Planning Labour

Reviews / Votes

"...a path-breaking study in the making of communism in Eastern Europe after the end of the Second World War ...a highly innovative re-reading of the socialist transformation in Romania between 1945 and 1955...The stories that Cucu tells of industrial workers are incredibly rich and capture their life-worlds with a clarity that is truly insightful. It is social history from below at its very best." * Moving the Social: Journal of Social History and the History of Social Movements



"By digging out less known and therefore more valuable archive information and combining it with an ethnographic study, the book powerfully demonstrates the importance of the local context. The dystopia of communism and socialism is addressed through the lenses of anthropology and sociology... Without this excellent contribution delivered by Alina-Sandra Cucu, one can get only piecemeal information about planning labour and eventually daily life in socialist Romania. Therefore, this book is a must-read." * Eurasian Geography and Economics



"An important addition to the history and understanding of socialist transformation. Alina-Sandra Cucu covers in much detail territories that have been largely excluded from the literature of the socialist transformation of Romania, if not Eastern Europe itself." * David A. Kideckel, Central Connecticut State University



"Thoroughly researched and beautifully written, this volume provides the reader with a sophisticated and timely perspective on socialist accumulation. It is a valuable contribution to scholarship in labour history." * Mara Marginean, Romanian Academy