Volume21, Number 1
BEER BOTTLES AN BAR SIGNS:
BREWING IDENTITY IN POSTSOCIALIST POLAND
Andrew D. Asher, University of Illinois/ Urbana-Champaign
 2003 Andrew D. Asher All Rights Reserved
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Since 1990, Poland's industrial sector has been
gradually transforming from a socialist to a
market-based system through an extended period
of industrial privatization. This dramatic change
in economic orientation fundamentally altered
the nature of the relationship between
management and labor, causing corresponding
changes in the organizational structures of
Poland's manufacturing industries. The problem
for these industrial organizations was literally
how to survive this change, as relationships that
were once predetermined by nearly fifty years of
tradition and governmental control became
economically impractical. The survival of an
individual industrial organization, particularly in
the context of the broader European economy,
required an extensive organizational adaptation,
an adaptation that precipitated the reinvention of
both institutional and individual identities.
Within contemporary Polish society, the
redefinition of social identities is profoundly
influenced by the history of socialism and the
juxtaposition of capitalist and socialist
ideologies, making the conceptualization of
identity a product of renegotiating the reality of
the past with a vision of the future.
This study examines the effects of
privatization on the organization and social
identity of Browar Kostrova1, a medium sized
regional brewery located in the village of
Kostrova in western Poland. Initially, this article
examines the historical construction of the
organization as a background against which to
compare how old company structures have been
realigned during the privatization process to
form a new organization. In order to understand
this realignment, this study utilizes a series of
ethnographic interviews focusing on work
history narratives to examine how dynamics of
organization, technology, prestige, and age
interact to produce social identities not only for
individual workers, but also for the surrounding
community and Browar Kostrova as a
corporation.
Following a growing body of
ethnographic work dealing specifically with
understanding the restructuring of Polish
industry and production after the end of
socialism (Nagengast 1991, Gurr 1998, Dunn
1998 & 1999), this article explores how
individuals and organizations respond to the
crises caused by the privatization process. Using
the case of Browar Kostrova, this study
investigates how symbols are appropriated and
negotiated to inform and create individual and
group identities. Here, I focus on how symbols,
such as consumer goods or durable objects (e.g.
machines, buildings, etc.), are employed as
"incarnated signs" (Appadurai 1986: 38) to
indicate membership in specific social groups,
and how these symbols are reinterpreted and
renegotiated within postsocialist contexts
(Verdery 1996 & 1999, Berdahl 1999, Yurchak
1999).
"Shock Therapy"
In 1990, Poland's adoption of the
Balcerowicz Plan initiated the transformation
from state socialism to market capitalism,
deregulating foreign trade and legalizing private
enterprise. The Balcerowicz Plan introduced a
dramatically different economic system,
throwing Poland's industrial organizations into a
state of crisis. Dubbed "shock therapy" because
of its speed and radical nature, the plan's
techniques invalidated old management
methodologies, and neither management nor
labor could reliably define their relationship to
one another. A process of redefining social
identities ensued, during which time the patterns
of action developed under socialism manifested
themselves during the construction of capitalism
(Buechler 1995: 1), thus producing hybrid social
forms. Sztompka (1992) calls this constraint,
which the lived history and experience of
socialism places on organizations and
Volume21, Number 1
institutions developed during the socialist period,
a "burden of liabilities" that profoundly
influences their postsocialist paths of
development. This hybridization is apparent at
Browar Kostrova as ideologies developed under
socialism are incorporated into its new structure,
particularly in the way workers view the
company's role in the community and their roles
as a participants within the organization.
At Browar Kostrova, institutional
identity was renegotiated around the old brewery
brand, significantly impacting the social
construction of the brewery in the surrounding
community as it fulfills a role as a community
leader not only by providing a stable place of
employment, but also by bringing prestige and
recognition to both its employees and Kostrova
itself. Every bottle of beer Browar Kostrova
produces is an enduring artifact, bearing the
name of the city and acting as an advertisement
for the community. Because of this high profile,
the way the brewery chooses to define itself is
integral to the identity of the community. The
two places are inseparable and each acts
reflexively on the other, shaping the future
through a complex and dynamic dialog that
negotiates new identities based on the common
experience of the community.
