Labour and Legitimacy in Post-Soviet Russia

Abstract

The dissolution of the USSR in December 1991 appeared to open the way to the rapid introduction of a Western-style market. Already in the last months of the Soviet Union, the imminent accession of Yeltsin presaged the emergence of a new economic culture characterized by financial stabilization, large-scale privatization, and economic liberalization. In the specific context of labour, a significant hardening of enterprise budget constraints was promised, and there were widespread expectations that loss-making firms would be punished by bankruptcy and their workers laid off in large numbers.