The Soviet Legacy and State-Society Relations: the Case of Trade Unions

Abstract

Trade union leaders make decisions on the goals and organization of their institution within the constraints of the system in which they exist. During the Soviet period, there were many constraints on the behavior of trade union leaders, including a prohibition on the establishment of competing representative institutions. However, as the Soviet Union began to change under Mikhail Gorbachev, these con- straints also began to change. Leaders had more options and more decision-making power, including, eventually, the option to choose to leave the official trade union. In this chapter, I will analyze the nature of Soviet trade unions and their responses to the changes imposed by the Gorbachev regime, which later became changes “from below” as well as “from above”.