Soviet Trade Unions: Their Development in the 1970s (Cambridge Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies, Series Number 32)

This book, first published in 1981, represents a systematic attempt to describe and analyse the evolution of Soviet trade union organisations. It examines union activities both at the national level and on the shop floor. The main focus is on the development and workings of the Soviet trade unions, but their history throughout the Soviet period is also covered. Soviet trade unions were an important component in Stalin's system of rigid control over workers. Beginning with Khrushchev, party leaders sought to dismantle a system rooted in terror while seeking alternative ways to ensure compliance with civil authority. Yet no such way has been found to establish a sense of trust between managers and workers as a basis for such compliance. The question then arises of whose interest Soviet trade union organisations serve - that of the state or that of the workers? In analysing these relationships - especially the relationship between production concerns and worker welfare - Soviet Trade Unions focuses on the nature of change and continuity in Soviet labour relations.