From: Dave Zachariah (davez@KTH.SE)
Date: Mon Feb 04 2008 - 16:53:40 EST
Hi Martin, Your research topic is interesting. I have not read much on it except Moshe Lewin's "The Soviet Century" (Verso, 2005) which roughly covers your period 1930-1980. It is a bit fragmented work but overall very good. Most importantly it is not written with a polarised Cold War mentality. I must say that I'm surprised that such research is conducted at the Stockholm School of Economics, arguably one of our most bourgeois institutions. atb, //Dave Z on 2008-02-01 21:39 Martin Kragh wrote: > Hi Dave, > > Thanks for your comment. In my archive research I look at recently > declassified statistics and reports on the development of the Soviet > labour market, especially in relation to the abrogation of the labour > law of June 1940, in year 1956. The more moderate labour laws which > were introduced after Stalin died allowed for a larger mobility and > flexibility, as earlier, workers could not easily leave their > workplace "on their own accord". Also, tardiness by more than 20 > minutes, which had earlier been suppressed, was no longer a crime. > These shifts, which I am able to show hopefully, created new > contradictions in the economy; as urbanization continued to grow, with > turnover and tardiness exploding in certain sectors on the one hand, > and lay-offs becoming more widespread, on the other hand. With the new > data, we can see branch and region wise, who left for what reasons, > and where to over a longer period of time (1950-1970). It is also > possible to look at the quantities of tardiness and spoilage at sector > and ministry level. Other variables show age and gender > strucutre. However, considering the outstanding growth numbers in the > very same years, the picture is further complicated, and I believe it > tells us a lot about how labour markets are developed in general, when > a multitude of social processes are intertwined. My hope is to > cover the whole period 1930-1980, but that might not be possible, at > least not in very great detail. > > This research will, according to plan goal estimates, hopefully > debouch into a PhD-thesis which will then be defended in late 2009. > But apart from my economic historical research, I also look into the > life and work of the Russian economist and historian I.I. Rubin. When > time allows, I would like to use declassified files to write an > article on him, his work at the MEL-institute (in the 1920s) together > with D. Razyanov, and how he was targeted by Stalin in the Menshevik > processes (1930), which would in the end lead to his early death in > the Great Terror. I restrain myself to say to much before any > conclusive evidence can be presented. > > Kind regards > Martin >
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