In the Storms of Transformation: Two Shipyards between Socialism and the EU

“Shipbuilders were among the primary groups whose strikes and activism brought down communism: this pathbreaking volume asks what they ultimately achieved. Taking readers to their workplaces and communities over three decades, the authors examine gains but also losses. Did the transformation needlessly do away with things of value, like jobs and industry, or was the pain necessary for the transition to liberal society?” John Connelly, Sidney Hellman Ehrman Professor of European History, University of California, Berkeley

“A stunning and detailed study of post-socialist transition told through the eyes of two shipyards in Poland and Croatia, emphasizing not only the economic but also the social and cultural effects of wave after wave of change.  It forces us to look at just how stark the transition from socialism to capitalism has been – and at the storms that marked journey.” Mitchell A. Orenstein, Professor of Russian and East European Studies, University of Pennsylvania

“Just two shipyards? Don’t fool yourself: this is a brilliant excavation of the processes associated with the end of communism in Eastern Europe and the cases drawn from Poland – the Paris Commune Shipyard in Gdynia – and Croatia – the Uljanik shipyard in Pula – serve as lenses through which to see how the post-communist transformation unfolded. One of the many insights in this fascinating book is the revelation that, in socialist times, the shipyards served to provide a range of services to their employees and their families, including cultural offerings, welfare benefits, complimentary sacks of potatoes and onions, and sometimes also candies. Based on extensive interviews, company archives from the shipyards, and back issues of the Croatian shipbuilding magazine Brodogradnja, among other sources, this volume explains why these once-flourishing shipyards eventually went bankrupt and offers a stunning glimpse into the lost world of East European shipbuilding.” Sabrina P. Ramet, Professor Emerita, the Norwegian University of Science & Technology (NTNU), and author of East Central Europe and Communism: Politics, Culture, and Society, 1943–1991