Investigating Work Histories
In December 1999, I conducted
intensive fieldwork at Browar Kostrova and indepth
interviews with fourteen of its employees.
These interviews were supplemented by internal
documentation (court records, labor agreements,
organizational charts, etc.), which helped detail
the history and structure of the brewery
referenced by participants during the interviews.
The sample is comprised of twelve men and two
women, a distribution that is typical of Browar
Kostrova's blue-collar "shop-floor" positions.
The "shop-floor" remains an almost exclusively
male world. Most women working at the
Brewery fill white-collar positions in human
resources and accounting or work as support
staff (e.g. assistants and secretaries).
Approximately half of the interviews
represent relatively low-level workers, while the
remainder are members of all levels of
management ranging from mid-level supervisors
to high-level directors. Middle management is
emphasized slightly in the second half of the
sample, but since many of these individuals
began as entry-level workers at the brewery, I
believe they provide an extremely important
perspective of change in the brewery over a long
period of time. Interviews followed a "work
history" format consisting primarily of openended
"descriptive" questions designed to elicit a
narrative of the individual's experience at the
brewery, with the goal of understanding how the
individual views the brewery's social
organization over the history of the institution
and the community, particularly during the time
since the brewery was sold to a private investor.
However, because I was only able to interview
workers that remained after the brewery was
reorganized, this article focuses primarily on
how the brewery's employees are reinventing the
company in the present.
Rethinking the Individual
Central to understanding the
implications of Poland's transformation from
state-sponsored socialism to market capitalism is
the unraveling of how actors in society are
forced to redefine their own personal identities
and the identities of the social groups to which
they belong. These various institutions and
organizations act upon one another and on
individuals, who in turn contribute to the selfdefinition
of the institutions by participating
within their structure. Formed through these
interactions, identity is malleable at all levels and
derived from the summation of many individual
cultural factors, including the dynamics of
modernity, age, technology, and history. Kondo
explains, "Identity is not a fixed 'thing,' it is
negotiated, open, shifting, ambiguous, the result
of culturally available meanings and the openended,
power laden enactments of those
meanings in everyday situations" (1990: 24).
One of the most powerful examples of this
negotiation of identity in contemporary society
occurs when an individual participates within the
institutionalized microculture, power dynamics,
and control structures of a corporation, forming
what Giddens calls a "locale," or a place "within
which systematic aspects of interaction and
social relations are concentrated" (1987: 13).
"The Brewery Older than America"
History weighs heavily in Kostrova, a
town of approximately eighteen thousand people
located in Silesia, a region of southwestern
Poland comprised of gently rolling plains
bordered on the south by the Sudety Mountains
and the Czech Republic. Small shops flank
Kostrova's town square, while the towers of the
two cathedrals and the town hall dominate the
Volume21, Number 1
skyline. The old town section is surrounded by
remnants of the ancient city walls, and Browar
Kostrova owns and occupies remnants of the
town castle. The entire length of the old town,
from the city gate to the castle, is a distance of
about half a mile. Symbolically, the castle and
the brewery represent the community, and the
two are inseparable, even to the point that they
share one name. Browar Kostrova is an ancient
fixture in the community, and on a number of
occasions employees remarked that it was "older
than America" a fact they found amusing given
the brewery's new American ownership. Beer
has been officially brewed at the site
continuously since 1538, but the management of
the brewery claims to have traced historic
documentation of the brewery's existence to
1321.
By owning and partially occupying the
town castle, Browar Kostrova controls the
ultimate symbol in Kostrova for the town's
transition from the "old" to the "new" economy.
