Suchergebnisse

The seven‐week professors' strike at the Université du Québec in Montréal (UQAM) that ended on April 24, 2009 in a significant, if partial, victory is, unfortunately, too rare an event in contemporary Quebec, and, for that matter, North America. It is therefore worth looking into this conflict to see what lessons it might offer for public‐sector and other unions in Canada and beyond.

The Soviet Union and its East European glacis are experiencing their second major wave of crisis since the death of Stalin. But unlike the "de-stalinization" crisis of the second half of the 1950s, which was largely political and was overcome through a combination of repression and reform that left the system basically intact, the present crisis cannot be weathered so easily and threatens to usher in a period of political upheaval, as it has already in Poland and, to some extent, in Romania.
On the most obvious level, the crisis manifests itself in the constant decline of the economic growth rate since the late 1950s, which has put an end to the slow but steady rise in living standards, the basis upon which the tacit post-Stalin accord between the bureaucracy and society was founded. The roots of this crisis are deeply structural, but structural reforms, in particular the introduction of the « regulated market mechanism », which appears to be the nly viable alternative open to the bureaucracy, will meet with strong opposition from important sectors of that elite, especially the provincial party bosses, and threaten to create a split in its ranks.
At the same time, such a reform is politically unfeasible without important concessions to the working class in the direction of democratization or, at the least, the right to organize into independent trade unions to protect itself against management, whose powers would be greatly enhanced by the reform. But such concessions to the working class, as Poland shows, are perceived by the bureaucracy as a threat to its very existence. At the same time, the working class today is potentially a much more formidable political force than at any time since the civil war.
The leadership is, therefore, in a dilemma. The 1980s are likely to see the explosive combination of a simultaneous crisis "as the top" and "at the bottom".

Looks at why the Russian working class has failed to revolt against the suffering they have endured during capitalist restoration even though they constitute the majority of the population & are fairly well educated, socially homogeneous, concentrated in huge enterprises, exposed to socialist ideas, & organized in trade unions. The impact of the Soviet legacy, the current economic/political situation; & the nature of today's unions are explored. It is argued that the Soviet system thwarted the formation of an independent working-class consciousness because of its repressive character & the contradictory nature of its social relations, which combined both socialist & capitalist elements. The popular movement played a secondary role in the collapse of the Soviet system, which is described as a "revolution from above"; however, the economic crisis that followed tended to revive old corporatist practice. Unions in the auto & agricultural machine-building sectors are highlighted to explore both the current status & future prospects of the labor movement. J. Lindroth

Looks at why the Russian working class has failed to revolt against the suffering they have endured during capitalist restoration even though they constitute the majority of the population & are fairly well educated, socially homogeneous, concentrated in huge enterprises, exposed to socialist ideas, & organized in trade unions. The impact of the Soviet legacy, the current economic/political situation; & the nature of today's unions are explored. It is argued that the Soviet system thwarted the formation of an independent working-class consciousness because of its repressive character & the contradictory nature of its social relations, which combined both socialist & capitalist elements. The popular movement played a secondary role in the collapse of the Soviet system, which is described as a "revolution from above"; however, the economic crisis that followed tended to revive old corporatist practice. Unions in the auto & agricultural machine-building sectors are highlighted to explore both the current status & future prospects of the labor movement. J. Lindroth

À l'exception de quelques brèves périodes, un des traits marquants de l'histoire de la Russie a été la faiblesse de la société civile face au pouvoir absolu de l'État, pouvoir qu'aucune classe ou couche sociale n'a pu soumettre à son contrôle. Bien qu'il en soit encore grandement ainsi aujourd'hui, le mouvement ouvrier constitue cependant de loin la principale force de résistance populaire. Conséquemment, cette force représente le plus grand espoir de la démocratie et d'une voie de développement allant dans le sens des intérêts de la grande majorité de la population russe. Ce chapitre est un survol analytique du mouvement ouvrier contemporain en Russie, de ses structures organisationnelles, ses orientations socio-politiques et ses luttes. Un accent particulier sera mis sur les obstacles à surmonter avant que le mouvement ne puisse devenir une force efficace pour la défense des intérêts ouvriers.