engleski

Yugoslav Self-Management in Practice (1965-1974). A Case Study of the Gredelj Rolling Stock Factory

The government of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia promoted its system of workers' self-management as the optimal form of economy and the most acceptable way in which the working class exercise its vital interests. They felt that the settings of “scientific socialism” have not materialize nowhere in such a complete form, as it did in Yugoslavia. They believed that their self-management economy was an example for many other countries in the East and the West. The main goal of this paper is to analyze how the Yugoslav self-management principle was realized in practice. This research will show how theory and practice co-evolved, with a bias on the actual practices of self-management. This should be accomplished by researching what self-management meant on the shop floor in Yugoslav enterprises in the period of the fully developed Yugoslav self-management, i. e. from 1965 till 1974, which is usually considered a period in which Yugoslav self-management economy reached its maximum in reliance on the market mechanism. This research goes from Yugoslav self-management theory and lands on the case study of the Rolling Stock Factory Gredelj. The factory, which was founded in 1894 as a workshop for repair and general overhaul of steam locomotives, had become one of the leading companies in the field of designing and manufacturing railway vehicles in Yugoslavia, with more than 3000 employees during the 1960s and the 1970s. This makes the company a fruitful case study. The basic question, which should be answered in this paper, is how the workers were actually and practically involved in managing the firm. The paper should show in which managing bodies production workers participated and what was the level of their influence in managing the company. Formally, since 1952, workers' council was the highest managing body in hierarchy of the company. Furthermore, the paper should discover what production workers considered important and things they have advocated for. Also, it aims to show the motivation of those workers to participate in the management of the factory. Finally, the question whether the workers' council had real economic functions or its function was only nominal, should be answered. The research is based on the previously unpublished archival material which is stored in the State Archives in Zagreb.

Self-management; socialism; Yugoslavia; history of economy; theory; everyday life; Gredelj Rolling Stock Factory

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