Managing the Labour Collective: Wage Systems in the Russian Industrial Enterprise

The aim of this paper is to explore the extent of change in the wage systems at Russian industrial enterprises, examining how the traditional Soviet system of wages is being recast to accommodate the pressures associated with large-scale economic restructuring. Our findings reveal that, despite some important adjustments in the face of new economic constraints, the lack of change in the social organisation of production at the level of the enterprise has meant that the traditional wage systems remain appropriate and there are significant continuities in the underlying principles which govern wage determination. The key contradiction appears to be between the need to effectively integrate into the market and the lack of control over production adequate to this end, which forces shop managers to retain significant features of the old system of wage provision rather than replace it.