What About the Workers?
Workers and the Transition to Capitalism in Russia
Most writing on the dramatic events in the former Soviet Union has been based on the assumption that Russia is engaged in a transition from “state socialism” to capitalism, and focuses on political and ideological debates formulated in these terms.
This book questions whether Russia is in transition to capitalism and looks behind the political and ideological debates to focus on the development of the social relations of production, and on the class struggles to which these give rise. Simon Clarke introduces the book with an examination of the crisis of state socialism, in order to identify the dynamic of change in contemporary Russia. Michael Burawoy and Pavel Krotov develop a detailed case study of one Russian enterprise, which is followed…