Workers self-management

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Workers' self-management ( Serbo-Croatian : radničko samoupravljanje , Slovenian : delavsko samoupravljanje , Macedonian : работничко самоуправување, Albanian : vetëqeverisja e punëtoreve ) describes the business model practiced in the SFR .

History of workers' self-government in Yugoslavia

Creation of workers' self-government in Yugoslavia

Between 1945 and 1948, the companies in Yugoslavia were nationalized. On June 28, 1948, Yugoslavia was excluded from the Cominform because of ideological deviations . With this, Josef Stalin tried to set an example against the attempts to develop socialism independently of the Soviet Union , as was beginning to be observed in other states of the Eastern Bloc ( Bulgaria and Hungary ). Yugoslavia was now politically and economically isolated. In this crisis situation, the first "consultations between company management, former resistance fighters and the best workers" took place, which resulted in the introduction of workers' councils in initially 215 companies. The aim of the now emerging workers' self-government was, on the one hand, the democratization of the economy, and on the other hand, an increase in efficiency against the bureaucratization tendencies that were already visible at an early stage in Yugoslavia's economy, which was previously run as a centrally planned economy. Councils were finally introduced in all companies between 1950 and 1953, and in 1957 workers' councils were also introduced in the individual departments of the companies (ekonomske jednice) .

Practical consequences of worker self-management were:

  • The employees of a company elected the director.
  • The employees decided on investments, wages, production planning, etc., but within a fixed framework that was intended to prevent the company from being plundered.

The corporate form of larger companies with workers' self-management was called SOUR (Složena organizacija udruženoga rada, English: composite organization of united work ).

Economic outcomes and collapse of workers' self-government in Yugoslavia

The rise and collapse of the factories under workers' self-management can only be described in the context of the political and economic development in Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia experienced massive industrialization in the years after the Second World War. The share of those employed in agriculture fell from 70% to 35% between 1945 and 1971. This growth was financed by credit. Both the trade balance and the national budget, as well as most corporate balance sheets, were chronically in deficit. Constitutional reforms were carried out in Yugoslavia at the end of the 1960s, which significantly strengthened the federal elements. In this context, the Yugoslav National Bank largely lost control of the 9 central banks of the individual states and the 166 local banks. These now tried to further increase lending to promote the economy in their area. The largely uncontrolled granting of unsecured loans led to an investment boom . The investment rate was the mid-1970s at 35%, which is many times more than a reasonable value. Accordingly, these were "golden years" for the Yugoslav economy with growth rates averaging 7% per year.

Correspondingly, companies in Yugoslavia (which were mostly organized in workers' self-administration; in 1981 only 120,000 people were employed in the private sector) had built up high overcapacities . Accordingly, a large credit bubble from bad loans had accumulated in the bank balance sheets . In addition to the particular interests of the member states (it was mocked that every village wanted to have its own steel mill), workers' self-government intensified this process. The companies were not prepared to lay off excess staff because of the workers' self-government. This resulted in youth unemployment of over 70%.

All this led to the fact that at the beginning of the 1980s the companies were not even running at half capacity and the products produced were also selling below the prime costs. Due to the poor quality of the products, sales to western countries were only possible to a small extent; the bulk of the production was sold on the local market or exported to the Soviet Union. The only way to keep the companies alive was new loans. In the early 1980s the bubble burst and the system collapsed. It was triggered by a collapse in investment activity. Because of the low capacity utilization, capital investments had become nonsense. As a result, the productivity and profitability of the self-managed companies fell further. This threatened to reveal bad loans and trigger a banking crisis . The National Bank (and thus the state) had lost control of the local banks, but was also liable for their debts. At the same time, the donors were no longer willing to finance Yugoslavia's state deficit . Yugoslavia was facing national bankruptcy in 1982 .

In contrast to the situation in Latin America , there were concerns in the West that an economically collapsing Yugoslavia would lean more closely on the Soviet Union. A consortium of Western donors and the International Monetary Fund supported the government with new loans. In return, the Milka Planinc government began implementing market reforms. This included a devaluation of the dinar and tightening of the lending rules. In the years that followed, the number of self-managed companies contracted sharply. Management has also been strengthened vis-à-vis workers' self-management in order to enable companies to adapt to market conditions. At the end of 1988, the Yugoslav parliament passed constitutional amendments that put private companies on an equal footing with that of workers' self-government. This ended the workers' self-government in Yugoslavia.

Role model for other countries

The leadership of the ČSSR under Alexander Dubček began in 1968 with the introduction of workers' self-government, but this was abolished after Dubček was deposed. In the late 1980s, Mikhail Gorbachev spoke out in favor of workers' self-government in the Soviet Union . In Western Europe, the model met with great interest from social democratic and socialist parties and organizations, for example the Socialist Youth of Germany - Die Falken had been exchanging young people with Yugoslavia since the 1950s.

Problems and criticism

The philosopher Mihailo Marković , who belongs to the practice group, criticized the workers' self-management in Yugoslavia in 1971:

“Despite the importance attached to self-government in official theory and in public, it is not developed to the extent that it would actually be possible: it is rather constantly hindered by bureaucratic elements in its development, and its material basis is extremely weak. "

Economic analysis

The idea of ​​workers' self-management is also discussed in economics . Even if the economic literature makes frequent references to the Yugoslav model, the findings are not limited to the Yugoslav form of workers' self-management and are therefore described in the article Collective Self-Management # Economic Analysis .

