Soviet Workers and the Collapse of Perestroika

Discover the intricate relationship between labor policy and the decline of Gorbachev's reforms in Soviet Workers and the Collapse of Perestroika by Donald Filtzer. Published by Cambridge University Press in 2008, this compelling 320-page paperback offers a thorough analysis of how the Soviet Union's working class interacted with and ultimately shaped the trajectory of economic transformations during a pivotal time in history.

Filtzer delves into the initial intentions behind perestroika, presenting it as an effort to modernize the Soviet economy while attempting to preserve existing political and property structures. He argues that the drastic changes to the labor process within Soviet industries were pivotal to the reform's eventual failure. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in labor policy, economic history, and the social dynamics of the Soviet Union during its last days.