This is a historical-comparative case study of labor activism and changes in industrial relations in the coal mining industries of the United States, Great Britain and Poland. This research addresses the debate between system- and action-oriented approaches to social change by analyzing the adequacy of two explanations--structuralist and relational--for processes of centralization and decentralization of industrial organization. More specifically, the present research examines the adequacy of the structuralist's assertion about the structurally predetermined, divergent nature of industrial change occurring in capitalist and socialist systems. Alternatively, I suggest that the relational perspective which focuses on interactions of agency and structure and postulates a bottom-up approach to the transformation of industrial relations provides a more nuanced understanding of the processes of organizational change across national and historical boundaries. Based on this study's findings, I conclude by stating limitations of the structuralist perspective and outlining directions for future research. / Ph. D.