European Socialist Research Articles

Standards of professional development of employees: international experience and current prospects in Ukraine

The scientific article examines the international standards of professional development of workers enshrined in the basic legal acts of the United Nations (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Conventions and Recommendations of ILO), Council of Europe (European Social Charter (revised), EU (Recommendations and Directives). The provisions of laws and bylaws of Ukraine on the professional development of employees are analyzed. Based on the analysis of international acts and norms of national legislation on professional development, we propose to identify the following standards of professional development of employees: high-quality training of qualified personnel in accordance with state policy priorities; ensuring proper organization of professional development of employees; equal access to professional development programs; continuity, fresh of the process of professional development; constant investment in professional development of staff; introduction of effective mechanisms for motivating staff to professional development and continuing education; compulsory professional development; practical orientation of advanced training programs. The conclusion is made about that the international experience in the field of professional development of employees is taken into account in the development of the national legislative field. Іt is proposed to launch an experimental project in the field of professional development of scientific, scientific-pedagogical, pedagogical workers during a special period; to increase opportunities for training and professional development of Ukrainian citizens abroad on the basis of equivalent tape exchange with other states; create favorable conditions for private investment, involvement of business in the professional development of employees, etc.

Translation under Communism

The last decade has seen several book publications and a significant number of articles in English presenting developments in translation behind the Iron Curtain, and this interest is certainly not waning. The latest book addition to this body of work—Translation under Communism, edited by Christopher Rundle (University of Bologna), Anne Lange, and Daniele Monticelli (both Tallinn University)—offers a selection of perspectives on the role that translation played in the USSR and eastern European socialist countries during diverse periods under communist rule.

Marksismi retseptsioon ja dogmaatilise marksismi kriitika Eesti alal aastatel 1905–16

In Estonian historiography, the revolutionary year of 1905 has been described as a starting point for subsequent political changes in 1917 and 1918. Hence many authors have highlighted the importance of political development that led to the foundation of the first Estonian political parties in 1905. However, the ideological differentiation of Estonian political thought between the revolutionary years of 1905 and 1917 has been studied less. The aim of this article is to analyse the political debates on Marxist theory that took place in the Estonian area of the Baltic provinces from 1905 to 1916.
 The leaders of the Estonian socialist movement first became acquainted with Marxist theory through German and Russian socialist literature. Since 1905, various texts by socialist authors were also available to a wider audience in Estonian. First and foremost, the works of German social democrats were published in Estonian. During 1910–14, the first volume of Karl Marx’s Capital was translated into Estonian. While it had often previously been argued that socialism benefits all oppressed people, Marxist ideology was now presented as a scientific theory that explained economic development and protected the interests of industrial workers in a class society.
 The article claims that during the period from 1905 to 1916, recognised experts on Marxist ideology emerged among Estonian socialists. In addition to Marxist tactics, Estonian socialist authors discussed theoretical issues such as the material conception of history. In these discussions, the personal conflicts between Estonian socialists as well as their ideological disagreements became evident. More broadly, these discussions were shaped by earlier ideological debates among European socialists at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.
 The article also argues that during the period considered, several Estonian left-wing thinkers questioned the validity of Marxism. Influenced by Bernstein’s revisionist ideas, these thinkers criticised Marxism as a one-sided and dogmatic ideology. They claimed that Marxism was just another theory with both strengths and weaknesses. However, Estonian social democrats who embraced Marxism as a scientific theory responded to such criticism and defended the materialist view of society.
 The debates on Marxist theory considered here provide evidence of the ideological differentiation of Estonian left-wing political thought. From 1905 to 1916, numerous socialist texts in Estonian presented various approaches for understanding Marxist ideology. Thus, one can witness an intensified reception of Marxism in the Estonian area during that period. More specifically, these ideological debates reveal new facets of the political views of Estonian socialists who later affected the course of Estonian history as communist revolutionaries or as members of the Estonian Constituent Assembly.

More Left or Left No More? An In-depth Analysis of Western European Social Democratic Parties' Emphasis on Traditional Economic Left Goals (1944–2021)

The ideological evolution of Western European social democratic parties has received considerable scholarly attention over the decades. The most widespread view concerns the alleged programmatic moderation and convergence with the mainstream right of this party family. However, recent empirical investigations based on electoral manifestos come to different conclusions, highlighting an increase over time in Western European social democratic parties' emphasis on traditional economic left goals, especially in recent years. Hence, this article analyses the evolution of the social democratic programmatic outlook with regard to traditional economic left issues. It does so by relying on Manifesto Project (MARPOR) data about such formations in 369 general elections across 20 Western European countries between 1944 and 2021, employing different indicators of economic left emphasis and time to ensure the robustness of the findings. The analysis shows how, at the aggregate level, social democracy increases its emphasis on traditional economic left issues over time, with the effect driven entirely by the recent post-Great Recession years. However, once disaggregating the results, a more differentiated picture emerges, pointing towards potential causes of concern in terms of measurement validity within the MARPOR data. The article discusses the substantive and, especially, methodological implications of its findings in detail.