Nearly as old as the city charter, the castle has
acted throughout history as the symbol for the
town, signifying the seat of leadership and the
place of protection for the surrounding
countryside. Because of Browar Kostrova's
importance to the community's economy and
identity, this symbolism is easily enlisted in the
brewery's effort to lead Kostrova prosperously
into the market economy. In addition to the
brewery's offices, fourteen families currently
reside within the castle compound, but they will
soon be evicted as it is remodeled as the brewery
President's personal residence, symbolically
representing the loss of communal ideals in the
wake of the individual. This literal
transformation symbolically underscores the
process of collective socialism giving way to
individualistic capitalism. While the castle itself
represents the birth of the city, its renovation
represents the rebirth of the brewery and
community into the new economy.
Communities in Silesia identify directly
with their local breweries. Nearly all of the local
bars, restaurants, and liquor stores in Kostrova
display the bright green Browar Kostrova sign
indicating they sell either draft or bottled Piwo
Kostrova. All manner of Browar Kostrova
promotional items, from posters and calendars to
beer glasses can be seen throughout the town,
keeping the brewery in the forefront of people's
minds (Indeed, when returning late one evening
on the train from Wroclaw, and somewhat
unsure of my location, I knew I was nearing
Kostrova when I saw the Browar Kostrova signs
in the distance). Silesian beers are generally pale
lagers, and over the years have varied widely in
quality. Traditionally, there has been little
interest in other types of beer, but this is
gradually beginning to change. I was told that
people in the mining regions of Silesia drank
"their beer" for generations, even at times when
there was dirt film inside the bottles. While I am
unable verify this story, it gives some indication
of how strongly the people of the region identify
with a particular beer as well as the exceptional
importance of brand loyalty and product image
recognition in an extremely competitive market.
Browar Kostrova produces four main
beers, Light, Full, Strong, and Porter (ranging
from 5.5 percent to 9.5 percent alcohol
respectively), each labeled with a "K" and a
crown. A number of specialty and seasonal beers
are also brewed, such as the 1999 Christmas
beer, Gwiazdka Piwo Ciemne ("Star Beer"), a
beer similar to those brewed in Scandinavia.
Piwo Kostrova is distributed throughout the local
region and in lesser quantities nationally, but
currently has little international presence. As
proof of the national presence of the brewery,
one of the brewery accountants recalled an
anecdote about her son finding a Browar
Kostrova bottle cap in the woods around Poznan,
a city about 150 kilometers north of Kostrova
(171299-12). Any place where a beer bottle is
found is an advertisement for the brewery and
the city, and for better or worse, even litter can
be a form of advertising3. The dynamics of a
distributed product make anecdotes such as this
powerful evidence to brewery employees and
Kostrova residents of the status and prestige of
Browar Kostrova as a national brewery. By
distributing thousands of small pieces of itself,
the brewery literally puts Kostrova on the map in
terms of a broader Polish consciousness and its
residents feel that the beer connotes a
progressive view of the town through beer's
association with a prosperous, young, and
modern middle class. Gradually, this young,
highly educated and socially mobile middle class
is asserting greater influence over Poland's
economy, and their consumption habits have
driven a 39.0% increase in beer production and
32.4% decrease in spirits (primarily vodka)
production between 1995 and 1998(Glowny
Urzad Statystyczny 1999: 438), a change that
represents a symbolic replacing of old Polish
traditions. This trend is expected to continue,
with Polish beer consumption eventually
Volume21, Number 1
reaching a level comparable with Germany, or
about three times its level in 1998.
Paradoxically, the history and traditions
of the brewery are central to the construction of
Piwo Kostrova as a progressive and modern
brand. In the life of the town, virtually nothing
existed before the brewery, imparting on it an
almost mythical quality as a point of origin for
Kostrova, and making the community's entire
history fundamentally tied to the brewery.
Because of its age, the brewery is associated with
an ancient feudal past. Therefore, the imagery
provided by the traditions of the brewery can be
enlisted to "create. . .identities based on rejecting
the immediate past" (Verdery 1999: 52), and can
be deployed as a marketing devices in the market
economy without fear of being associated with
socialism. This strategy is evidenced by two of
Browar Kostrova's specialty beers, "Knight
Beer" and "Castle Beer".
