Mostly Russian contributors offer nine studies on new kinds of conflict and forms of trade unionism in post-Soviet Russia. The topics include the development of an independent trade union in a large ball-bearing factory, changes in the status hierarchy, gender differentiation, and the external relations of enterprises during bankruptcy and between insiders and outsiders. The series examines the restructuring of social relations in Russian industry. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Provides insight into the restructuring of Russian industrial enterprises, with an overview of industrial enterprise in transition and four in-depth case studies of enterprises, covering the period since the beginning of radical reform. Case studies look at the changing strategy of management in different types of former state enterprises, including pioneers in privatization, members of the military-industrial sector, and a passenger transport enterprise. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This volume examines the issue of workers' organizations in Russia in the transition from communism and why Russian workers have tolerated the huge fall in living standards since Yeltsin's rise to power.

Based on extensive original research, this book explores how far the Soviet pattern of industrial workplace organisation, characterised by a high level of management discretion, authoritarian control and the use of punitive methods on the shop-floor, has been replaced by internationally established practices, with a greater emphasis on a lean organisation and employee involvement in quality improvement. The book explores how the market reforms of the 1990s raised companies’ attention to product quality but did not lead to a change in the management methods, which only began with the increased internationalisation of the Russian economy in the 2000s. The book includes a rich in-depth study of multinational and domestic companies, and argues that a move from the Soviet pattern of workplace organisation to new practices is only likely to occur in companies with strong ties to international partners, who provide support for, and audit the implementation and upholding of, international management standards. The research shows that local companies not exposed to such international collaboration continue with the old methods.

In 1916, in an exchange of human flesh for war material, the Russian government sent to France two brigades to fight on the side of their French allies. By the end of World War I, these two brigades had experienced their own form of the Russian Revolution, had been isolated at a southern training post in a discipline move by the French government, had battled against each other in what was one of the first confrontations of the Russian Civil War, and had emerged from the conflict as a single force, the Russian Legion of Honor, which would remain loyal to France until the end of the war. The remarkable story of these Russian soldiers has been overlooked by historians until now. Jamie Cockfield here explores the journey and transformation of these men, and in so doing, he examines the impact of the revolution on the Russians who were caught in the middle of wartime alliances and nationalist ardor.

In Putin's Labor Dilemma, Stephen Crowley investigates how the fear of labor protest has inhibited substantial economic transformation in Russia. Putin boasts he has the backing of workers in the country's industrial heartland, but as economic growth slows in Russia, reviving the economy will require restructuring the country's industrial landscape. At the same time, doing so threatens to generate protest and instability from a key regime constituency. However, continuing to prop up Russia's Soviet-era workplaces, writes Crowley, could lead to declining wages and economic stagnation, threatening protest and instability. Crowley explores the dynamics of a Russian labor market that generally avoids mass unemployment, the potentially explosive role of Russia's monotowns, conflicts generated by massive downsizing in "Russia's Detroit" (Tol'yatti), and the rapid politicization of the truck drivers movement. Labor protests currently show little sign of threatening Putin's hold on power, but the manner in which they are being conducted point to substantial chronic problems that will be difficult to resolve. Putin's Labor Dilemma demonstrates that the Russian economy must either find new sources of economic growth or face stagnation. Either scenario—market reforms or economic stagnation—raises the possibility, even probability, of destabilizing social unrest.

Advancing cutting-edge sociological theory and using unique data on everyday economic life, this book examines the centrality of power, culture, and practice in Russian post-socialist change - and provides a framework for addressing general economic change. The book is aimed to faculty and students in sociology, political science, economics, and area studies.