Employees in nationalized firms (VEB) were divided into brigades (the smallest organizational units of an enterprise), each of which was led by a brigadier. The brigades competed against each other in “socialist competition,” which was organized by the SED and the trade union in order to increase worker productivity and guarantee the fulfillment of the national economic plan. In this photo, workers at the Osendorf briquette factory study the achievements of various individual brigades.