The crisis of communism and trade unionism in Western Europe since 1968

Abstract

Communist implantation in Western Europe is heterogeneous, but the different categories that can be distinguished have all been marked by stagnation in the past decade, thus illustrating the reality of the crisis of communism in Europe. On the other hand, the study of union membership and unionization rates shows different patterns of development among the countries of the region. In a majority of European countries the economic recession of the past 20 years has not truly entailed a crisis of trade unionism. Looking beyond less potent explanations for this, such as structure and the degree of politicization, the criterion that seems most useful in accounting for both the varying power and the resilience of trade unions is their ranking on a scale reflecting the realization of a model termed here ‘institutional trade unionism’.