Braverman, discipline and the post-socialist Second World

[Simon Krysl]

Dear all,
I am sorry to bother - especially, with such a broad based question, to
multiple lists: Isuppose that testifies to a certain hopelessness. I apologise.
No one, or no one I have spoken to, has any kind of answer to my problem
here: and yet, it seems there must be answers, and obvious ones, just
lying around.
I have been trying to find out whether anyone has attempted to "apply"
Braverman's account of the history of/as discipline of labour to the
Eastern European material, post-1989 (in particular). In other words, the
history of Soviet Taylorism - and more importantly, post-Taylorism, what
happened if and when the strategy (of 'nauchnaya organisatsia truda") was
abandoned, explicitly or implicitly, is interesting itself - as that is
the starting point - there doesn't seem to be much written (at least not
in Braverman's terms) or I cannot find it, and any suggestions on that
would be more than appreciated. The real question, however, is the
post-socialist moment thought in terms of labour discipline: when the
foreign investor (or his domestic competitor) takes over a factory, not
only the coffee breaks (et al.) are gone, but the very structure of labour
time changes in comprehensive terms. (Of which the coffee breaks are a
'symptom,' or a case in point.) To be sure, the analysis can be done in
terms of the "postmodern" versus modernist economy, of society of control
displacing disciplinary societies (Deleuze on Foucault), of real
subsumption of labour (Negri) etc...: as well as the end of certain
socialist potentialities that can be traced in the materiality of the
working day. But the "simplicity" or rather, materialism  of Braverman's
account seems to give it a certain privilege. In either case, no such (not
only Bravermanian) readings of the post-socialist through the lens of
labour discipline have come into my hands: which may have to do with the
lack of desire to do sociology of labour altogether in the East itself (as
some of my friends 'back there' have suggested), but it still seems most
surprising, inexplicable, odd....
Is there perhaps anyone out there who could suggest any writing I have
missed?
With so, so many thanks
Sincerely yours,
Simon Krysl

___________________________________________________
Simon Krysl
Graduate Program in Literature, Duke University
312 N Buchanan Blvd., #203
Durham, NC 27701-1747
(919) 680-3144

   "We cannot let the terrorists achieve the objective
of frightening our nation to the point where we don't
conduct business or people don't shop." [...]
"That's their intention." (George W. Bush, in
USA Today, Oct 12, 2001)

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