Description: Soviet Workers and the Collapse of Perestroika is a comprehensive analysis of the role of labor policy in the development and ultimate collapse of Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms. Drawing on a wide range of sources, Filtzer argues that initially perestroika was designed to modernize the Soviet economy while keeping the existing political and property relations of society intact, requiring a thorough restructuring of the labor process within Soviet industry. He contends that the collapse of the USSR has brought the solution to this problem no nearer, and that post-Soviet capitalism is rooted in corruption and speculation and cannot ensure long-term economic growth.
Review Quotes: "One may or may not share Filtzer's vision of a proletariat uniting society and forming collective bodies featuring worker self-management and political representation, but it is hard to see any other social force coming to the rescue. While the Marxist categories he employs have gone out of fashion among both Western and ex-Soviet social scientists, in his hands they retain a subtlety and depth that will be hard to match." Contemporary Sociology