From Capitalism to Utopia – Communist Nationalization of Companies in Central and Eastern Europe
From Capitalism to Utopia – Communist Nationalization of Companies in Central and Eastern Europe

Summary/Abstract: This article gives an inside look on a current research project regarding the history of company law in Central and Eastern Europe. This project has a special focus on a certain company: the Renner Brothers & CO, later on called Dermata, János Herbák, and finally Clujana. But, on the basis of the particular legal history of this business entity, general questions of company law are also addressed: nationalization, privatization, and present-day effects of the historical evolution.After a short overview of the research, the pivotal question raised by the present article is nationalization, or more precisely the need to understand better the legal nature of nationalizations in Central and Eastern Europe in contrast to nationalizations in Western Europe, which took place in a very different economic and political context. Nationalization in Soviet-type regimes was totally different as compared to nationalizations realized in democratic societies. There are certain particularities which differentiate the two kinds of nationalizations, and the purpose of this article is to briefly highlight at least some of these disparities and try to design a precise legal theory of nationalization in Central and Eastern European context.

• Details
• Contents