NEITHER STATE APPARATUS NOR MANAGERIAL TOOL: STATE-SPONSORED UNIONIZATION IN CHINA

Abstract

Can Leninist states recreate a base of labor support and stability in the private sector? To what extent can Leninist states transform factory regimes in private enterprises where capital has created its domain of dominance? In light of the limited work on factory regime changes in transitioning Leninist states, this study investigates the state-sponsored unionization in the post-Socialist China in order to explain the uneven outcome of this state-engineered project.

I argue that the state-sponsored unionization has created neither state apparatus nor managerial tool, but a variance in union efficacy. Three major types of enterprise unions emerge in response to the contestations between the state, capital, and grassroots union leaders in the process of unionization. State intervention and managerial perception are necessary but not sufficient to explain this variance. When the two structural factors are held constant, agency of union leaders explains much of the variance in union efficacy.