The Operation Successful, But the Patient Died. The Gradual Elimination of the Central European Peasantry in the Light of Globalization and Interwar Processes

In terms of “depeasantisation," it was with the EU accession in 2004 when Central Europe – including Hungary – reached the stage where England had already arrived in the 18th and Germany in the 19th century. The gradual disappearance of the peasantry in the continent is doubtless in connection with the tendencies of globalization, a phenomenon that could not be stopped even by the authoritarian regimes of the interwar period – the time period examined by the dissertation. However, in a latent way, the question had already arisen at the time: is peasantry necessary at all? Nevertheless, as a consequence of the defeat in World War I, there were important national political arguments for the preservation of peasantry in the region, together with the rise of peasant ideologies. After 1945 – as Barrington Moore, the ideologist of the Cold War, pointed out – the huge peasant masses meant the precondition for not only the creation of fascism but also for Eastern European socialism. Therefore, many problems had to be swept under the carpet. But the issue can be better understood once it is examined along the “development slope." In this aspect, many experts in new comparisons drew attention to the key role of Germany. Following the footsteps of the Canadian historian Scott M. Eddie, the author of this article compares the agrarian societies of two areas dominated by large estates, Pomerania and Somogy county, with a special focus on the significance of identity. The research questions were the following: what were the chances of the peasantry in those areas in the grip of modernity and large estates? To what extent had this process altered identity? In order to map the latter methodologically, the study required a wide interdisciplinary examination.

‘The human ocean of the colored races’: interwar Black internationalism, Marxism, and permanent revolution

ABSTRACT In the international Communist movement after the Russian Revolution, Black radical opponents of racism, colonialism, and capitalism entered a productive dialogue with European socialist revolutionism. This tradition was itself shaped by decades of theoretical disagreement around the relationship between historical development and socialist revolution. Common to the leading figures of Europe’s revolutionary Left (Lenin, Luxemburg, Trotsky) was an emphasis on the uninterrupted continuity of democratic and socialist revolutions in the epoch of imperialism. ‘Permanent revolution’ became a phrase associated exclusively with Trotskyists, but many Communists in different traditions professed affiliation with a flexible and revolutionary version of Marxism. As such, though the language of uninterrupted or permanent revolution was often absent from Black Marxist writing in the 1920s and 1930s, writers such as Claude McKay, Grace Campbell, C.L.R. James, and W.E.B. Du Bois articulated Marxist perspectives on Black oppression that similarly transcended rigid and economist versions of Marxism. Their additional emphasis was on the vanguard role of anticolonial radicals in the world revolution. As Black internationalists appropriated Marxism, they deployed a logic that helps to connect revolutionary theory in Europe with the intellectual work of radical Black internationalists.

“This is a Favorable Moment for Us to Move Forward with Hungarian–Taiwanese Relations”

Abstract The present study examines the process and international context of Hungarian–Taiwanese bilateral negotiations leading to the opening of the Taipei Trade Office, based on Hungarian archival documents. The process began with the democratization of political life in Taiwan in 1987 and was followed by Taipei’s subsequent opening towards Eastern European socialist states. Hungarian politicians were initially cautious about the establishment of relations with the island, as they always had to consider China’s political sensitivities and the possible consequences of their actions regarding Sino–Hungarian relations. However, the year 1989 marked a turning point. The Hungarian leadership urged economic cooperation with Taiwan because economic liberalization in Hungary resulted in a financial crisis, and Taiwanese investment and financial assistance could contribute to easing the situation. The Taiwanese side was willing to engage in financial cooperation in exchange for greater international visibility.

