| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 111.5

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 111.5 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Europe: Early Modern and Modern

Diane P. Koenker. Republic of Labor: Russian Printers and Soviet Socialism, 1918–1930. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. 2005. Pp. xii, 343. $49.95.
Few historians would question the premise that workers and bosses are at loggerheads under capitalism. Yet what constitutes labor relations under socialism in a workers' state purportedly dedicated to workers' interests? In this deeply researched, fascinating study of Soviet printers from 1918 to 1930, Diane P. Koenker examines every aspect of the printers' world, from culture to material life. Drawing widely on the theories of European, American, and Russian labor history, she explores critical issues of class, skill, gender, and identity that cut across national lines. Koenker's study also offers new insights into the major political questions of Soviet history: the development of a one-party dictatorship, a command economy, and Stalinism.	1
Koenker's study is built around a central contradiction first observed by the Mensheviks soon after the revolution: workers' short term demands for better wages, higher consumption, and less work were sharply at odds with the larger economic goals of the state and the Communist Party. "Socialist accumulation" remained an oxymoron to workers who expected the revolution to yield rapid improvement in living standards. It also posed a challenge to party leaders who recognized that economic development was impossible without long-term sacrifices from workers and peasants. And if greater prosperity was ultimately dependent on increased productivity, were democratic unions representing workers' interests even possible?	. . .

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