The Defeat of Solidarity: Anger and Politics in Postcommunist Europe

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Cornell University Press, 2005 - History - 238 pages

How did the fall of communism and the subsequent transition to capitalism in Eastern Europe affect the people who experienced it? And how did their anger affect the quality of the democratic systems that have emerged? Poland offers a particularly provocative case, for it was here where workers most famously seemed to have won, thanks to the role of the Solidarity trade union. And yet, within a few short years, they had clearly lost. An oppressive communist regime gave way to a capitalist society that embraced economic and political inequality, leaving many workers frustrated and angry. Their leaders first ignored them, then began to fear them, and finally tried to marginalize them. In turn, workers rejected their liberal leaders, opening the way for right-wing nationalists to take control of Solidarity.

Ost tells a fascinating story about the evolution of postcommunist society in Eastern Europe. Informed by years of fieldwork in Polish factory towns, scores of interviews with workers, labor activists, and politicians, and an exhaustive reading of primary sources, his new book gives voice to those who have not been heard. But even more, Ost proposes a novel theory about the role of anger in politics to show why such voices matter, and how they profoundly affect political outcomes. Drawing on Poland's experiences, Ost describes lessons relevant to democratization throughout Eastern Europe and to democratic theory in general.

 

Contents

Democracy and the Organization of Anger
13
Solidarity Against Itself
37
Market Populism and the Turn to the Right
60
How Liberals Lost Labor
94
Communist and Postcommunist Experiences of Class
121
Unions in the Workplace
149
Class Civil Society and the Future
179
Notes
205
Index
233
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About the author (2005)

David Ost is Professor of Political Science at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. He is the author of Solidarity and the Politics of Anti-Politics: Reform and Opposition in Poland Since 1968 and coeditor of Workers after Workers' States: Labor and Politics in Postcommunist Eastern Europe. Ost also publishes articles in magazines including The Nation, Dissent, and Tikkun.

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