The neoliberal offensive deliberately targeted mass institutions after 1975

Evidence

If the demands of overly entitled citizens represented by strong mass parties had provoked an inflationary spiral and driven states to the precipice of ungovernability, the power of trade unions furnished another target for the neoliberal offensive that gained momentum from the mid-1970s. Faced with sluggish growth and pressure on capital accumulation, businesses unilaterally cancelled the postwar compact. To increase profits, or at least to arrest further decline, required a reduction in the wage share, supposedly artificially maintained by labor “cartels.” If breaking the unions dealt a blow to other institutions, so be it. — Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics, 137