Law of Steady Growth of Labour Productivity, an economic law of socialism and communism reflecting the objective need for and possibility of constantly reducing the labour time socially necessary to produce a unit of output. Dominant socialist property provides for a steady growth of labour productivity. The higher the productivity of social labour, the bigger the aggregate social product, the fuller the extent to which the well-being and all-round development of the members of society are ensured. In their totality, these cause and effect relations constitute the law of steady growth of labour productivity. The reduction of labour time input in production is characteristic of all socio- economic formations. Steady growth of labour productivity is associated only with socialist (communist) society, however. Under capitalism, in which production aims to produce and appropriate surplus value, the growth of labour productivity is neither absolute nor steady. Though it does reflect the development of the productive forces and the growth of the technical composition of capital, growing labour productivity under capitalism is geared to increasing surplus value and results in enhanced exploitation of the working people. Growth of labour productivity is restricted there by the narrow boundaries 197 for extending production, the lack of interest among the working people in the overall results of their labour, the controversial nature of technical progress and the anarchy of social production. Under socialism, labour productivity rises steadily and more rapidly than in the capitalist countries. "Communism is the higher productivity of labour—compared with that existing under capitalism—of voluntary, class-conscious and united workers employing advanced techniques" (V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 29, p. 427). Dominant public ownership of the means of production and radical changes in the nature of labour make the workers directly interested in production results. Planned economic development rids socialist society of crises, unemployment and the squandering of productive forces, and enables it to work towards saving social labour. The steady rise in labour productivity is directly connected with the socialist principle of distribution according to work. The amount of remuneration for work done by every individual worker depends directly on his contribution to social production. At the present stage in the building of communism in the USSR, when the qualitative factors of economic growth— greater efficiency of social production and intensification of the national economy— have assumed decisive importance, the role of steadily rising labour productivity is growing immeasurably. Scientific and technical progress and utilisation of the achievements of the scientific and technological revolution are of paramount importance in attaining a higher level of labour productivity.