Monetary austerity crushed British trade and union power through unemployment

Evidence

England that operated to drastically defl ate the economy by increasing the interest rate and curtailing credit. Monetary austerity infl icted heavy damage on British trade, especially coal exports: sterling rose against other currencies, making British goods more expensive than those of other countries in world markets. Bad business meant a surge in unemployment, which crushed unions and especially their power to press for social change. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 414

Categorization

• XREF: The causal chain — high interest rates to currency appreciation to export collapse to unemployment to union weakness — is the mechanism undergirding austerity as class weapon. — connects to: Monetary austerity, by raising sterling, crushed British exports and unions — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 414; Austerity-driven unemployment stripped organized labor of its political power in Britain. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 1503; Monetary austerity deliberately manufactures unemployment to compress wages. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention, 284 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Monetary austerity, by raising sterling, crushed British exports and unions #corroborates (0.95) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 414
• Pound revaluation in the 1920s forced down wages through mass unemployment #corroborates (0.90) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1683
• Austerity-driven unemployment stripped organized labor of its political power in Britain. #expands (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1503
• Monetary austerity deliberately manufactures unemployment to compress wages. #expands (0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 284
• Austerity directly reversed wartime gains in workers’ wages and bargaining power #corroborates (0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 80
• The Treasury and Bank of England used monetary austerity to block the miners’ movement #exemplifies (0.80)
• Unemployment functioned as a deliberate political weapon to weaken labor #expands (0.78) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 994
• Monetary austerity deliberately induced recession to discipline workers. #expands (0.78) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 154
• British monetary austerity after 1920 produced an unhealthy quasi-equilibrium for a full decade #expands (0.75) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1731