[Ordering Info]

[Home]

Summary of Contents

David Mandel, Travels Through Russia, Belarus and the Ukraine: Diaries, Summer-Fall 1996. Observations and analysis based on extensive travels and participation in rank-and-file union education.

Boris Maksimov, Letter from the Kirov Factory, April 1996. An essay based on collective interviews with workers by a Russian sociologist with intimate knowledge of this former flagship of Soviet industry.

Vladimir Shimanovich, The 18th Brumaire of Aleksandr Lukashenko. An interview with the Vice President of the Belarussian Party of Labour and member of executive of Autoworkers' Union that traces the bitter conflict between president Lukashenko and the parliamentary and extraparliamentary opposition in Belarus's slide toward dictatorship.

Vladimir Zlenko, The Union Movement in the Ukraine: the Hard Road to Renewal. An interview with one of Ukraine's most dynamic labour leaders, President of the Union of Auto and Agricultural Machine-Construction Workers on the labour situation and the obstacles toward union renewal and effective resistance to market reform.

Vladislav Kelle, Nationalism and the Future of Russia. A Russian philosopher examines this central phenomenon in contemporary Russian political life.

Ruslan Kostenko, The Left in Russia An overview of the left political scene by a lecturer at the University of St. Petersburg and activist in the socialist youth movement.

Denis Paillard, Zyuganov's Russia. A critical look at the ideology and politics of Russia's main opposition party by long time observer of the nationalist political scene in Russia (A Russian linguist at Université de Paris, Jussieu).

Jan Malewski Solidarnosc After Fifteen Years: The Reactionary Despair of the Betrayed A journalist analyzes the factors that have contributed to the process of degeneration of this once-powerful labour movement.

Laszlo Andor, The Hungarian Trade Union Movement: 1989-1996 A Hungarian political economist traces the evolution of the labour movement since the fall of Communism.

Catherine Samary, Capitalist Restoration in Eastern Europe: a Process without Historical Precedent. A leading French left economist and regular contributor on Eastern Europe to Le monde diplomatique provides elements for an analytical understanding the nature of the transition.

Jacqueline Heinen, When Unemployment Means Marginalization: the Case of Poland A portrait of the social and economic situation of women in the Poland by one of the foremost specialists on women in Eastern Europe, senior researcher at the Institute for Research on Contemporary Societies, Paris.

Roland Lew, Chinese 'Socialisme' and Social Emancipation. China specialist at the Free University in Brussels analyzes the potential of the Chinese working class for auto-emancipation.

Janette Habel, Cuba: Social Tensions and Political Uncertainties An author of several books and numerous articles on Cuba and frequent traveller to the island analyzes the social and political situation there and the uncertain future of the regime in the face of market pressures.

Liudmila Bulavka, N. Mikhalkov the Monarchist Artist on Socialism with Tenderness A specialist of popular culture analyzes the crisis of Russian cinema through the work of the director of the prize-winning film on Stalin's purges Burnt by the Sun.

About the editor

David Mandel teaches political science at the Universit‚ du Qu‚bec in Montr‚al. Also published with Black Rose Books, Perestroika and the Soviet People and Former State Socialist World, Volume 1.