CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2016
| Author | Savoaia, Dan Alexandru |
|---|---|
| Title | "Workers of Romania, unite?" The struggle for an independent trade union in 1979 |
| Summary | This thesis aims at analyzing how human rights discourses sought to be appropriated and instrumentalized in matters concerning labor relations in state-socialist Romania. By incorporating an analysis of transnational connections and the international actors of the period, this thesis offers a new perspective on the way in which Romanian workers addressed their grievances whilst simultaneously highlighting the opportunities and the limitations of the human rights discourses of the 1970s. Focusing on the interdependence between media and social movements, my research focuses on the emergence and the dissolution of the Free Trade Union of Romanian Workers (SLOMR) (in Romanian: Sindicatul liber al oamenilor muncii din România) as an independent trade union from February to June 1979. This research argues that SLOMR exemplifies the diversity of human rights discourses and that it was one of the most salient collective action attempts to create a nation-wide independent organization aimed at defending workers’ rights in state socialist Romania. Although a failed project, the SLOMR case is of vital importance to understanding the reasons behind the scarcity of Romanian workers actions in the period. The thesis uses relative deprivation theory to reveal the mechanisms and tools that could be used to support the workers’ demands both nationally and internationally. |
| Supervisor | Siefert, Marsha |
| Department | History MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2016/savoaia_dan-alexandru.pdf |
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