Workers in the Russian Federation: Responses to the Post-communist Transition, 1989-1993 Available to Purchase

The present study examines workers' responses to the post-communist transition in the Russian Federation from 1989 through 1993. It considers how workers defined, articulated, and organized around their interests under conditions of simultaneous democratization and economic reform, focusing on: the impacts of reform, particularly declining real wages and employment security; labor strikes, including incidence, demands, and settlement; activities of trade unions; political and electoral behavior of workers and unions. The study concludes that strikes and trade union activism have had a limited impact in shielding workers from the effects of shock therapy; that unions are divided and relatively weak; and that labor exercises no coherent influence in electoral politics.