{"id":23347,"date":"2020-10-28T12:19:54","date_gmt":"2020-10-28T12:19:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=23347"},"modified":"2020-10-28T12:19:54","modified_gmt":"2020-10-28T12:19:54","slug":"labor-in-state-socialist-europe-1945-1989-contributions-to-a-history-of-work-edited-by-marsha-siefert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=23347","title":{"rendered":"Labor in State-Socialist Europe, 1945\u20131989: Contributions to a History of Work. Edited by Marsha Siefert"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Labor regimes under communism in East-Central Europe were complex, shifting, and ambiguous. This collection of sixteen essays offers new conceptual and empirical ways to understand their history from the end of World War II to 1989, and to think about how their experiences relate to debates about labor history, both European and global.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The authors reconsider the history of state socialism by re-examining the policies and problems of communist regimes and\u00a0recovering the voices of the workers who built them. The contributors look at work and workers in Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia. They explore the often contentious relationship between politics and labor policy, dealing with diverse topics including workers\u2019 safety and risks; labor rights and protests; working women\u2019s politics and professions; migrant workers and social welfare; attempts to control workers\u2019 behavior and stem unemployment; and cases of incomplete, compromised, or even abandoned processes of proletarianization. Workers are presented as active agents in resisting and supporting changes in labor policies, in choosing allegiances, and in defining the very nature of work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Table of contents<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Acknowledgments<br>List of Tables and Figures<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>List of Abbreviations<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marsha Siefert<br>Introduction<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Finding Work, Making Workers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Natalia Jarska<br>Unemployment in State Socialism: An Insight into the Understanding of Work in 1950s Poland<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alina-Sandra Cucu<br>The Impossibility of Being Planned: Slackers and Stakhanovites in Early Socialist Romania<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ulf Brunnbauer and Visar Nonaj<br>Finding Workers to Build Socialism: Recruiting for the Steel Factories in Bulgaria and Albania<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alena K. Alamgir<br>\u201cInappropriate Behavior\u201d: Labor Control and the Polish, Cuban and Vietnamese Workers in Czechoslovakia<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Workers, Rights, and Discipline<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ma\u0142gorzata Mazurek<br>Dishonest Saleswomen: On Gendered Politics of Shame and Blame in Polish State-Socialist Trade<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ulrike Schult<br>Labor Discipline in Self-Managed Socialism: The Yugoslav Automotive Industry, 1965\u20131985<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eszter Bartha<br>\u201cThis Workers\u2019 Hostel Lost Almost Every Bit of Added Value It Had\u201d: Workers\u2019 Hostels, Social Rights and Legitimization in Hungary and the German Democratic Republic<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chiara Bonfiglioli<br>Discussing Women\u2019s Double and Triple Burden in Socialist Yugoslavia: Women Working in the Garment Industry<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><strong>Workers, Safety, and Risk<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thomas Lindenberger<br>Governing the State of Emergency: Large Industrial Accidents in Communist East Germany<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Adrian Grama<br>Labor\u2019s Risks: Work Accidents, the Industrial Wage Relation and Social Insurance in Socialist Romania<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marko Miljkovi\u0107<br>Nuclear Yutopia: The Outcome of the First Nuclear Accident in Yugoslavia, 1958<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Workers, Protest, and Reform<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Peter Heumos<br>Strikes in Czechoslovakia, 1945\u20131968: Systems Analysis and the Debate over the Causes of the Collapse of State Socialism<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Susan Zimmermann<br>\u201cIt Shall Not Be a Written Gift, But a Lived Reality\u201d: Equal Pay, Women\u2019s Work, and the Politics of Labor in State-Socialist Hungary, Late 1960s to Late 1970s<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sabine Rutar<br>Labor Protest in the Italian-Yugoslav Border Region During the Cold War: Action, Control, Legitimacy, Self-Management<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rory Archer and Goran Musi\u0107<br>When Workers\u2019 Self-Management Met Neoliberalism: Positive Perceptions of Market Reforms among Blue-Collar Workers in Late Yugoslav Socialism<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><strong>Toward an Inclusive History of Work<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anca Glont<br>Not Just Socialist Miners, but Miners of the World: Internationalism, Global Trends and Romanian Coal Workers<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>List of contributors<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Reviews<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Eloisa Betti, Adjunct Professor of Labor History at the University of Bologna<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the first comprehensive labor history focusing on Eastern Europe during the Cold War Era written for an international audience. The authors in this collection analyze specific forms of work, categories of workers, and sectors in diverse countries using new approaches and topics suggested by global labor history, which represents an added value of the volume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Lewis H. Siegelbaum, Jack and Margaret Sweet Professor Emeritus of History at Michigan State University<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This exciting collection advances our understanding of the complexities, contradictions, failures, but also successes of a state-socialist approach to workers and exemplifies the best of what is being done in labor history not only in east-central Europe but around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Part of series:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ceupress.com\/series\/work-and-labor-transdisciplinary-studies-21st-century\">Work and Labor \u2013 Transdisciplinary Studies for the 21st Century<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Publication date:&nbsp;2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>484 