Del i serien Work and Labor – Transdisciplinary Studies for the 21st Century - CEU Press

Making and Breaking the Yugoslav Working Class

The Story of Two Self-Managed Factories

Inbunden, Engelska, 2021

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Workers' self-management was one of the unique features of communist Yugoslavia. Goran Musić has investigated the changing ways in which blue-collar workers perceived the recurring crises of the regime. Two self-managed metal enterprises, one in Serbia another in Slovenia, provide the frame of the analysis in the time span between 1945 and 1989. These two factories became famous for strikes in 1988 that evoked echoes in popular discourses in former Yugoslavia. Drawing on interviews, factory publications and other media, local archives, and secondary literature, Musić analyzes the two cases, going beyond the clichés of political manipulation from the top and workers' intrinsic attraction to nationalism.The author explains how, in the later phase of communist Yugoslavia, growing social inequalities among the workers and undemocratic practices inside the self-managed enterprises facilitated the spread of a nationalist and pro-market ideology on the shop floors. Yet rather than being a mass taken advantage of by populist leaders, the working class Musić presents is one with agency and voice, a force that played an important role in shaping the fate of the country. The book thus seeks to open a debate on the social processes leading up to the dissolution of Yugoslavia.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2021-04-30
Mått159 x 234 x 24 mm
Vikt544 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
SerieWork and Labor – Transdisciplinary Studies for the 21st Century - CEU Press
Antal sidor288
FörlagCentral European University Press
ISBN9789633863398
UtmärkelserWinner of The Michael Mitterauer Prize for Social, Cultural and Economic History in Vienna 2021

Tillhör följande kategorier

Socialhistoria och kulturhistoria inom Historia och arkeologi

Figures and TablesAbbreviationsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionUnfulfilled ExpectationsMighty Elites and Subservient Workers(Re)Discovering LaborApproaching Class and Nation in a Yugoslav FactorySources and Chapter OverviewChapter 1. Two Roads to Self-managing SocialismTwo Blue-Collar CommunitiesDiffering Origins“Factories to the Workers”Market SocialismLosing Factory UnityChapter 2. Factory Structures and Everyday Life under Associated LaborReviving Revolution through Normative ActsThe More Things ChangeClaiming TitoThe Factory as a CollectiveChapter 3. Shades of Blue-collar WorkersProletariat in the MakingWho Creates Value?Skill, Gender, and Place of OriginVeterans and the YouthAppendix 1Chapter 4. The Dragging Crisis, 1979–1986The Sudden BreakdownThe Party at an ImpasseTAM’s Pushback of Associated LaborIMR Tries to Catch UpChapter 5. Breaking the Pact: Workers, Liberals, and Nationalists against the Status QuoCutting out the MiddlemenThe Stolen Golden ApplesThe Diligent OnesAppendix 2Chapter 6. Mobilizations at the Bottom—Realignments at the Top, 1986–1988Reaching Beyond the Factory GatesA “Firm Hand” Inside SerbiaBypassing the Working Class in SloveniaBeggar Thy NeighborChapter 7. Workers in the StreetsTwo Outlets in RakovicaDeus Ex MachinaMaribor’s Blue-Collar WrathPost FestumConclusionThe Unsettled Working ClassLiberal and Collectivist Self-ManagementIn Search of Allies and EnemiesUnanticipated ChangesBibliographyIndex

"As Musić describes, workers act through the shifting alliances between factory management, the party apex, and their own occupational communities—which are themselves segmented according to age, skill, gender, and origin. The result is a dense and lucid analysis that pays equal attention to the institutional changes, class relations, and the shifting common sense that framed Yugoslavia’s labor politics from 1945 until 1990. Musić’s book is one of the most important recent contributions to the study of the political and moral economy of socialist Yugoslavia. It will shape discussions on class agency, hegemonic liberalism, and distributional conflicts in Southeastern Europe and beyond for years to come."https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/soeu-2021-0084/html