Spare Time under Socialism, part of out-of-work time that the working people use for recreation, education, improving skills, public activity, bringing up children, and for satisfying their own cultural and spiritual requirements. Marx called spare time a time "for education, for intellectual development, for the fulfilling of social functions and for social intercourse, for the free-play of his [man’s] bodily and mental activity" (Karl Marx, Capital, Vol. I, p. 252). The social and economic nature and content of spare time, and its distribution and use, are determined by the kind of relations of production dominating in a society. In capitalist society, where the objective of production is the extraction of maximum profits through the exploitation of hired labour, spare time stands in antagonistic opposition to labour time and is chiefly the privilege of the ruling classes. Here, according to Marx, "spare time is acquired for one class by converting the whole life-time of the masses into labour-time" (Karl Marx, Capital, Vol. I, p. 496). Socialist relations of production radically alter the social and economic essence of spare time, and the nature of the dialectical relation between labour time and spare time. Here, spare time is an important factor in the all-round and harmonious development of all members of society. By eliminating the exploitation of man by man, socialism eliminates the antagonism between spare time and labour time, and creates conditions for the gradual reduction of labour time and increase of spare time for all the working people. Labour time and higher labour productivity are the basis for increasing and better utilisation of spare time with the simultaneous improvement of the well-being of the working people. In its turn, spare time, by itself an important factor in enhancing the expertise and a comprehensive development of workers, influences labour time in several ways, 335 making it more fruitful and effective. Vast opportunities for increasing the spare time of the working people in developed socialist society are offered by rational employment, and by reducing to a minimum out-of-work time consumed by household chores and the general daily round. It has been estimated that annual spare time (including holidays) in the USSR averages 1,800 hours per person— about 1,700 hours for industrial workers and employees, and 1,900 hours for engineers and technicians. A growing feature of the structure of spare time is the time employed for physical culture and intellectual development, and for increasing knowledge. The socialist state provides vast monetary and material means for the development of culture, science and education, thereby providing a sound material basis for efficient utilisation of spare time by all working people. A systematic reduction of labour time and efficient utilisation of spare time by the working people are of key importance in the transition to communism.