Participation of Working People in Economic Management, the activities of working people in regulating, in a systematic and planned way, social production with a view to making it more effective and obtaining high final results, through the allround development of working people, and development of communist attitude to public affairs. The necessity for working peov pie to participate in economic management is dictated by the nature of socialism itself. The conquest of political power by working people and the fact that the means of production became the property of the people have radically changed the position of the working people in the economic system, making them collective owners of production, which now becomes subordinated to the task of guaranteeing the wellbeing and free all-round development of all members of society (see Basic EconomicLaw of Socialism). Hence working people not only have to work effectively and produce, but also to manage the economy. In capitalist society, the overwhelming share of the means of production belongs to the exploiters, and the working people are removed from management. The management of capitalist production is aimed at intensifying exploitation, and thus is essentially despotic. The economic system of socialism is profoundly democratic. The socialist economy is managed according to the principle of democratic centralism (see Democratic Centralism in Economic Management). The practice of building socialism has led to the development of a consistent system of economic management by the working people. In the USSR it comprises, first, the forms of direct participation in management such as popular discussion of draft economic plans and decisions embracing key questions of the socio-economic development of the country; meetings of members of work collectives to discuss and take decisions on the most important issues in the activity of enterprises (associations); standing production conferences; people’s control groups, posts, and committees. Second, workers participate in management through representative bodies of state authority: the Soviets of People’s Deputies; in addition to electing the members of the Soviets, they actively participate in their endeavours by elaborating instructions to the deputies, controlling their work, and working in various commissions, etc. Third, working people are active in public organisations, in which Party organisations have an especially important role to play. According to the Constitution of the USSR (Art. 6), the CPSU is the leading and guiding force of Soviet society, the nucleus of its political system, of state and social organisations, exists for the people and serves the people. Trade unions are the most massive organisation of working people. Young working people also participate in management, particularly through Young Communist League organisations. An important role is played by creative organisations such as scientific and technical societies, the AilUnion Society of Inventors and Innovators, voluntary design boards and groups of economic analysis, boards for scientific organisation of labour, etc. Fourth, the creative energy of working people is mobilised and they are involved in management through socialist emulation. The primary element in the economic and political structure of socialist society is the work collective, which under the Law on Work Collectives possess broad latitude in discussing and making decisions on state and social matters and in the management of enterprises and institutions (see Collective, Work, Production). The participation of the working people in managing cooperative enterprises has special features dictated by the specific features of collective farm-and-cooperative property in the means of production. In the context of mature socialism (see Developed Socialism) the participation of the working people in management has become all-embracing. The high tenor of these activities can be explained by many factors, including the level of social consciousness of the people, their creativity and initiative; educational 264 work in society and in the work collectives; the use of material and moral incentives; consolidation of labour and planning discipline; the expansion of criticism and self-criticism; and the working people’s acquiring of an impressive body of political and economic knowledge. Developed socialism creates the most favourable conditions for the operation of these factors and, consequently, for the most active participation of the working people in economic management. In the USSR a wide range of measures have been taken to further develop democratic principles of economic management, and to enhance creative initiative by the work collectives whose attention is concentrated on better utilising production capacities and resources, raising labour productivity, improving working and living conditions, and tightening planning, technological, and labour discipline. The creative initiative of the working people is displayed in the elaboration and implementation of five-year and annual plans, and in the control of their implementation. The involvement of the working people in management as an issue of sharp ideological struggle. Lenin believed it imperative that "we must break the old, absurd, savage, despicable and disgusting prejudice that only the so-called ’upper classes’, only the rich and those who have gone through the school of the rich, are capable of administering the state and directing the organisational development of socialist society" (V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 26, p. 409).