Description
Book SynopsisAfter decades as the official ''ruling class'' of ostensible ''workers'' states,'' labor in Eastern Europe has fallen dramatically. Although the painful consequences of market transformation have hit workers hardest of all, protests have been surprisingly few and ineffective. More than ten years after the start of the transition, trade unions are among the weakest institutions of postcommunist society, unable to influence policymaking or secure material rewards for workers. Why, given unprecedented political freedoms coupled with such adverse economic change, has labor been so quiescent since the fall of communism in Eastern Europe? And what are the political consequences of that weakness for societies trying to build lasting democracies? This book, through the use of comparative case studies, explores the causes, extent, significance, and implications of this weakness. The ten cases-Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, and Ukraine-focus on the status of trade unions and the relationship between labor and politics in each country. Comprising a full array of postcommunist societies, these countries represent a wide variation in labor institutions, political experiences, and economic outcomes. In their introduction and conclusion the editors consider structural, sociological, and ideational explanations for labor decline in the postcommunist era and assess the impact of that weakness on the consolidation of democracy in the region.
Trade ReviewThe individual country chapters provide invaluable detail on the development and progress of trade unions in each context. The book will obviously be read by specialists in the field, should be dipped into by country specialists who perhaps know little about this aspect of transition, and could usefully be recommended to those academics and students concerned more generally with trade unions and the collective organization of labor in the twenty-first century. * Slavic Review *
This book is a valuable contribution to discussions of the future of labor. * Labor History *
The volume as a whole is a helpful guide for understanding trends in labor power in post-communist Europe, as well as broader economic and political change both there and in other transitional societies. Recommended to academic scholars and students of post-communist Europe. Practitioners and policy-makers from the region who are interested in political aspects of union restructuring may also find the book valuable. * Industrial and Labor Relations Review *
This informative volume provides a valuable snapshot of the last 10 years of union politics in Eastern Europe. It offers a sound basis for further debates on union weakness and very suitable material for graduate courses in economic sociology, labor studies, and comparative politics, union or otherwise. * American Journal of Sociology *
A valuable collection of studies of labour and the Eastern European transition that has much to offer a wider audience. * Labour/Le Travail: Journal Of Canadian Labour Studies *
Crowley and Ost have put together a valuable contribution to the comparative study of labor in postcommunist Eastern Europe including most of the Balkans, the Ukraine, and Russia. * Balkan Academic News Book Review *
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Introduction: The Surprise of Labor Weakness in Post-Communist Society Chapter 2 Labor and Trade Unions in the Czech Republic, 1989-2000 Chapter 3 The Failure of Social-Democratic Unionism in Hungary Chapter 4 Neocorporatism in Slovakia: Formalizing Labor Weakness in a (Re)democratizing State Chapter 5 The Weakness of Symbolic Strength: Labor and Union Identity in Poland: 1989-2000 Chapter 6 Winning the Battles, Losing the War: Contradictions of Romanian Labor in the Post-Communist Transformation Chapter 7 Bulgarian Trade Unions in Transition: The Taming of the Hedgehog Chapter 8 The Cost of Nationalism: Croatian Labor, 1990 - 1999 Chapter 9 Waiting for the Workers: Explaining Labor Quiescence in Serbia Chapter 10 Workers and Unions in Postcommunist Ukraine Chapter 11 The Social Explosion That Wasn't: Labor Quiescence in Post-Communist Russia Chapter 12 Conclusion: Making Sense of Labor's Weakness in Poscommunism
