State discipline, not wages, resolved wartime labor scarcity for capital

Evidence

World War I shifted the power relations between capital and labor. Just as wartime production was increasing, conscription and voluntary enlistment depleted the reserve army of labor. If this were left to the dynamics of competition to attract workers, capitalists would have had to bid up wages to levels that were incompatible with “national goals” of intensified capital accumulation. At that point, the state had to intervene. Increasing productivity primarily meant disciplining the workers. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 171

Categorization

• XREF: Mirrors Milgrom’s account of institutions solving information problems, here extended to labor-market discipline. — connects to: War-induced labor scarcity forced state intervention to discipline workers — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 171; Government wartime economic policy revealed state as instrument of class domination — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 204; State wartime intervention fused economic and political labor struggles. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 374 (+3 more)