Austerity was designed to force working-class abstinence after wartime sacrifice faded

Evidence

Against this “relaxation” of spirit, Hawtrey, Niemeyer, and Blackett espoused economic policies that would directly impose abstinence on the working classes, thwarting any unwillingness to sacrifi ce. Fiscal, industrial, and monetary austerity served exactly this purpose. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 909

Categorization

• DEFINE: Names the core thesis: austerity is an instrument to coerce the working class when voluntary sacrifice fails.
• DEEPTHINKING: This is the load-bearing thesis of the book — austerity as class coercion rather than sound finance — stated in one closing summary.
• XREF: connects to: Austerity originated after World War I as a counteroffensive against working-class unrest — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 28; Austerity’s architects aimed to convert wartime sacrifice into a permanent universal norm — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 898; Monetary austerity deliberately induced recession to discipline workers. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention, 154 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Monetary austerity deliberately induced recession to discipline workers. #expands (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 154
• Austerity’s core purpose is to deepen workers’ dependence on wage labor #corroborates (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 145
• Austerity policies function to silence working class economic demands #expands (0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 774
• Austerity structurally dismantled the workers’ movement and its economic alternatives #corroborates (0.75) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 654
• Austerity’s architects aimed to convert wartime sacrifice into a permanent universal norm #qualifies (0.72) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 898
• Austerity frames national crisis as requiring patriotic individual sacrifice in frugality and labor #exemplifies (0.72) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 803
• War-induced labor scarcity forced state intervention to discipline workers #expands (0.72) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 171