At this gathering in the square formation, on the one hand, some pupils were criticized, when their behavior was not according to the norms of the school, and on the other hand, the most industrious pupils were praised. And they were singled out as an example to follow. The national anthem was also performed while in the square formation. And this occurred every day, but generally only the first three stanzas were sung. (11)

How many remember what ?SRL? meant in the ?80? Today, these 3 letters refer to ? Limited liability company? and you can see it everywhere. Well, SRL was short for ? The short work week?. It was granted every last Saturday of the month, provided that the company had fulfilled its plan. A plan, which on paper, was always fulfilled, according to the reports (often false) of the employees, approved by the directors who wanted a free and paid Saturday. (129)

STEALING

Back then I used to work in a textile factory. I must say that quite a lot of those products were secretly delivered to our acquaintances? everyone was stealing. The circuit was this: the fiber roll (best quality fiber) came in, it was fixed on the weaving loom, and the weaving began. When the very first meters of cloth were done, the master who knew he had to have his share, messed a bit with the machine and some oil or something splashed up and stained the cloth? The weaver, of course, was not to blame. But she might have wanted a piece of cloth for herself, and asked the master, ?That?s not fair, master, what about me?? So she left some loose portion in the cloth, or dropped some shuttle and thus broke several threads. When the roll was over (not until other similar things intervened), she went to the department for quality control, where everything that had a flaw in it was cut off. And the rest (the good part) had to go to higher levels. The director?s relatives, for instance, could never get the stained parts, which went to lower employees. Another obstacle was the guardian at the institution gate, who wanted to have his share too, but he was in danger of being caught by the militia. Most of the times, the controls were superficial, but they also got serious if the militia officer happened to see the guardian letting out someone with a much more protruding belly than usual. There were also the windows, you could throw the stuff out of the window and recuperate it in the street? There was also street selling of ?export failures??