Business, Labor, and the "Public Interest" in the United States and the Soviet Union

This panel will explore the relationship between enterprise management, labor, and the “public interest” in three seemingly disparate settings: industrial meat-processing in the 21st century United States, agriculture in the late 20th century United States, and chemical production in the late 20th century Soviet Union. Together, panelists will address questions such as: How do management and workers compete to structure-or even define-what constitutes the “public interest?” For example, how have different systems balanced the availability of affordable consumer goods on the one hand and safe, stable, well-compensated jobs on the other? And, in a related question, how have they framed the outcome as one that is beneficial to the public? Why do the demands of global economic competitiveness often seem to supersede very basic concern for workers’ well-being? Under what conditions has labor historically been able to reverse this tendency?
The United States and the Soviet Union were the premier industrial powers of the 20th century. Since then, the former has undergone a significant economic transformation that has touched virtually every walk of life; the latter disappeared entirely. The panel argues that placing the business, social, and economic histories of these two states into conversation with one another can provide new insight into the history of a shared industrial past; it may also reveal a common story about how governments, activists, regulators, ordinary people, and of course, businesses, struggled to achieve their vision of the “public interest.”