Nástroj mocenské legitimizace i opatrovnictví Sociální politika a její uplatnění v důchodovém zabezpečení v Československu a NDR (1970–1989)

This article is concerned with the topic of socialist social policy as a special feature and an extremely important instrument of legitimating power and of guardianship. Drawing on his extensive archive research, the author compares the starting points of the social-policy measures of the Czechoslovak and the East German Communist leaderships from 1970 to 1989. He discusses the fundamental systemic prerequisites and ambitions of social policy, points out the limits of economic policy, and outlines the individual stages in the development of social policy in the two countries in this period. The focal point of the article is a systematic comparison of the development of pension plans, to which the political establishment in each country paid considerable attention. Providing social security to their senior citizens was a serious problem for both regimes right up to late 1989, and the implemented measures were only partly successful in dealing with it.