Development of the European Healthcare and Social Cost Database (EU HCSCD) for use in economic evaluation of healthcare programs

IntroductionCosts are one of the critical factors for the transferability of the results in health technology assessment and economic evaluation. The objective is to develop a cost database at the European level to facilitate cross-border cost comparisons in different settings and explains the factors that lead to differences in healthcare costs in different countries, taking into account the differences between health systems and other factors.MethodologyThe core of the database is compounded of three main categories (primary resources, composite goods and services, and complex processes and interventions) organized into 13 subcategories. A number of elements providing as detailed information of unit cost as possible were identified in order to mitigate the problem of comparability. Consortium partners validated both the database structure and selected costing items.ResultsTwenty-seven costing items included in the EU HCSCD resulted in 1450 unit costs when taking into account all item subtypes and countries. Cross-country differences in costs are driven by the type of resources included in the costing items (e.g., overhead costs in case of complex processes and interventions) or by the variety of existing brands and/or models and the type of unit value in most of the primary resources.ConclusionThe EU HCSCD is the only public unit healthcare and social cost database at European level that gather data on unit costs and explains differences in costs across countries. Its maintenance and regular data updating will enable establishing specific systems for generating and recording information that will meet many of its current limitations.

Advising, an Indispensable Element in Training Students. Usefulness of POSDRU Grants

The present work aims at improving the ability of innovation of institutions for education and training through advisory activities for students in order to prepare them for society and for the environment. In this paper are presented efficiency analysis of career counseling activities in the framework of a European project. Demonstration of the appropriateness of professional counselors will be made on the basis of a pilot group of students advising in career as part of a European project, co-financed by the EUROPEAN SOCIAL FUND, Sectoral operational program Human Resources Development 2007-2013, Priority axis no.2 ""Linking learning with lifelong labor market"", Major field of intervention no. 1.3 “Transition from school to life”, Project title: ""Partnership developed for advice and practice of students in order to increase their employability- CONPRACTIS"", Contract no.: POSDRU/189/2.1/G/156607. Counselling and career guidance are important for students in order to gain the relevant skills and competencies for a job and the right attitude towards work, sense of responsibility, gaining practical experience in the workplace, the ability to solve new problems and to understand the context in which action must be taken; the ability to adapt to any working conditions, the provision of ""affective competence"" relevant, appropriate social skills. Many studies and European statistics highlight the relationship of dependency between the welfare economy and education level but, at the same time, draw attention to the danger of ""scatter"" one of the most valuable resources-human resources. Correspondence between the quality of vocational training, on the one hand, and the requirements of the labor market on the other hand, is essential in a knowledge-based economy. Research shows that the unemployment rate among young people may cause permanent sequelae, such as an increase in the risk of being unemployed in the future, low levels of future earnings, loss of human capital, the transmission of poverty from one generation to another or a lesser motivation. One of the reasons identified is the lack of experience to submit to the interview, on condition that the student does not have the experience of another job, but neither-and leverages and presents it in a way convincing powers and abilities held when â when attending the interview.

V. I. Lenin on Alienation

According to an old legend, Vladimir Lenin, the founder of Soviet Marxism, overlooked Karl Marx’s theory of alienation. For Marxist humanists, this theory underlies the emancipatory thrust of Marx’s thought, and since, in their view, Lenin’s acolytes ignored alienation, communist regimes failed to empower the workers. Considering these claims, this article challenges the legend that Lenin himself neglected Marx’s theory of alienation. It argues that this theory was central to Lenin’s Marxism. In fact, Lenin was among the first to discover the concept in Marx’s work, although he also analysed the concept independently. Like Marx, Lenin criticised capitalist alienation and defined communism as a non-alienated society. After the October Revolution, however, Lenin struggled to realise this goal. Responding to a failed European socialist revolution, a brutal civil war, a deadly famine and widespread cultural backwardness, Lenin made concessions to alienation. Nevertheless, Lenin’s legacy provides an important insight into alienation today.

Description of day case costs and tariffs of cataract surgery from a sample of nine European countries

BackgroundThe lack of transparency in the methodology of unit cost estimation and the usage of confidential or undisclosed information prevents cost comparisons and makes the transferability of the results across countries difficult. The objective of this article is to compare the methodologies used in the estimation of the cost of a day case cataract extirpation that are described in the official and publicly available sources and to study how these translate into different unit cost estimates.MethodsA literature review was conducted to identify the main sources of unit costs of cataract extirpation. A semi-structured questionnaire to obtain information on national costing methodologies was developed and sent to consortium partners in nine European countries. Additionally, publicly available sources of unit cost of cataract surgery in those countries included in the European Healthcare and Social Cost Database (EU HCSCD) were analysed.ResultsThe findings showed a considerable diversity across countries on unit costs varying from 432.5€ in Poland (minor degree of severity) to 3411.96€ in Portugal (major degree of severity). In addition, differences were found in the year of cost publication and on the level of detail of different types of cataract surgery. The unit of activity were Diagnosis-Related Groups in all countries except Slovenia. All unit costs include direct costs and variable overheads (except Germany where nursing costs are financed separately). Differences were identified in the type of fixed overheads included in unit costs. Methodological documents explaining the identification, measurement and evaluation of resources included in the unit costs, as well as use of appropriate cost drivers are publicly available only in England, Portugal and Sweden.ConclusionsWe can conclude that while unit costs of cataract extirpation are publicly available, the information on methodological aspects is scarce. This appears to pose a significant problem for cross-country comparisons of costs and transferability of results from one country to another.

