Fallen Heroes in Global Capitalism: Workers and the Restructuring of the Polish Steel Industry, by Vera Trappmann. Palgrave, Basingstoke, 2013, 296 pp., ISBN: 978 1 137 303 646, £65.00, hardback.
| Published date | 01 September 2014 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/bjir.12075 |
| Date | 01 September 2014 |
| Author | Jan Czarzasty |
persistence of social concertation in Europe. Addressing these thorny issues more
rigorously seems to be a condition for systematic accumulation of knowledge.
DAMIAN RAESS
University of Geneva
Reference
Afonso, A. (2010). ‘Policy concertation, Europeanization and new political cleavages:
the case of Switzerland’. European Journal of Industrial Relations, 16 (1): 57–72.
Fallen Heroes in Global Capitalism: Workers and the Restructuring of the Polish Steel
Industry, by Vera Trappmann. Palgrave, Basingstoke, 2013, 296 pp., ISBN: 978
1 137 303 646, £65.00, hardback.
The peaceful revolt of Solidarity in 1980–1981, with the subsequent fall of the com-
munist regime at the end of the decade, paved the way for restoration of capitalism in
Poland. The taste of victory soon proved bitter for those who had once formed the
core of the freedom fighting, mass social movement congregated around the trade
union. Industrial restructuring had harmful consequences for the world of work, also
in metallurgy. In spite of forceful trade union criticisms of the restructuring pro-
grammes implemented in the 1990s and 2000s, the state’s strategy for the steel indus-
try was considered by many observers the most successful case of sectoral
restructuring in Poland.
Vera Trappmann aims to challenge that optimistic view. She begins with a state-
ment that ‘the steel industry is a perfect case study to examine the challenges faced by
CEE [Central and Eastern Europe] in EU accession and the role of the EU in CEE’s
economic transformation pre- and post-accession’ (p. 3). The author devoted several
years to researching the subject, including multiple visits to Poland between 2004 and
2009. The final result is a well-documented empirical study of the restructuring
process analysed at three levels: state, sector and enterprise. The enterprise analysis is
based on a case study conducted in the largest steelwork in Poland, Huta Sendzimira
(the Sendzimir steel mill, once named the Lenin Steel Mill or Huta Lenina, in Polish).
The book consists of four parts divided into 10 chapters that are preceded by an
Introduction and followed by a Conclusion. In part 1, a conceptual framework is
constructed. As the author describes the impact of globalization on the steel industry
and introduces readers to the intricacies of restructuring in Poland, she points to the
role of the EU as promoter of economic change in the whole region. Part 2 is devoted
to the transformation of the steel industry in Poland and the role of social dialogue in
the process, as well as to lost opportunities in regional labour market policies for
alleviating the effects of restructuring analysed at the macro level. In part 3,
Trappmann tells the story of Huta Lenina, which came a long way from being a
leading symbol of socialist industrialization of 1950s, through the stronghold of the
anti-communist opposition in 1980s, to a mere subsidiary in a multinational company
today. In part 4, readers may follow the fate of ‘fallen heroes’ throughout their lives
after restructuring, as they follow different tracks as pensioners, workers kept on their
posts but allegedly demoted in terms of remuneration and prestige of profession, or
those made redundant who have tried to re-establish themselves in the labour market.
bs_bs_banner
Book Reviews 613
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/London School of Economics.
To continue reading
Request your trial