in other industries. Workers Not Pleased . . . Spokesmen for the new regime j immediately assembled plant workers work-ers and told them they owned the plant, having been "liberated from capitalistic exploitation." In many factories the workers were not at all pleased. Some of them wept openly they had worked 20 years or more for the same employer, and had no wish to change. However, specially trained "shock workers" took over the management, and in some cases the new "owners" were told to buckle down to their jobs "or else. ..." Conditions Not Improved . . . Seizure of the factories naturally natural-ly disrupted production. Although the new managers had been going to government schools to learn their duties, many of them seemingly seem-ingly hadn't learned much. So far they haven't been able to get production pro-duction back to anything like the pre-seizure level. Meanwhile the workers seem to like their jobs less and less. They have lost their insurance policies, their free lunches at the plant, and Christmas bonuses. However, the new managers hope that promises and threats of concentration camp terms may speed up production eventually. |