Faces of the Socialist Enterprise in the 80’s. Case Study: The Călăraşi Integrated Iron and Steel Works Cover Image

Ipostaze ale întreprinderii socialiste în anii ’80. Studiu de caz: Combinatul Siderurgic Călăraşi
Faces of the Socialist Enterprise in the 80’s. Case Study: The Călăraşi Integrated Iron and Steel Works

Author(s): Raluca Mărgărit
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences
Published by: Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti
Keywords: Communism; socialist enterprise; workers; socialist emulation; cultural and artistic activities.

Summary/Abstract: In this paper, we analyze the role and functions of the socialist enterprise, a place in which the interaction between power and society is strongly emphasized. Focusing on the last decade of communist rule, we have chosen as a case study an enterprise created in the late 70’s: The Călăraşi Integrated Iron and Steel Works. We were interested in how the Romanian Communist Party was organized inside the enterprise and the duties of party organizations. Recruiting new party members, mobilizing workers were only two of the party organizations tasks within enterprises. These topics were, in many occasions, the focus points of the Party organizations reports. An important part of this study was devoted to activities organized within the socialist enterprise. Socialist emulation, cultural and artistic activities, sports occupied a central place in everyday life of the industrial workers. Especially in the last decade of communist domination, any event is a cause for celebration, this phenomenon being in contrast to the austerity imposed by the regime. In communist Romania, the socialist enterprise was, above all, one of the most important places of propaganda, domination and control.

  • Issue Year: 11/2011
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 286-308
  • Page Count: 23
  • Language: Romanian