Are costs derived from diagnosis-related groups suitable for use in economic evaluations? A comparison across nine European countries in the European Healthcare and Social Cost Database.

Economic evaluation of health technologies requires healthcare resources, procedures and services to be valued at their opportunity cost. In practice, many economic evaluation studies use official databases of hospital Diagnosis-Related Groups (DRGs) as inputs where unit costs are required. This study describes the available data on costs of hospital DRG from official, publicly available sources in nine European countries (England, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden), critically examines and compares the methodologies used to construct these databases and comments on the appropriateness of such unit cost data for economic evaluation. A standardized semi-structured questionnaire was developed in order to obtain both official publicly available sources of inpatient DRG databases and documents explaining the costing methodology used in calculation of unit costs available in those databases. England stands out as a benchmark in terms of good practice. Other countries face more challenges in one or more items, whether in documenting and auditing processes, guaranteeing methodological rigour, including all relevant economic items such as depreciation of buildings and equipment and capital costs, conducting the process annually and completely, publishing the costs as well as tariffs and recognising sampling uncertainty or variation. Analysts should evaluate carefully whether DRG costs or tariffs published in each country are appropriate for use in economic evaluation.

Education, Health Care, and Poverty in Cuba

Abstract Cuba’s economic integration into European socialist countries, led by the Soviet Union, offered the possibility of Cubans studying in these countries. A large number of professionals were trained in different fields. This at the same time created better opportunities and higher quality for the national education system at all levels due to academic mobility at all levels. To think about the term ‘revolution’ in Cuba, one must believe in a movement of ideas that promote progress. However, most of us in the Western world come to believe that progress has an equivalency of economic gain.

Experiences of People who Acquire Motor Disability, in Adapting to Internal and Environment Changes

Background. In Lithuania, from 2017 to 2018, in the age group of 16–64 years, the number of people with a disability increased from 18.3% to 19.4% (Statistics on Persons with Disabilities, 2018). According to the 2014 European Statistical Data, as many as 27.1% of over 16-year-olds with a disability in Europe reported prevailing limitations on their activity (Centre for European Social and Economic Policy, 2017). The significance of this current situation increases the relevance of this study, because insufficient attention is paid to disability research; researchers from around the world state that this area receives little of their attention (Rios et al., 2016; Shepherd, 2016; Williams & Moore, 2011).
 Methods. semi-structured interview, qualitative analysis of content.
 Results. Negative reaction towards one’s own body and the perceived irreversible physical changes after acquiring a disability provokes negative feelings, harmful behavior, and limits one’s interaction with the environment. For those who acquire a disability, interaction with the environment encompasses difficulties in entering buildings, reaching for objects, moving outside or receiving certain services. When assessing communication with other people, after acquiring a disability, in many cases, communication with friends worsens, but becomes better with family and relatives. The process of overcoming the disability happens systematically – accepting the acquisition of disability and adapting to the changes that occur; taking up sports or communal activity in order to strengthen oneself physically, emotionally and engage in social life; expressing the inequalities prevalent in society regarding disability and the proposed possible ways to improve the situation.
 Conclusion. People who acquire a disability encounter internal reactions and interaction with the changes in their environment, which create the strategic need to overcome the acquired disability and adapt to it.
 Keywords: movement disability, acquired disability, internal changes, environment changes, experiences.

The two distinct systems of socialist Albania and SFR Yugoslavia: A comparative analysis using Kornai's ‘Main Line of Causality'

This paper compares two peculiar country cases within the former European socialist bloc: Albania and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Based on János Kornai's ‘main line of causality', we compare the two countries' main char-acteristics from the end of the Second World War until the fall of their socialist re-gimes. The goal of the paper is to demonstrate that the two neighbouring countries had similar political and economic intentions following the Second World War; yet despite this fact the analysed countries' development paths gradually diverged. As a result, the two systems differed fundamentally by the 1970s. Analysing the time-period in question is crucial to understand Albania's and the successor Yugoslav states' subsequent economic development.

