Page 153 - Mellinato, Giulio, and Aleksander Panjek. Eds. 2022. Complex Gateways. Labour and Urban History of Maritime Port Cities: The Northern Adriaticin a Comparative Perspective. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
P. 153
Workers of the Port of Koper and the Economic Reform Period in 1960s Slovenia
es’, including events at the Port of Koper. The use of the press and jour-
nalists for lobbying and to generate public pressure for various econom-
ic or political goals, often against the official political line of the Party,
even became a best practice among company directors. Danilo Petrinja,
the founder and charismatic director of the Port of Koper, later testified
that ‘journalists from all the Slovenian papers became involved in efforts
to enforce the decision and the provision of appropriate funds for rail-
way construction. Positive public opinion was generated’ (Petrinja 1997,
82, 85).
Scholarship on the topic is extensive. Only the most relevant elabo-
rations are mentioned here. The 1970 strike at the Port of Koper has been
already studied by Sabine Rutar (2015). Using Danilo Petrinja’s person-
al archive, preserved in the Koper Regional Archive, Rutar reconstructed
the event in detail. Her 1970 strike assessment is two layered: a) conflict
between workers and management; and b) rivalry within management,
i.e. Petrinja and his competitors. By analysing the Yugoslav socialist
self-management systems’ strategies to contain social unrests, Rutar’s
study further provides a valuable comparison between Koper events and
industrial conflicts in the late 1960s in the San Marco shipyard in Trieste.
While my study does not significantly change the image of the 1970 Koper
events already described by Rutar – with a possible exception in the as-
sessment of the violent character of the strike – it puts more attention on
the atmosphere of economic reforms in 1960s Koper.
The problem of ‘work stoppages’ (strikes) under socialism has been
the subject of extensive research in Slovenia since the 1980s. The most ex-
haustive account of the topic – the anxiousness of the regime in dealing
with strikes and other labour-related conflicts – is provided by Bogdan
Kavčič and his associates (1991) and more recently by Jurij Hadalin (2018).
The most important scientific work about the Port of Koper was con-
ducted by Nadja Terčon (2015). Her book is an in-depth study of the first
period of development of the Slovenian maritime industry from 1945 to
1958. Political contexts and the serious difficulties facing the founders
of the Port of Koper are described in detail. Terčon’s findings are essen-
tial for the critical reception of the testimonies which form the key sec-
ondary historical sources (Petrinja 19931; 1997; 1999; Ugrin 2000). For the
1 Danilo Petrinja, in the 1990s, produced lots of material regarding the history of
Port of Koper. The material of 1993 was published by his person in the form of an
elaboration, later not entirely used in his article (1997) and a book (1999). I would
153
es’, including events at the Port of Koper. The use of the press and jour-
nalists for lobbying and to generate public pressure for various econom-
ic or political goals, often against the official political line of the Party,
even became a best practice among company directors. Danilo Petrinja,
the founder and charismatic director of the Port of Koper, later testified
that ‘journalists from all the Slovenian papers became involved in efforts
to enforce the decision and the provision of appropriate funds for rail-
way construction. Positive public opinion was generated’ (Petrinja 1997,
82, 85).
Scholarship on the topic is extensive. Only the most relevant elabo-
rations are mentioned here. The 1970 strike at the Port of Koper has been
already studied by Sabine Rutar (2015). Using Danilo Petrinja’s person-
al archive, preserved in the Koper Regional Archive, Rutar reconstructed
the event in detail. Her 1970 strike assessment is two layered: a) conflict
between workers and management; and b) rivalry within management,
i.e. Petrinja and his competitors. By analysing the Yugoslav socialist
self-management systems’ strategies to contain social unrests, Rutar’s
study further provides a valuable comparison between Koper events and
industrial conflicts in the late 1960s in the San Marco shipyard in Trieste.
While my study does not significantly change the image of the 1970 Koper
events already described by Rutar – with a possible exception in the as-
sessment of the violent character of the strike – it puts more attention on
the atmosphere of economic reforms in 1960s Koper.
The problem of ‘work stoppages’ (strikes) under socialism has been
the subject of extensive research in Slovenia since the 1980s. The most ex-
haustive account of the topic – the anxiousness of the regime in dealing
with strikes and other labour-related conflicts – is provided by Bogdan
Kavčič and his associates (1991) and more recently by Jurij Hadalin (2018).
The most important scientific work about the Port of Koper was con-
ducted by Nadja Terčon (2015). Her book is an in-depth study of the first
period of development of the Slovenian maritime industry from 1945 to
1958. Political contexts and the serious difficulties facing the founders
of the Port of Koper are described in detail. Terčon’s findings are essen-
tial for the critical reception of the testimonies which form the key sec-
ondary historical sources (Petrinja 19931; 1997; 1999; Ugrin 2000). For the
1 Danilo Petrinja, in the 1990s, produced lots of material regarding the history of
Port of Koper. The material of 1993 was published by his person in the form of an
elaboration, later not entirely used in his article (1997) and a book (1999). I would
153
