The 1920 depression fragmented union solidarity into defensive per-industry retreat

Evidence

By that time, workers found little hope in fi ghting back. In March 1920 the end of the economic boom sounded a death knell for the miners’ political power. Indeed, as Cole recalls, priorities changed: “Trade Unions were more concerned with looking to their own defenses, industry by industry, in face of the threatened depression than with supporting the miners or any other section in essentially socialistic demands” (Cole 1958, 419). — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 412

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s broad interest in how austerity depressions discipline labor — here via dissipating solidarity rather than direct coercion. — connects to: The 1920 factory occupations were a defensive employer-imposed confrontation — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 104; English nationalism displaced international class solidarity among workers after 1850. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 265; Workers’ control of industry climaxed as a core demand in 1919-1920 — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 382 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• The 1920 factory occupations were a defensive employer-imposed confrontation #responds-to (0.80) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 104
• English nationalism displaced international class solidarity among workers after 1850. #exemplifies (0.75) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 265