Through its reinvention as a private
capitalist company, the ancient brewery has been
reborn as a youthful business legitimized by the
wisdom of its ancient traditions. Like the rising
middle class, the brewery is coming into its own,
demonstrating its individualism and modernity
through new technology and products. Within
the dichotomy of age versus youth, the old and
new are subtly, yet inseparably, bound together.
Without the experience of its past and the efforts
of its workers in managing it during socialism,
Browar Kostrova would have no history from
which to produce identity within the present.
However, in order to reinvent itself in the
present, the brewery must fully reconstruct its
past. Likewise, without the rising middle class
driving an increase in beer consumption, neither
the brewery nor the older generation that saw it
through the tumult of privatization could
continue to thrive in the new economy. Without
one another, neither generation can survive, and
the two coexist in an uneasy balance. Although
actors in the "new" economy, whether
companies or individuals, may rebel against the
socialist system, and perhaps, in order to achieve
success, they must rebel against that system, it
seems virtually impossible to escape its shadow.
Organizational History
After the end of the socialist system in
1989, all of Poland's breweries remained under
the control of the government until 1994, when it
began to sell them to private investors. At this
time, many breweries, including Browar
Kostrova, were leased to their employees as
workers' companies. The leasing process began
with an estimate of the company's value and a
detailed description of its assets. Workers were
then free to take over control of the brewery and
create a limited liability company. Shares in
Browar Kostrova were distributed amongst the
workers, and the appraised value of the company
was to be repaid with profits from the brewery
over the next ten years at five percent interest.
After fifty percent of the debt was paid, these
leasing payments changed into equity for the
owners (i.e. the workers), at which time the
brewery could be sold at the discretion of the
shareholders to a new investor.
Unfortunately, in 1994 Poland remained
in a severe economic recession and as the
workers quickly ran out of funds for capital
investment they had no means to secure the
amount of money required to modernize and
remain competitive. After it was realized that
outstanding liabilities incurred for investments in
the Marketing Department and general
development could not be met4, two options
became apparent; either accept an investor or
accept more loans. Since the company was
already overextended, banks were reluctant to
extend the required credit to the brewery, placing
the company in a precarious financial position.
According to one manager in the Production
Department, two primary factions formed, one
supporting immediate change through outside
investment, meaning the sale of the brewery, and
one supporting loans. Finally, the banks refused
to make loans available at an interest rate the
brewery could afford and the company was quite
literally forced to choose between life and death,
a choice that produced a crisis point that marked
the beginning of organizational transformation
for the brewery and the renegotiating of its
institutional identity. Before relinquishing their
position as controlling shareholders, the workers
were forced to choose whom they believed could
best lead them in the capitalist economy.
Browar Kostrova was courted by a
series of investors and two firms were quickly
shortlisted, one Polish investment company and
the American Illinois-Poland Investment Group.
On 10 March 1999, Illinois-Poland Investment
Group purchased 100 percent of the shares from
the workers. The sale of the brewery gave the
banks the guarantee they needed, and capital was
again made available to continue the
modernization process. The brewery's legal
status remained the same, a limited liability
company, but Illinois-Poland Investment Group
Volume21, Number 1
provided the brewery with credibility, the first
step in the self-determination process.
Reorganizing the Workforce
After the sale of Browar Kostrova, the
overall workforce was decreased by between
forty and fifty people to 253 employees
organized into a hierarchical system of four
divisions; Sales & Marketing, Finance &
Economics, Production & Maintenance and
General Business. The number of white-collar
jobs doubled with the addition of a "westernstyle"
Sales and Marketing Division. The bluecollar
workers disproportionately shouldered this
"small difference" (141299-2) of a fourteen to
seventeen percent reduction in the workforce.
