Michael Burawoy revisits the forgotten world of state socialism by reflecting on his experiences as an industrial worker in Hungary (1983-1988) in the twilight of the Soviet Union (1991), and in its market aftermath (1992-2002). From the standpoint of the shopfloor, he examines the peculiarities of socialist production and how it shaped working-class consciousness, leaving workers unprepared for the catastrophe that befell them during the capitalist transition. More broadly, he grapples with the limitations of his extended case method and with the challenges state socialism posed for Marxism.
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