The Soviet collapse doubled global wage labor and decisively ended the postwar capital-labor compact

Evidence

A new era had begun. The post-war détente between capital and labour was now in its death throes. The final straw came in 1991, with the demise of the Soviet Union. Thereafter Russia and more importantly China voluntarily inducted themselves into globalised capitalism. Two billion low-waged workers entered the Minotaur’s realm. Western wages stagnated further. Profits swelled. The torrent of capital rushing to America to nourish the beast grew into a tsunami. — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 201

Categorization

• XREF: Two billion workers entering global capitalism prefigures the platform era’s levelling of labor power that technofeudalism later exploits. — connects to: The collapse of the Soviet Union also ended the social democratic mixed-economy ideal. — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 106; Financialization may erode the postwar capital-labor social pact — Greta R. Krippner, The Financialization of the American…, 142; Postwar austerity deliberately collapsed the wage share to crush egalitarian expectations. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 1471

Broader Connections

• The collapse of the Soviet Union also ended the social democratic mixed-economy ideal. #expands (0.78) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 106
• Financialization may erode the postwar capital-labor social pact #complicates (0.75) — Greta R. Krippner, The Financialization of the American…, 142
• Postwar austerity deliberately collapsed the wage share to crush egalitarian expectations. #qualifies (0.72) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1471