Perspectives of an expansion of self-administration

With the new constitution of Yugoslavia of 1963, the self-government, which was previously only applicable in the factories, was extended to other areas. The philosopher Veljko Cvjetičanin , who belongs to the practice group , saw self-administration in companies only as a first step towards self-administration in all areas of politics. Then arise

“[...] from the technological economic conditions a new, political self-governing structure that gradually limits and makes any state-party monopoly, as it was inevitable in the first phases of socialism, superfluous. Through forms of direct democracy , the system of self-government develops compared to the one- or multi-party system , which always means rule by the state. "

The consequent expansion of self-administration leads to the "disappearance of the class of professional leaders for whom politics as rule over people is a lifelong profession."

Also Mihailo Marković demanded that the workers' management should

“[...] are not limited to their historically determined initial forms, as they currently exist in Yugoslavia. First of all, this means that it must not be limited to the relations of production within the framework of enterprises and the local organs of society administration. A final overcoming of bureaucratism is only possible if the self-administration is expanded to the top, that is, if the central state organs also become self-administration organs. "

See also

Individual evidence

  1. See Todor Kulijc: The flexible enemy. On the role of anti-bureaucratism in legitimizing Tito's self-government system, in: Year Book for Research on the History of the Labor Movement , Volume III / 2011.
  2. a b Veljko Cvjeticanin: The development of self-management in Yugoslavia . In: Rudi Supek and Branko Bošnjak (eds.): Yugoslavia thinks differently . 1971, ISBN 3-203-50242-2 , p. 243ff.
  3. Holm Sundhaussen : Yugoslavia and its successor states 1943-2011: An unusual history of the ordinary, 2014, ISBN 9783205796091 , pp. 141–158, 206–219
  4. ^ Theodor Bergmann : Workers' self-management . In: Historical-Critical Dictionary of Marxism . Volume 1, p. 487.
  5. Kay Schweigmann-Greve: "Neither East nor West - for an undivided socialist world!" The contacts of the SJD - the falcons in the 50s and 60s to Yugoslavia and their aftermath up to the present, in: Arbeit - Bewegungs - Geschichte , Issue II / 2018, pp. 161–181.
  6. ^ A b Mihailo Marković: Socialism and self-administration . In: Rudi Supek and Branko Bošnjak (eds.): Yugoslavia thinks differently. 1971, ISBN 3-203-50242-2 , pp. 215ff.

literature

German-language monographs

  • Viktor Meier: The new Yugoslav economic system . 1956.
  • Harry Schleicher: The system of company self-administration in Yugoslavia . 1961.
  • Karl Heinz Jäger: Workers' self-management and social property. A contribution to the status of Yugoslav companies . 1969.
  • Herwig Roggemann : The model of workers' self-management in Yugoslavia . 1970.
  • Ernest Mandel (Ed.): Workers' control, workers' councils, workers' self-management. An anthology . 1971, ISBN 3-434-10032-6 .
  • Milojko Drulović : Workers' self-management put to the test. Experience in Yugoslavia . 1976, ISBN 3-8012-1087-1 .
  • Gudrun Lemân: The Yugoslav Model: Paths to Democratization . 1976, ISBN 3-434-10082-2 .
  • Hans-Erich Gramatzki and Gudrun Lemân: Workers' self-management and co-determination in the states of Eastern Europe . 1977, ISBN 3-7716-2097-X .
  • Ekkhart Stein: Workers' self-management . Lessons from the Yugoslav experiment . 1980, ISBN 3-7663-0422-4 .
  • Gabriele Herbert: The simple that is difficult to do. Self-government in Yugoslavia, an example of the problems of transition societies . 1982, ISBN 3-8015-0182-5 .

German-language articles

  • Todor Kulijc: The flexible enemy. On the role of anti-bureaucratism in legitimizing Tito's self-government system, in: Year Book for Research on the History of the Labor Movement , Volume III / 2011.
  • Elmar Wolfstetter: The in-house workers' self-management in Yugoslavia . In: Journal for Business Administration . Vol. 39, 1969, ISSN  0044-2372 , pp. 737-752.
  • Gudrun Lemân: Workers' self-government and trade unions in Yugoslavia . In: From Politics and Contemporary History . Born in 1982, issue B29 / 30, pp. 27-38.
  • Rudi Supek: Problems and experiences of the Yugoslav workers' self-management . In: Klaus-Detlev Grothusen, Othmar Nikola Haberl & Wolfgang Höpken (eds.): Yugoslavia at the end of the Tito era . Volume 2, 1986, ISBN 3-486-51411-3 , pp. 159-185.
  • Article Workers' Self-Management , Yugoslav Business Model and Yugoslav Economic System . In: Vahlens Großes Wirtschaftslexikon . 2nd ed., Volume 1, 1993, ISBN 3-8006-1698-X .

Foreign language publications

  • Josip Obradović (Ed.): Workers' self-management and organizational power in Yugoslavia . 1978, ISBN 0-916002-30-6 .
  • Hans Dieter Seibel, Ukandi G. Damachi: Self-management in Yugoslavia and the developing world . 1982, ISBN 0-333-27433-4 .
  • Stephen R. Sacks: Self-management and efficiency: large corporations in Yugoslavia . 1983, ISBN 0-04-334008-3 .
  • Article Delavsko samoupravljanje . In: Enciklopedija Slovenije . Volume 2, 1988.


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