Poor People’s Movements

Socialist Unemployment - the Political Economy of Yugoslavia

Author(s): Susan L. Woodward

 


In the first political analysis of unemployment in a socialist country, Susan Woodward argues that the bloody conflicts that are destroying Yugoslavia stem not so much from ancient ethnic hatreds as from the political and social divisions created by a failed socialist program to prevent capitalist joblessness. Under Communism the concept of socialist unemployment was considered an oxymoron; when it appeared in postwar Yugoslavia, it was dismissed as illusory or as a transitory consequence of Yugoslavia's unorthodox experiments with worker-managed firms. In Woodward's view, however, it was only a matter of time before countries in the former Soviet bloc caught up with Yugoslavia, confronting the same unintended consequences of economic reforms required to bring socialist states into the world economy.

 

U prvoj političkoj analizi nezaposlenosti u socijalističkoj zemlji, Suzan Vudvord tvrdi da krvavi sukobi koji uništavaju Jugoslaviju ne potiču toliko iz drevnih etničkih mržnji koliko iz političkih i društvenih podela stvorenih neuspelim socijalističkim programom za sprečavanje kapitalističke nezaposlenosti. Pod komunizmom koncept socijalističke nezaposlenosti smatran je oksimoronom; kada se pojavio u posleratnoj Jugoslaviji, odbačen je kao iluzoran ili kao prolazna posledica jugoslovenskih neortodoksnih eksperimenata sa firmama kojima upravljaju radnici. Po Vudvordovom mišljenju, međutim, bilo je samo pitanje vremena kada će zemlje bivšeg sovjetskog bloka sustići Jugoslaviju, suočavajući se sa istim nenamernim posledicama ekonomskih reformi koje su potrebne da bi se socijalističke države uvele u svetsku ekonomiju.

 

Key words: authors/ Susan Woodward, language/ English, countries/ Yugoslavia, socialist unemployment, political economy, capitalism, workers’ self-management, foreign trade, divisions of labor, producer

 

Ključne reči: autori / Susan Woodward, jezik / engleski, zemlje / Jugoslavija, socijalistička nezaposlenost, politička ekonomija, kapitalizam, radničko samoupravljanje, spoljna trgovina, podela rada, proizvođač

 

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