Samoupravni preobražaj kulture koji se temeljio na ustavnim i zakonskim promjenama prihvaćenim sredinom 70-ih godina XX. stoljeća značio je među ostalim i odbacivanje sintagme „kultura radnicima” kao ostatka prosvjetiteljsko-edukativne kulturne politike ranoga socijalizma. Novi kulturni smjer trebao je označiti povratak izvornim marksističkim idejama, iz kojih je kultura proizlazila kao sredstvo i način života te omogućavala radnikovo intelektualno ostvarenje u borbi protiv otuđenoga rada. Radne organizacije trebale su postati i kulturne organizacije u kojima je radnik trebao ostvariti sve svoje potrebe, koje su uključivale kreativno i umjetničko stvaralaštvo, konzumiranje vrhunske kulture i umjetnosti, ali i solidarnost, jednakost i dobre međusobne odnose. Na primjeru brodogradilišta Uljanik u Puli i tvornice turbina Jugoturbina u Karlovcu, kao dvaju industrijskih divova i centara društvenoga života u svojim općinama, analizira se primjena kulturne teorije jugoslavenskoga samoupravnog socijalizma i nove kulturne politike 70-ih i 80-ih godina. Self-managerial transformation of culture was based on constitutional and legislative changes which happened in socialist Yugoslavia in the mid-1970s as a need for further advancement of self-management in the state. One of the results was the rejection of the, until then, popular phrase „Culture to the workers!” as a relict of outdated enlightening-educative cultural practices, which were widespread in the period of early socialism. New cultural policies were a symbol of turning back to the original Marx’s and Lenin’s writings. In that way, culture was now seen as a mean and way of life, and not only traditional cultural and artistic practices. It was supposed to help workers to overcome the alienation of their work and turn the working place into cultural space as well. There, workers could and should be able to satisfy all their needs: for the consumption of high culture and arts, for creative and artistic self-expression, but also to practice the ideas of solidary, equality and interpersonal relations as basis of self-managerial culture. This paper focuses on comparison of two case studies: Uljanik shipyard in Pula and Jugoturbina turbine factory in Karlovac. They were both industrial giants and economic and social centres of their municipalities, but also had wider, regional importance. Through the analysis of the factory newspapers and reports on cultural changes, successes and failures in the 1970s and 1980s, this paper aims to find out how applicable cultural theories created by Yugoslav intellectuals and cultural policies were.