Baltic labour in the crucible of capitalist exploitation: Reassessing ‘post-communist’ transformation

Bieler, Andreas; Salyga, Jokubas

Abstract

Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, this article reassesses 'post-communist' transformation in the Baltic countries from the perspective of labour. The argument is based on a historical materialist approach focusing on the social relations of production as a starting point. It is contended that the uneven and combined unfolding of 'post-communist' transformation has subjected Baltic labour to doubly constituted exploitation processes. First, workers in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have suffered from extreme neo-liberal restructuring of economic and employment relations at home. Second, migrant workers from Central and Eastern Europe in general, trying to escape exploitation at home, have faced another set of exploitative dynamics in host countries in Western Europe such as the UK. Nevertheless, workers have continued to challenge exploitation in Central and Eastern Europe and also in Western Europe, and have been active in extending networks of transnational solidarity across the continent. 2 JEL Codes: E11, E24, J61

Citation

Bieler, A., & Salyga, J. (2020). Baltic labour in the crucible of capitalist exploitation: Reassessing ‘post-communist’ transformation. Economic and Labour Relations Review, 31(2), 191-210. https://doi.org/10.1177/1035304620911122

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 5, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Apr 28, 2020
• Publication Date: 2020-06
• Deposit Date: Feb 12, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 12, 2020
• Journal: Economic and Labour Relations Review
• Print ISSN: 1035-3046
• Electronic ISSN: 1838-2673
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 31
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 191-210
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1035304620911122
• Keywords: post-communist; transformation; labour; migration; exploitation; capitalist expansion; historical materialism; Central and Eastern Europe; Baltic states; class struggle
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3949851
• Publisher URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1035304620911122
• Additional Information: Bieler, A., & Salyga, J. (2020). Baltic labour in the crucible of capitalist exploitation: Reassessing ‘post-communist’ transformation. The Economic and Labour Relations Review. . Copyright © 2020 University of South Wales. DOI: 10.1177/1035304620911122