The Transition to a Mixed Economy and the Prospects for the Labor and Trade Union Movement in the USSR

Abstract

There is a deep bilateral relationship between the prospects for the development of the labor and trade union movement in the USSR and radical reform of the Soviet economy. These processes exert a substantial reciprocal influence on one another, the essential nature of which merits examination. The principal aspect of this interrelationship consists in the fact that success in implementing radical reforms in the Soviet economy depends on the labor movement's support. And their implementation is not merely a way of resolving the present crisis, which is characterized by the collapse of the national economy, a catastrophic decline of living standards, and acute social tension. Much more is at stake: leaving the cul-de-sac of our social development for the high road of human civilization, and creating a normal, healthy, viable social system. It is a question of saving the people and the country.