Does not sound very plausible to my knowledge, at least after 1956. E. European jails were not filled with people avoiding work (or for that matter, with political prisoners). The only exception I know was avoidance of work to avoid paying child support - but locking up repeated deadbeat dads is generally a good thing, no? Also, being unemployed could be considered an aggravating circumstance for defendants charged with certain offences, like theft, fencing, or hooliganism. That is not a bad thing either.
In general, I would be very suspicious of any complaint against socialism in E. Europe that is voiced by a person who speaks English. The chances are that such a person is a member of the intelligentsia and that scum was known to rabidly hate socialism because it did not give them as much power and privilege (esp. vis a vis manual workers) as they craved for. If you want to learn about everyday life under state socialism, get an interpreter and talk to people who held manual jobs, or at least who cannot speak English.
wojtek
PS. Under the Stalinist rule (prior to 1956) people who completed higher education would generally receive an "employment order" directing them to start employment in a place where they were needed. Although one could request changing the work order to a differnt (usually more desirable) location, a flat refusal to accept such an order was considered a criminal offence. Of course, the intelligentsia bitterly complained about that but when you consider the fact that they received education at public expense - such complaints are groundless. After 1956, work orders were discountinued.