Furthermore, a total reduction of about fifty
people indicates that more low-level positions
were eliminated to make room for the new
white-collar positions. Blue-collar workers bore
the brunt of the organizational overhaul, as
modern technologies replaced many older
workers. The reasons provided for dismissals
were that fewer workers were needed since
"uneconomical" departments were being closed,
while others were "unqualified" to run new
machines. Instead of training these workers in
the new production processes, management
chose to replace them with younger workers
either from within the company or newly hired.
Thus, in some cases managers explicitly chose
who would be unable to make the transition to
the new system. The difficulty for workers on
the shop floor to understand the reasoning
behind these dismissals was explained by a
maintenance worker, but even he admitted that
not all could be saved.
I observed a rotation in the staff that
didn't make much sense to me. Some of the
workers were dismissed and new ones were
employed in their positions. If there had been a
need to reduce the number of workers it would
have been understandable, but if you dismiss
some workers and employ others in their place
you still have to pay...additional money to those
workers who were dismissed (i.e. severance
pay). So it doesn't make sense. Of course there
were some cases where workers--unqualified
workers--couldn't accept the new situation. [In
this case,] it was somehow understandable. But
still, lots of workers were dismissed (151299-1).
While the Production Department was
shrinking in human terms, the Sales and
Marketing Department was developing,
including the hiring of new sales representatives,
district directors, and regional directors. This
increase in marketing is typical of the
restructuring of a company toward a more
"modern" market system and is considered a
fundamental element in the "new" economy,
especially in the beverage industry.
"Kostrova Will Be Famous"
Resulting from the privatization process
at Browar Kostrova, technological change and
modernization quickly became one way the
brewery defined itself as its own company in
relation to its competitors. The brewery now
operates what it claims are the most advanced
laboratory and bottling facilities in Poland
(151299A-1), with what one accountant
described as "a disciplined staff which has a firm
vision for the direction of the company, and
places an emphasis on modernization" (171299-
1). December 31, 2000 underscored the scale of
the new management's development strategy,
with yearly production reaching roughly six
hundred thousand hectoliters, doubling 1998's
production. Browar Kostrova produces about
three percent of Poland's total beer output of
20,926,000 hectoliters (Glowny Urzad
Statystyczny 1999: 438), making it a mid-sized
brewery in a highly fragmented market.
Production goals for 2000 increased the
brewery's production by about sixty-seven
percent to approximately 1 million hectoliters
per year. Additionally, at the time the worker's
company was created, only about sixty percent
of the brewery's product was bottled in-house
(141299-1). The amount of in-house bottling
gradually increased until recent modernization of
the bottling facility finally drove the figure to
100 percent, making the brewery self-contained
and therefore self-defined. The new management
of the brewery has thus continued the vision for
modernization begun by the workers, who laid
the foundation for the brewery's current success.
Through its association with success in
the market economy, new technology increases
the prestige of the brewery in relation to its
peers, which in turn increases the prestige of
brewery workers and the community. A brewer
proudly asserted, "The brewery is [mentioned]
more often in magazines devoted to the brewing
industry. . .In this way not only the brewery, but
also myself, are being recognized" (141299B-1).
Another maintenance worker explained, "We
used to go to other breweries. . .and we admired
them. . .now other people will come here. . .and
Volume21, Number 1
will admire [us]. Kostrova will be famous in the
country because of the brewery" (141299A-1).
Incorporating technology is a vitally
important contributor to the workers' acceptance
of the new investors. Technology is synonymous
with prestige and success, and the visibility it
brings through media attention enhances prestige
for everyone associated with the brewery, from
its customers to its employees. Technology is
used both to increase the volume and quality of
the beer produced and as an important marketing
tool. At Browar Kostrova, the workers appear to
be satisfied with the brewery's current level of
modernization, finally realized both through new
investments and personal sacrifice by the
workers as a group. Of course, because
technology is constantly progressing, it is
unlikely that the brewery will remain on the
cutting edge indefinitely, and the desire for
prestige must be balanced against pragmatic
concerns of cost efficiency. It is unclear how the
workers will react if the prestige they currently
enjoy gradually fades away, especially when
viewed in terms of how much the
implementation of new technology has actually
cost.
