An exemplary study in comparative contemporary history, this monograph looks at rural change in six countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. In the 1990s most of these nations experienced a fourth radical restructuring of agricultural relations in the twentieth century, and all went through the dramatic transition from communism to capitalism.
The author analyzes attempts to activate democracy on a local level and recreate farming structures and non-agricultural businesses based on private ownership and private enterprise. He describes the emergence of a new business class that seeks to dominate local government structures; the recuperation of former communist farming entities by former managers; and the transformation of peasants into rural citizens, who nevertheless remain the underdogs.
Swain exposes common features as well as specific divergences between the six countries; he portrays the winners, losers and engineers of transformations. He situates his themes in a wider context that will appeal to a broad range of social scientists and historians.
- Cover
- Title page
- Copyright page
- Table of Contents
- List of Tables and Maps
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1. Politics, Policies and Legal Measures
- The National Politics of Early Post-Socialism
- Poland
- Hungary
- Czechoslovakia and the Czech and Slovak Republics
- Bulgaria
- Romania
- Privatisation and Restitution Policies
- Czechoslovakia and the Czech and Slovak Republics
- Hungary
- Poland
- Romania
- Bulgaria
- Co-operative Restructuring
- Co-operative transformation legislation
- Legacies of collectivisation and their consequences
- Creating a Local Democratic Politics
- Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic
- Slovakia
- Hungary
- Poland
- Romania
- Bulgaria
- The Research Moment
- 2. Common General Findings
- The Restructuring of Agriculture
- Green barons and others
- Rural structure in the mid-1990s
- The Non-Farm Economy
- Local Government
- Rural Communities and Civil Society
- 3. Bulgaria
- Contested Co-operative Liquidation
- Co-operative livestock farming saved—Pripek
- Livestock destroyed, a belated successor co-operative and ‘elastic’ land—Dragana
- Co-operative livestock retained against the odds—Slivka
- A successful co-operative on a reduced scale—Kupen
- Continuity but post-socialist loss of livestock—Breze
- A spectrum of ‘red’, ‘blue’ and family—Venets
- Problems of a private farmer—Breze
- Local Authorities—Coping with Post-Socialist Recession
- A commune centre mayor’s socialist paternalism—Kupen
- Salvaging agriculture and its services—kmetstvo villages
- The Destruction of Socialist Mountain Communities—Blagun and Chala
- The Non-Farm Economy—New Businesses and a Cushion for Local Employment
- Bulgarian Specificities in Summary
- 4. Czech Republic
- Agricultural Transformations—Uncontested, Acrimonious and Scandalous
- Uncontested transformation—Rodáky, Nezávislice, Lesovice, Bárov-Chůzovany
- A scandalous transformation—Výletnice
- An acrimonious transformation—Tvrz nad Řekou
- Contested Transformation in Agriculture and Protracted Non-Farm Privatisation—Městysov
- Non-Farm Transformations—Protracted and Serendipitous
- A glass works, a sawmill and the House of Culture—Nová Huť
- Serendipitous restitutions and a late-socialist innovation—Lesovice
- Independent But at a Loss—Contrasting Village Development Strategies
- A newly independent commuter village—Nezávislice
- A fuzzy public–private divide—Lesovice
- A successful business strategy and business vs ecology lobbies—Rodáky
- Traditional rural tourism—Výletnice
- Contrasts in Optimism and Envy—Bárov and Chůzovany
- Czech Specificities in Summary
- 5. Hungary
- Agricultural Transformation—Bankruptcy, Subterfuge and Paths to Private Farming
- Contrived bankruptcy—Korcona
- ‘Second economy’ to private farming—Szálfa
- Voluntary liquidation and two successful successors—Pakucs
- Bankruptcy and subterfuge—Tabar
- A modus vivendi between co-operative and private—Károlyháza
- A Smallholders’ policy that failed—Dombház
- Co-operative continuity—Szálfa
- The Non-Farm Economy
- Small family businesses—contrasting fates in Pakucs and Tabar
- Larger-scale new business success—Károlyháza and Zádorpuszta
- ‘Socialist personal services gap’ family businesses—Korcona
- Local Government and Local Development Policy
- Independence, control of schooling and promoting tourism unsuccessfully—Kissikonda
- Ambivalent links with private business—Károlyháza and Kissikonda
- The emergence of a business block—Székhely, Korcona,Tabar, Zádorpuszta
- Hungarian Specificities in Summary
- 6. Poland
- Agricultural Transformation—State Farm Privatisations and Specialists
- From manager to owner—Zalew and Lusowo
- Other privatisations—Głaz, Bawełna, Zamek
- From socialist specialist to commercial farmer—Zamek and Bawełna
- Local Authorities and Regime Change
- From a clerical to a commercial regime—Bawełna
- Clerical influence and intrusion—Pola, Bory and Cukier
- Continuities, innovations and the PSL—Głaz, Pola, Kanał
- ‘Teachers’, ‘farmers’ and rural tourism—Bory
- The Non-Farm Economy
- Solidarity-influenced privatisation—Cukier
- Insiders and outsiders in the face of disappearing socialist certainties—Kanał
- An old new business hostile to the socialist mayor—Głaz
- The Peculiarities of a Non-EU Border Community—Sedno
- State farm privatisation—with a little help from the border
- Town and village councils and the border tax
- Other border benefits
- Polish Specificities in Summary
- 7. Romania
- Agricultural Transformation
- Smooth progression from co-operative to association—Lipova and Purani
- A failed association—Colibaşi
- Pre-socialist landholding vs machinery—Horia, Lipova and Mägura
- Agromec as farmer—Mägura
- A large-scale private farmer—Remetea
- The Non-Farm Economy—Modest Developments
- Extreme Impotence at the Local Level
- The Catholic priest and the doctor—Plopeni
- The Reform Church pastor and political patronage—Mica
- A vibrant community culture under threat—Mägura
- Patronage, incompetence and despair—Buneşti, Colibaşiand Horia
- Romanian Specificities in Summary
- 8. Slovakia
- Agricultural Transformation—Variations on the Theme of Continuity
- Co-operative demergers—Hora, Habán, Zurča, Ľupta, Bánec
- Continuity without demerging—Palina and Krížava
- Continuity, secession and one private farmer—Lehota
- Client and co-operative privatisation—Klanec
- The Non-Farm Economy
- A brand new big business in a village of pensioners and Roma—Palina
- Co-operatives as business parks—Klanec
- Smaller-scale successful new businesses—Lehota, Ľupta, Krížava
- Mixed success plugging the socialist personal services gap—Zurča and Ľupta
- Protracted privatisation and commuting to the Czech Republic—Krížava and Lehota
- Local Authority Businesses and Accommodations to Central Power
- Continuity and change—Klanec
- A new non-market business elite—Krížava
- Flexible political allegiances—Krížava, Zurča and Ľupta
- Fuzzy ownership and its consequences—Habán
- Problems of football sponsorship, tourism and promoting a hotel—Bánec
- Developing a village ‘with no development prospects’—Hora
- A change of mayor and perhaps a change of prospects—Lehota
- Slovak Specificities in Summary
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index of Research Villages
- General Index
- Back cover
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