One feature of the German camps which deserves attention is their emphasis on selection and training programme for the personnel in- charge of the labour service.

In the U.S.S.R. the camps became prominent with the second 5-year plan. Their aim was to improve the human personnel for purposes of industrial and agricultural development. Soviet education placed great emphasis on labour and sought to establish close relations between school and industrial life. Education was largely polytechnic in character. it was also customary to link each school to a so-called mother enterprise-a textile plant, a meteorological unit, a coal mine, a lumber mill or some other industrial or commercial undertaking.

The Soviet programme aimed at the guidance for all school children but, in fact, this was effective only in the large cities. Vocational guidance in rural areas was practically non-existent upto 1939. The Soviets claimed that with an expanding economy, their problem was finding men for the jobs rather than the contrary. With a constant demand for more and more workers, establishment of camps become both practicable and economic.

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One conscious aim of the camps was to develop the latent abilities of former backward classes, and inculcate in all a devotion to the Communist State.

Strictly speaking, the United Kingdom neither had nor has a labour service. The National Service Scheme now compels every able- bodied boy on completion of his 18th year to undergo a year and a half of military training in one of the defence services. There is no conscription for any civilian occupation. Various types of projects and camps have, however, been developed on a voluntary basis. They aim primarily at training and preparing men and women for Jobs that actually exist and then helping them to secure employment.

Like the United Kingdom, the Scandanavian countries, the Nether- lands and pre-Munich Czechoslovakia based their camps primarily on private initiative. The Scandanavian camps specialised in, collection of information on job opportunities and trends in occupations. They also emphasised the aspect of recreation and helped to develop folk schools. The Czechoslovakian camps sought to give Practical training for citizenship in a democratic state and, therefore, avoided military control of the camps. The camps in the Netherlands made special provision for leisure programmes in order to help in the solution of social, economic and religious problems. Great emphasis was placed on Christian religion.

The only general conclusions which can be drawn are that, on the whole, authoritarian countries have used compulsion, while democratic countries have based their camps on voluntary efforts. The authoritarian states have used the camps to further nationalistic aims, while democratic countries have made the camps reflect the varied interests of various organisations responsible for the camps. The authoritarian countries have regarded the camps as a permanent and distinct part of their Governments programme, while the democratic countries, till now, have tended to look at the camps as temporary measures, particularly useful in times of emergency. There is, however, a growing tendency among democratic countries to recognise the importance of camps and make them a permanent element in the national educational system.

The authoritarian countries have, on the whole tended to centralise the administration of the camps. The democratic countries have necessarily decentralised the administration, especially since camps were started and run by different voluntary organisations. Experience in both the authoritarian and democratic countries has shown that the success of the scheme depends on the selection and training of personnel. On the whole, the personnel in authoritarian countries have been more efficient than in democratic countries. This is partly due to the fact that in democratic countries, camps have been regarded as a stop-gap arrangement for the unemployed. Partly it is due to the fact that in authoritarian countries an intensive course of training was a condition precedent to employment in such camps.

A new development since the termination of War, is the establish- ment of international camp under the Unesco and similar bodies. These are camps for specific jobs. One such international camp undertook the construction of certain railways in Yugoslavia. Others carried through the re-construction of certain areas in Poland, France and Germany. The camps have drawn their volunteers from all countries and have proved extremely useful both in developing international contacts and in giving young men and women the opportunity to carry out humanitarian service under organised conditions. They have, in fact, generally.been of greater benefit to the participants than to the areas they sought to serve.

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