Technology's Catch-22
Although one accountant asserted that
the "brewery is more prestigious now, because it
employs people with high qualifications, and
demands these qualifications" (171299-1), the
cost in human terms of redefining the workforce
is high. Adopting cutting edge technology
precipitates the loss of jobs, especially for many
older workers, making the realization of their
desire for prestige also their downfall. Ironically,
the position of the older workers is being
subverted by the very technological innovations
and social changes they worked so hard to make
a reality. Under the new management, the
modernization of the brewery is no longer
created by the workers collectively, but rather, it
is applied to them individually. New technology
destroys positions for older, less highly trained
workers, while opening positions for young,
technically educated workers. Because this
process occurs at the level of the individual
worker, there is little opportunity for a worker to
change his perceived skill set and social position
within the company. Unfortunately, there is no
viable way around this issue, and those that
remain have little choice but to go forward and
enjoy the benefits even at the cost of their former
coworkers. Most workers seem to accept some
dismissals as an inevitable side effect of the
choice of private ownership, and in the long run
will benefit both the brewery and its employees.
One warehouse worker summed up his opinion
saying, "It's a good way that has been chosen,
but it simply must go forward" (131299-2). In
the case of Browar Kostrova, when it comes
down to the choice between the collective of
one's fellow workers and the individual rewards
of enhanced prestige, it appears that prestige, as
achieved by innovation through technological
modernization, usually wins.
Asserting the Individual
The workers at Browar Kostrova
fiercely assert their individualism and personal
contribution to the whole of the brewery's
organization, especially in response to the
perceived threat of modernization. One
maintenance worker said that while he was once
indispensable, now he sometimes feels useless.
He recalled, "Ten years ago, before going to bed
I asked God that no one would come at night to
ask me to come to the brewery because
something was broken. Now, sometimes I ask
that someone would come and ask me to do
some work." He counterbalanced this statement
with the assertion that "[his] knowledge is quite
vast" and he is still valuable to the brewery
because he can make things work even in poor
conditions. He argued that he helped build the
company, saying, "Nothing would exist without
me"(141299A-1). The brewery workers seem to
share the perception that only through
individualistic action can a person prove his or
her worth in the market system, causing them to
defend their individual part in the past
construction of the brewery as a socialist
company.
The ways in which individuals
experience the change in management at Browar
Kostrova varies widely by the location of a
particular worker in the company, and it appears
the often cited "human understanding" of the
management has been unevenly applied.
Middle-age workers whose retirement is still
distant and workers in positions ranking low in
the company hierarchy see themselves as
particularly vulnerable. Because those who fail
to prove their individual worth in the modernized
brewery are often dismissed, a sense of fear is
pervasive among older workers, who feel their
jobs are constantly in danger. A transportation
worker remarked on his lack of security, "I have
three children. I am 45, but the age limit is 35.
Volume21, Number 1
Everyone asks your age and younger is better"
(131299-2). Age is an overt aspect of nearly
every social interaction, and one key to how an
individual is defined in the social system. Even
a member of management remarked, "I'm over
fifty years old and I cannot say that I feel very
secure because I know that in the present
situation highly educated people are more
valuable--people who know foreign languages. .
.so no, [I don't feel secure]. I don't a have high
education" (141299A-2). Because the young
middle class has made beer an emerging market
in Poland, the success of Browar Kostrova is
fundamentally tied to the success of this group.
Therefore, the social group that drives the
growth of their industry simultaneously erodes
the older generation's power in the "new"
economy, a destruction that is directly linked to
the characteristics of self-determination and
individualism the younger generation is
perceived to possess.
