Early neoliberals condemned union power as coercive while endorsing corporate concentration.

Evidence

In the 1950s, the FEE devoted its efforts to discredit New Deal liberalism and to undermine the power and legitimacy of organized labor (Fones-Wolf 1994, 8; Jacoby 1997, 232, 242; 326–327n.17). During this period, Vernon Watts participated in this campaign by publishing articles and pamphlets, most notably a bitter critique of unions (Watts 1954). In 1947, Watts ardently testified that “concentrations of economic power [are] necessary for incentive purposes” in case of capitalist firms, but interestingly, not for unions. The reason for the differential, wrote Watts, was that the unions have imposed their power by using legalized violence. As for Machlup, dismantling large unions was a matter of neoliberal necessity. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 970

Categorization

• QUESTION: This asymmetric treatment of corporate vs. union power is a striking tension in early neoliberal thought worth examining further.
• XREF: connects to: Early neoliberals saw large unions as monopoly threats distorting wages — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 968; Neoliberalism reversed classical liberalism’s suspicion of monopoly and corporate power. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 2133

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism reversed classical liberalism’s suspicion of monopoly and corporate power. #expands (0.85) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2133