Between Emic and Etic: “Systematic” and “Creative” Destruction during the Croatian Shipbuilding Crisis

This article examines the trope of systematic destruction (sustavno/sistemsko uništavanje) and traces how it was mobilized during the 2018 Croatian shipbuilding crisis. First, an ethnographic vignette introduces the political actors and issues at stake during the crisis. The literature on post-socialist labor transformations and deindustrialization in South-East Europe is reviewed, and the tensions between political actors and policy are described. The concept of “predatory privatization” and the etic concept of “creative destruction” are then discussed as a prelude to an analysis of the emic concept of “systematic destruction.” Finally, the relations between the different concepts are described and the emotive power and political uses of the “systematic destruction” trope are explored and placed in the wider context of post-Yugoslav deindustrialization

Worker narratives of blame and responsibility during the 2018 crisis: the case of the Uljanik Shipyard, Croatia

This article describes worker narratives of discontent in relation to a series of crises that occurred at the Uljanik shipyard over the course of 2018. It draws on five months of fieldwork conducted in the period between two worker protests at the shipyard surrounding the late payment of wages, the second of which transformed into a large-scale strike. Emphasis is placed on the oft-repeated trope of "systematic" or "all-encompassing destruction" (sustavno uništavanje). This trope was often used to describe the perceived non-transparent, destructive activities of agents positioned at the top of a hierarchy (the firm management, the local authorities, the national government), acting with the hidden agenda of deliberately running the shipyard into the ground for their own personal gain. The article begins with a vignette highlighting several of the key actors and narratives present. The context of worker organizing and of the shipyard crisis are then elucidated. Following this, workers’ self-organizing during the crisis is examined. The affective landscape during this liminal period is described, with a focus on fear, anxiety, blame, rumours and a (sometimes reasonable) suspicion or paranoia. The trope of "systematic destruction" is discussed in relation to the affective landscape. It is then placed in the context of the importance of personalized relations in the regional political economy, and the implications of this political economy on patterns of blame and responsibility are analysed. Finally, the history of the trope of systematic destruction is discussed and the political power inherent in its ambiguities are explored

The long hand of workers' ownership: Performing transformation in the Uljanik Shipyard in Yugoslavia/Croatia, 1970-2018

In 2012, the large Uljanik shipyard in Pula (Croatia) was finally privatized, as a result of pressure from the European Union. The new owners were the workers (and pensioners) of the shipyard. History seemed to have come full circle: thanks to 'privatization', a previously ‘socially owned’ Yugoslav enterprise returned once again into the hands of workers. Yet, a closer look reveals that much has changed both on the shop floor and in the business strategies of the firm. In this article, we discuss performances of transformation relating to the Uljanik shipyard over the period from 1970 to the present, drawing on archival research, observations made in Pula and interviews with Uljanik workers. The article reveals how workers, managers and state officials understood their roles on the stage of this enterprise, and how they interrelated. Various important paradoxes relating to the ‘transformation’ from Yugoslav self-management to self- managed capitalism are revealed in the process. These experiences help to explain the difficulties in restructuring shipbuilding in Croatia today