Postwar social democracy rested on perpetual growth between capital and labor

Evidence

In the post-war period a fragile equilibrium was built between the two warring social factions. Since the nineteenth century, both had engaged in protracted and continuous trench warfare—a war to which fascism provided the bloodiest solution. A more careful integration was agreed on in the aftermath of World War II. Capital had to agree to distribute part of its profits back into state coffers, which would fund working-class consumption. Radical working classes would not meddle with property rights and would leave the ruling class to rule. An intricate list of pacifying civil institutions was set up, from trade unions to mass parties, which sought to make sure that capitalism would grow for, and not against, the working classes. As ever, the presupposition was that the system would deliver perpetual growth—there would always be a bigger and bigger pie to share. By 1968, cracks were appearing in this compact, with industrial workers and young students pining for a jailbreak from the post-war settlement. By 1973, however, the industrial growth motor itself was sputtering: a series of oil shocks hit European economies, which were already suffering from declining profit rates. — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment, 127

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The trade of working-class consumption for property rights—and the whole system’s dependence on a bigger pie, a presupposition that quietly died in the 1970s—is dense enough to sit with for a while.
• XREF: connects to: Postwar democratic regimes nonetheless rested on party states and empowered workers — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment: The Left After the…, 136; All capitalist growth rests on a gap between wages and value created — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity: An…, 1137; Democracy in America and Britain grew from capital-labor reciprocities surveillance capitalism abandons — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1594 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Postwar American capitalism embedded corporations in stabilizing labor institutions #exemplifies (0.85) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1590
• Financialization may erode the postwar capital-labor social pact #qualifies (0.82) — Greta R. Krippner, The Financialization of the American…, 142
• All capitalist growth rests on a gap between wages and value created #expands (0.80) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 1137
• Democracy in America and Britain grew from capital-labor reciprocities surveillance capitalism abandons #corroborates (0.80) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1594
• Postwar worker demands and state reformist concessions drove each other in an escalating spiral #expands (0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 223
• Postwar democratic regimes nonetheless rested on party states and empowered workers #expands (0.75) — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment, 136
• Social democracy collapses when no one represents the labouring side #contradicts (0.70) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 674