Trade Unions in East European Communist Systems

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Abstract
Corporatist analysis may further our understanding of east European Communist sys tems, and, in particular, of the role played within them by trade unions. Traditional Communist unionism, which still dominates the region, operates within too rigid and close a network of controls to qualify as more than quasi-corporatist. In Poland the Solidarity movement of 1980-1981 produced an amalgam of alternatives to traditional unionism, including adversary unionism, neo-corporatism, and syndicalism. Hungarian trade unions operate within a system of state corporatism that, though weakly institutionalized, has made possible the effective management of diverse interests through economic fluc tuation and structural reform. Given the growing recognition by Communist leaders of the need for more interest-oriented unions to help manage labor demands at a time of economic stagnation and change, the 1980s may see more general experimentation along state corporatist lines.