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ceupress.com\/book\/labor-state-socialist-europe-1945-1989\">https:\/\/ceupress.com\/book\/labor-state-socialist-europe-1945-1989<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-knjige","category-novosti"],"acf":{"facebook_opis":""},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/siefert.jpg?fit=684%2C1006&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":52673,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=52673","url_meta":{"origin":23347,"position":0},"title":"TWO POSTDOCTORAL POSITIONS IN THE &#8220;PROLETGARD ERC STARTING GRANT PROJECT&#8221;, KASS\u00c1K FOUNDATION, BUDAPEST (DEADLINE: 1ST MAY 2026)","author":"Branimir Jankovi\u0107","date":"27. travnja 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"This five-year ERC-funded project examines how avant-garde art contributed to the formation of a workers\u2019 movement counterculture in East Central Europe after 1918. It argues that socialist and avant-garde periodicals, groups, and figures shaped both avant-garde culture and transnational workers\u2019 movements. Focusing on the successor states of the Austro\u2013Hungarian Empire\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Novosti&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Novosti","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/hsozkult.png?fit=1006%2C241&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/hsozkult.png?fit=1006%2C241&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/hsozkult.png?fit=1006%2C241&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/hsozkult.png?fit=1006%2C241&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":52516,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=52516","url_meta":{"origin":23347,"position":1},"title":"Marko Grde\u0161i\u0107, Mislav \u017ditko, \u201eSocialist Economics in Yugoslavia: A Critical History\u201c","author":"Branimir Jankovi\u0107","date":"17. travnja 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"This book presents a critical history of Yugoslav socialist economics, from its inception in the late 1940s to its dissolution in the late 1980s. After the dramatic break with the Soviet Union in 1948, Yugoslavia found itself in urgent need of a third way: A socialist trajectory which would not\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Knjige&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Knjige","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Zitko_Grdesic.jpg?fit=350%2C535&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":52692,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=52692","url_meta":{"origin":23347,"position":2},"title":"Florian Bieber \u201eHvar in the Modern Age: Identity and Change in Southeast Europe\u201c","author":"Filip \u0160imunjak","date":"28. travnja 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"Description\u00a0 In this open-access book, Florian Bieber traces the history of the Adriatic island of Hvar over half a millennium, from the advent of Venetian rule in the 15th century to the end of Yugoslavia in the late 20th century. The history of Hvar tells a larger story about modernity,\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Knjige&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Knjige","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Florian-Bieber-Hvar-in-the-Modern-Age-Identity-and-Change-in-Southeast-Europe.webp?fit=540%2C810&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Florian-Bieber-Hvar-in-the-Modern-Age-Identity-and-Change-in-Southeast-Europe.webp?fit=540%2C810&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Florian-Bieber-Hvar-in-the-Modern-Age-Identity-and-Change-in-Southeast-Europe.webp?fit=540%2C810&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":52688,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=52688","url_meta":{"origin":23347,"position":3},"title":"Eleonora Naxidou and Yura Konstantinova \u201eBalkan Perspectives of Europe: Between East and West\u201c","author":"Filip \u0160imunjak","date":"28. travnja 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"Through the lens of the Balkan nations, this volume makes a valuable and significant contribution to the fields of European and Southeast European studies by reconsidering the East\/West dichotomy \u2013 both in terms of the Orient\u2013Occident divide and the Eastern\u2013Western Europe binary. Balkan Perspectives of Europe focuses on concepts of\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Knjige&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Knjige","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Balkan-Perspectives-of-Europe-Between-East-and-West.jpg?fit=350%2C525&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":52643,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=52643","url_meta":{"origin":23347,"position":4},"title":"BRACEWELL TRAVELLING SCHOLARSHIP\u202fFOR PHD STUDENTS (DEADLINE: 30TH APRIL 2026)","author":"Branimir Jankovi\u0107","date":"24. travnja 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"The Bracewell Travelling Scholarship\u202fis funded by a gift from SSEES Emeritus Professor of History Wendy Bracewell, whose research examines South Slav history, and travel writing in eastern Europe. The Scholarship honours the long tradition of mutual curiosity between the UK and eastern, central and southeastern Europe by supporting PhD students\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Novosti&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Novosti","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Bracewell-Travelling-Scholarship-.webp?fit=980%2C700&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Bracewell-Travelling-Scholarship-.webp?fit=980%2C700&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Bracewell-Travelling-Scholarship-.webp?fit=980%2C700&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Bracewell-Travelling-Scholarship-.webp?fit=980%2C700&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":52664,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=52664","url_meta":{"origin":23347,"position":5},"title":"CfP: CONFERENCE OF THE HISTORY OF CONCEPTS GROUP, HELSINKI, 19TH\u201321ST AUGUST 2026 (DEADLINE: 30TH APRIL 2026)","author":"Branimir Jankovi\u0107","date":"24. travnja 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"The annual conference of the History of Concepts Group is held at the University of Helsinki, 19-21 August 2026. Conference of the History of Concepts Group Conceptual history studies the use of concepts and tries to understand how historical actors have linguistically articulated views of the world. Studying concepts from\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Novosti&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Novosti","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/hsozkult.png?fit=1006%2C241&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/hsozkult.png?fit=1006%2C241&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/hsozkult.png?fit=1006%2C241&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/hsozkult.png?fit=1006%2C241&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23347"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23349,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23347\/revisions\/23349"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}