From victory to victory to the final retreat. Changing balance of class forces in the Slovenian transition

Abstract

The article presents the changing balance of class forces in the Slovenian transition from self-managed socialism to capitalism. We begin by examining the consolidation of the initial class compromise that set the major course of this process and its institutional solidification in the areas of privatisation, macroeconomic policy, welfare state, and industrial relations. This will be followed by an account of the erosion of the conditions for compromise in the subsequent periods and the weakening of working class organisations. Finally, we propose an explanation in terms of the operaist [workerism] conceptual pair of technical composition of labour force and the political composition of working class