Austerity coerced workers through the twin motto of working more and consuming less.

Evidence

Th e coercion of workers was clear in the motto of austerity that was formulated at two pivotal international fi nancial conferences, in Brussels (1920) and in Genoa (1922): “work more, consume less.” Th e capitalist states and their economic experts secured capital accumulation through policies that imposed the “proper” (i.e., classappropriate) behavior on the majority of their citizens. Th e three forms of austerity policies— fi scal, monetary, and industrial— worked in unison to disarm the working classes and exert downward pressure on wages. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 586

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines austerity’s core as the coercion slogan ‘work more, consume less’ coined at the Brussels and Genoa financial conferences.
• XREF: The three-forms taxonomy (fiscal, monetary, industrial austerity) recurs throughout Mattei’s argument and will structure the second part of this book. — connects to: Monetary technocrats framed austerity as requiring both worker discipline and reduced consumption — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 716; Monetary austerity deliberately induced recession to discipline workers. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention, 154; Austerity deliberately targeted working-class consumption of even basic goods — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 716 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Monetary technocrats framed austerity as requiring both worker discipline and reduced consumption #expands (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 716
• Monetary austerity deliberately induced recession to discipline workers. #corroborates (0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 154
• Monetary austerity deliberately aimed to rein in workers’ purchasing power #corroborates (0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 757
• Austerity rhetoric demanded whole nations work, live, and save harder. #expands (0.80)
• Austerity deliberately targeted working-class consumption of even basic goods #expands (0.75) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 716