After World War I most Europeans regarded capitalism’s abolition as imminent

Evidence

For most people living in these countries during and aft er the war, whether they feared or hoped for it, the abolition of capitalism loomed as the imminent outcome of the war’s devastations and its showcasing of state economic planning. In the words of Willi Gallacher, the British shop steward leader, “the order of industry, which previous to the war seemed destined to last forever, is now tottering in every country of the world.” — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 31

Categorization

• CANDY: The Gallacher quote — ‘the order of industry…now tottering in every country’ — is a vivid, self-contained period quotation worth deploying in conversation or writing.
• XREF: connects to: Most early nineteenth-century Europeans opposed limitless capitalist expansion — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 233; World War I shattered working-class belief that capitalism was immovable. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 112; Post-war Europeans could rationally hold communism a plausible project despite its acknowledged difficulty — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 768 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• World War I shattered working-class belief that capitalism was immovable. #expands (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 112
• Post-war Europeans could rationally hold communism a plausible project despite its acknowledged difficulty #corroborates (0.82) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 768
• Most early nineteenth-century Europeans opposed limitless capitalist expansion #corroborates (0.78) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 233
• Austerity originated after World War I as a counteroffensive against working-class unrest #contradicts (0.72) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 28