The population was urged in the name of socialist morality to learn, to improve, to feel responsible, and to compete. Activists and workers with the highest output, supported by party and union, extended the limits of feasibility. SED and FDGB were not sparing of praise, but simultaneously raising the work norm. However, due to the consequences of the war, structural deficiencies, and imperfect planning, they were not able to provide adequate remuneration for the required increase in efficiency. The workers' uprising of 1953 showed the limits of the mobilization campaign.