Abstract
The communist view, as enunciated by Lenin and his successors, of the nature of trade unions and their relation to the state changes radically once a communist regime comes into power. Prior to a take-over, communists inside the trade union movement strive unceasingly and by all means available to generate hostility to the capitalist state. Once in power, with the state now supposedly on the side of the workers, the relationship is totally changed. This apparently signifies the trade unions’ almost total surrender of their position as independent institutions to promote and defend the workers’ interests and welfare.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
Robert Conquest, Industrial Workers in the U.S.S.R. (London: Bodley Head, 1967).
Miklos Haraszti, A Worker in a Worker’s State (trans. M. Wright) (Penguin Books, Ltd., 1977) p. 40.
Isaac Deutscher, Soviet Trade Unions (London: Oxford University Press, 1950) p. 127.
Viktor Haynes and Olga Semyonova, Workers Against the Gulag (London, 1979) p. 13.
Quoted in M. Costello, Workers’ Participation in the Soviet Union (Moscow: Novosti Press Agency, 1977) p. 17.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1982 Leonard Schapiro and Joseph Godson
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Godson, J. (1982). The Role of the Trade Unions. In: Schapiro, L., Godson, J. (eds) The Soviet Worker. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-05438-1_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-05438-1_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-28847-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-05438-1
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social & Cultural Studies CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)