"We are Partners"
Many workers at Browar Kostrova
individually see themselves as participating in a
partnership with management rather than with
their fellow workers. The idea of partnership acts
as powerful force in defining a cooperative
mentality for the company and creates a place
where workers can assert their individual
contribution to the success of the brewery. One
maintenance worker spoke of a partnership
between the management and the union, noting
that the president listened to the union's opinions
and even his own personal opinions. The two are
no longer adversaries, but share a common selfdefinition.
He continued, saying of the union,
"before if a manager did not agree with a
proposal from the union, [the workers] would
take up the flags (union banners) and go out into
the streets, so that the manager was forced to
agree if he wanted them to go on with their work.
Now I think I can put my flags in a museum. .
.the flags are relics now" (141299A-1). The
shared history and knowledge of the workers that
once gave them a common bond and a group
identity is now gone. Flags are only needed to
identify groups, not individual persons, and
should be put away as relics of the old system.
He concludes, "[I am] glad someone treats this
brewery seriously. . .and I can say we are
partners"(141299A-1).
A shipping and warehouse worker
outlined the importance of partnership when
reorganizing Browar Kostrova as a capitalist
company. He explained, "It's a very important
thing for a worker to feel that he is part of a
company, that somehow he not only works for
the company, but also builds it with the
management. [Such a] relationship is very
positive, and it is so here" (131299-2).
Curiously, although they retain no shares in the
company, the brewery workers still see
themselves as owners through this partnership
mentality. The self is viewed as part of the
brewery as a collective entity--a unique
hybridization of socialism and capitalism. One
manager explained, "When working for the
brewery, one identifies with what the company
achieves and works for the success of the
company" (131299-1). These assertions of the
self within the company's achievements indicate
the intersection of personal identity with
commitment to collective goals. A brewer also
demonstrated the binding of personal success to
the success of the brewery saying, "I see a
[successful] future for this brewery, and
somehow I hope the company and I will have
success together" (141299B-2).
At Browar Kostrova, the workers view
themselves as collectively building the company
while also acting as a host for the company in the
community. This atmosphere is extremely
important to the community. One worker
observed that as the transformation from
socialism progressed, "People look after the
town now, people feel the town belongs to them"
(141299A-2). This feeling appears to be
counterintuitive to one's expectation of
socialism. Although socialism promoted public
ownership, it appears that at Browar Kostrova an
individual's personal assertion and self-direction
is a more powerful force. Because Browar
Kostrova's workers identify themselves as
participating in an enterprise that is larger than
they are capable of alone, the goals of socialism
are finally completed through the capitalist
system--a situation that appears to be a unique
creation within their company, as old and new
ideologies are renegotiated and combined to
produce a hybrid social reality.
Part of the feeling of partnership
requires that Browar Kostrova give something
back to its community, a tradition that began
during socialism when companies were overtly
public institutions. Dunn explains the
repositioning of the public Alima Fruit and
Vegetable Processing Company in Rzeszow after
it was purchased and privatized by the Gerber
Volume21, Number 1
baby food company (renaming it Alima-Gerber
S.A.):
People had a livelihood because of Alima, -it
gave them life. It fulfilled
multifunctional roles in meeting social
needs, not only consumer needs, but also
employee and supplier needs. However, as
Alima-Gerber fired managers, laid off shop
floor workers, outsourced jobs, and cut
back agricultural contractors, it was clear
that the firm existed only to fulfill one
function; to make a profit (1998: 122).
The workers at Browar Kostrova worry that the
brewery will end its support of the community in
social terms. One transportation worker
remarked that in order to prosper the brewery
must be integrated with the community. He
suggests the brewery must continue to take a
proactive attitude toward the community,
providing more jobs and more job security
(151299-2). A brewer, who had recently been
hired by the company spoke of the brewery's
place in the community; "a lot of people living in
this region come here because they want to work
for the brewery. [This] means that the company
is respected. . . because it provides jobs, and
people want to work for the brewery" (141299B-
2). Similarly, another young filtration worker
asserted that he "knew where he was going to
work since he was fifteen" and that the Browar
Kostrova sponsored his study at a brewing
school "with great traditions in brewing"
(141299C-2).