On Authenticity and Popular Culture

In the review the author analyses Ewa Mazierska’s book Polish Popular Music on Screen (2020), which investigates the mutually entangled histories of Polish politics, cinema, TV, and music. Although it focuses on the Polish context, the general and theoretical observations that emerge from Mazierska’s analysis relate also to the broader former socialist Europe. Departing from Mazierska’s work, the author tackles the question of “(in)authenticity” in relation to popular culture. The word “authenticity” often appears in the text to express the critics’ opinions of cultural products, but it is not clearly defined. The review of Mazierska’s research starts with a preliminary analysis of the concept, which enables a transversal discussion of the data presented in the text. Then the author draws some conclusions about the current state of research on Eastern European culture by highlighting the limits and the potentials of the field.

The role of political parties in multi-level environmental governance in the European Union and Germany

The subject of the study is the involvement of political parties in multi-level environmental governance in the European Union, using Germany and its federal states as an example. This article describes the theoretical and practical foundations of multi-level governance. The place of European parties and their national member parties from Germany in the institutional system and decision-making process of environmental policy has been defined. For practical illustration, the climate policy guidelines of Germany’s main national parties (the Christian Democratic Union of Germany and the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, the Social Democratic Party of Germany, the Alternative for Germany, the Free Democratic Party of Germany, the Left and the Alliance 90 / The Greens) and their European affiliations (the European People’s Party, the Party of the European Socialists, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, the European Green Party and the Party of European Left) were compared with an emphasis on the new targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The unique opportunity for parties to participate in environmental policymaking at all key levels, which is not limited to parliamentary institutions has been highlighted. Appointments to environmental positions at different levels often correlate with membership of the most environmentally oriented parties, although the level of environmental involvement may differ between national parties and their European affiliations. Among other things, this has to do with participation in governing coalitions and dependence on a senior partner in them, as shown by the examples of the Bundestag and the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg. The final decision depends heavily on the unity of the coalition at federal and state level, whereas in the European Parliament there is a great differentiation of opinions, which allows even the most influential European People’s Party to be blocked from voting.

The End of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance

This paper analyzes the negotiations within the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance during the final years of its existence, focusing on the Soviet reform proposals and M. S. Gorbachev’s vision of the “Common European Home” as well as on Eastern European reaction to them. In the second half of the 1980s, Gorbachev tried to found a “unified market” for the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance by introducing a market-oriented reform of the organization. However, this attempt did not materialize because of the East German and Romanian objections. After the collapse of Eastern European socialist regimes in 1989, the Soviet leadership urged the member-states to accelerate the reform of this international organization, hoping to achieve the pan-European economic integration through close cooperation between the totally reformed Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the European Community. Although the Central European countries, namely Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland, aspired to join the EC individually, they agreed to participate in a successor organization of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance because the EC was not ready to accept them. Accordingly, by the beginning of 1991, all the member-states agreed to establish a consultative organization, which would be named the Organization for International Economic Cooperation). However, as the Soviet Union failed to sustain trade with the Central European countries, the three countries lost interest in the project. As a result, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance was disbanded without any successor organization. In other words, it did not collapse automatically after 1989 but came to an end as a result of various factors, such as rapidly declining trade between the member-states, Western disinterest in the cooperation with it, and the Central European policy changes.

Strategies of European Socialist Regimes’ in Relations with the West in the 1970s: in Search of a History of Pan-European Integration

Review of the collective monograph “European Socialist Regimes' Fateful Engagement with the West: National Strategies in the long 1970s”, summarizing the results of the work of the international research project “PanEur1970s”. The monograph is devoted to the process of forming national strategies of relations between the countries of the socialist camp (Bulgaria, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia) with Western Europe in the 1970s. The monograph makes a significant contribution to the development of the discussion about the common European integration processes, the mutual influence of the political and economic systems of the West and the East, the functioning of the Eastern European political elites in the changing economic conditions of the 1970s.

The Puzzle of ‘Unspent’ Funds in Italy’s European Social Fund

This chapter focuses on the spending dynamics around one of the largest social funds globally: the European Social Fund (ESF). More specifically, it explores the institutional conditions and the tensions around its use/lack thereof in Italy, one of the largest recipients of the Fund. While financial execution does not subsume the effective implementation or the effectiveness of the activities that are funded, the chapter suggests that it is a key marker in the policy debate in Italy, and seeks to analyse the terms of this debate by placing it in its institutional and financial context, in particular against the backdrop of reforms enacted at both the European Union (EU) and the domestic level. It argues that late spending is not only a marker of a series of institutional blockages, it also reveals a specific mode of governance that is shaped at the same time by national, regional and supranational institutions, norms, and interests as well as by flows of funds and ideas that converge and materialise in a variety of administrative, political and financial practices.