Soviet Workers and Late Stalinism: Labour and the Restoration of the Stalinist System after World War II

by Donald Filtzer

• ISBN13: 9780521039208
• ISBN10: 0521039207
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-08-13
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Soviet Workers and Late Stalinism is a study of labour and labour policy during the critical period of the Soviet Union's postwar recovery and the last years of Stalin. It is also a detailed social history of the Soviet Union in these years, for non-Russian readers. Using previously inaccessible archival sources, Donald Filtzer describes the tragic hardships faced by workers and their families right after the war; conditions in housing and health care; the special problems of young workers; working conditions within industry; and the tremendous strains which regime policy placed not just on the mass of the population, but on the cohesion and commitment of key institutions within the Stalinist political system, most notably the trade unions and the procuracy. Donald Filtzer's subtle and compelling book will interest all historians of the Soviet Union and of socialism.

Table of Contents

List of tables

Preface and acknowledgements

List of terms and abbreviations

Introduction: the political imperatives of the postwar recovery

Rebuilding the workforce: free, slave and indentured labour

The food crisis of 1946-1947

Attenuated recovery: the end of rationing, housing and health

'Socializing' the next generation: the position of young workers

Labour discipline and criminal law: the futility of repression

The industrial enterprise: working conditions, work organization and wage determination

Conclusion: labour and the 'renormalization' of Stalinist social relations

Bibliography

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.