Since most employees are from
Kostrova, the brewery provides stability for the
area, but many workers believe its responsibility
goes further. One accountant reflected, "I have a
vision. . .that finally the castle will serve the
people who live here." In one statement she
summed up not only the history of the city, but
also the idea of individualism combined with
socialism. As a symbol of community
leadership, the castle and whomever controls the
resources it represents, whether noble lords, the
socialist government, workers in common, or
finally American businessmen, is responsible as
a community advocate, at least in the eyes of the
population. Furthermore, because of the
brewery's unique ability to export the
community's image to the rest of Poland, this
responsibility weighs especially heavy as it acts
as the voice of a social group much larger than
its own employees. Within this community,
responsibility and idealism from the socialist era
lives on, and its employees judge the brewery
socially and morally against this model, even
though the workers' participation in a capitalist
system provides the new definition of the
company. Gurr remarks of this process,
"Workers [use] the past to critique the present,
by which I do not mean that they [recur] to an
idealized past---they [have] lived through and in
communism and [are] astute critics of
communist practice. . ." (1998: 240). Thus, in
every aspect of evaluating the new economy, the
past is integral to the construction and evaluation
of the quality of the present. This is one legacy
of socialism.
Conclusion
As Browar Kostrova continues to adapt
to the realities of the "new" Polish economy, the
definition of individual and institutional
identities are driven by the interplay between
tensions and dynamics unique to the present state
of Polish society and to the history of its
individual communities and institutions. At
Browar Kostrova, social dynamics, technology,
prestige and organizational structure interact
with tensions produced by the juxtaposition of
age with youth, history with modernity and
collective action with individualism, to produce
an institutional identity delicately balanced
between seemingly contradictory social positions
and formed through the reinvention of the
individual identities of its workers.
Defining identity is not necessarily a
conscious process. It is created and negotiated
by the relationships between individuals and
institutions within the social order of a society,
and the power exchanges involved in these
relationships. New capital investment has
brought technology and considerable prestige to
the brewery, subsequently producing a new
feeling of partnership amongst workers and
management and making social pressure,
modernization and self definition the only
control processes necessary. The worker's desire
for both personal and community success in the
"new" economy makes producing change its
own justification. As a symbol of the
community, the identity of Browar Kostrova as
an institution is fundamentally caught up in the
community's history. Because of the intense
identification of the community with the
brewery, it is viewed as both a community leader
and advocate, and is expected to fulfill
expectations of social responsibility developed
during socialism. As the brewery's financial
Volume21, Number 1
success in the market economy grows, so does
the expectation of its responsibility to its workers
and to the community. Ultimately, the identity
of Browar Kostrova is neither entirely socialist
nor entirely capitalist. Instead, it is a
hybridization of both ideologies. In the "new"
Polish economy the brewery must act as a
capitalist enterprise, but within its community it
is judged by the standards of socialism.
As the Browar Kostrova progresses
through the construction of its new identity,
workers meet the future with hope and
apprehension. One worker spoke wistfully, "It's
going to be alright--It's the only attitude you can
have. This is what I am doing" (131299-2). One
Kostrova resident (not a brewery employee) to
whom I spoke, summed up his view of the
position of Polish workers by quoting the
proverb, "Hope is the mother of fools, but it is
better to have such a mother than none at all."
At the intersection between socialism and
capitalism, the fate of the workers at Browar
Kostrova is unknown, but in the end this fate lies
in the construction of new individuals and new
identities, negotiated by the workers' interaction
with the complex social realities of the brewery
and its community.
Acknowledgments
I would first like to thank my colleagues
in Poland, Bartosz Waszczuk and Magdalena
Podeszwa, without whom this research would
not have been possible. I would also like to thank
Matti Bunzl, Helen Schwartzman, and Lisa Anne
Gurr for their advice and encouragement in
writing this article. This study was funded by a
grant from Northwestern University's College
Scholars Program. The responsibly for any
errors or misinterpretations in this article is my
own.
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