How and where do we write the history of state socialism? Some preliminary reflections

The paper addresses the question of why we should continue to study state socialism. In view of the rise of China and the resurgence of economic nationalism pursued by illiberal and populist governments in East-Central Europe, questions of state-led development have become topical again. Today, few authors would subscribe to Francis Fukuyama's excessively optimistic prediction of the "end of history," when the Cold War ended with what seemed at that time to be an unqualified triumph of the West. In the formerly socialist countries, history neither ended in 1989 nor when they joined the European Union. In the following section three temporal and spatial contexts in which state socialism can make sense will be discussed, by asking: (1) what is state socialism's place in the longue durée of Eastern Europe's historical legacies; (2) how does state socialism relate to general European history; and (3) what is state socialism’s place in global history - and vice versa

Building Ships and Surviving Late Socialism: The Shipyard "Uljanik" in Pula in the 1970s and 1980s

This paper analyses business strategies to survive the economic crisis of late socialism in Yugoslavia. It takes one of Yugoslavia’s flagship exporter enterprises, the shipyard "Uljanik" in Pula as a case study. It argues that the most widespread response to growing economic difficulties in the 1970s and 1980s was a strategy of muddling-through. Yugoslavia, while aiming to become an exporter of industrial goods, never actually managed to adapt its domestic economic institutions to that goal. "Uljanik", like the other shipbuilders in Yugoslavia, produced mostly for export yet failed to earn profits. Domestic conditions and the political over-determination of industry prevented the implementation of measures to increase efficiency. "Uljanik", for example, expanded capacity and hired new workers even at a time when the global demand for ships was depressed after the 1974 oil-price shock. Employment and other social functions turned out to be more salient than any business rationale. Since the mid-1970s this made "Uljanik" dependent on customers, such as the Soviet Union or Third World countries that did not pay in hard currency, or did not pay at all. Frequent illiquidity was the consequence. The paper present the ship-building industry as a case in point for the increasing tensions between Yugoslavia’s institutional set-up and its integration in the international economy, and for the unwillingness of policy-makers to affect structural change. The country failed to build resilience for mediating the outfall of global economic crisis

The implementation of the Ohrid agreement: ethnic Macedonian resentments

Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht den schwierigen Prozess, den die Implementierung des Ohrid-Abkommens mit sich brachte. Der Autor analysiert die verschiedenen ethnisch bedingten Ressentiments in Mazedonien, die vor allem durch die Bedingungen der Vereinbarung hervorgerufen wurden, und erläutert die Gründe für deren Ablehnung. Diese hängen, so der Autor, mit den Eigenheiten der nationalen Identität sowie der politischen Dynamik in Mazedonien zusammen. Einerseits fürchteten viele Politiker um ihre patriotische Glaubwürdigkeit, wenn sie das Abkommen unterstützen würden. Andererseits sahen große Teile der mazedonischen Gesellschaft das Bestehen der mazedonischen Nation bedroht. Sie betrachteten den Staat als den einzigen Beschützer ihrer nationalen Identität und widersetzten sich folglich dem Ziel der Ohrid-Vereinbarung, die Verfassung auf bloßen bürgerlichen Grundlagen, mit weitreichenden Rechten für Minoritäten, neu zu schreiben. Für viele Mazedonier bedeutete dieses einen großen Sicherheitsverlust. Trotzdem stellt der Autor abschließend fest, dass Kompromisse gefunden werden könnten, die einen optimistischen Blick in die Zukunft erlauben. (ICD

Serving the Nation: Historiography in the Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) After Socialism

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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