Unionization doubled to 40 percent of Britain’s working population by 1920

Evidence

In Britain, the industrial capital of the world, between 1914 and 1918 trade union membership rose from 4 million people to 6.5 million people, and eventually reached a record fi gure of almost 8.4 million in 1920. In just six years, unionization had doubled: 40 percent of the total working population joined the unions. In Italy, the escalation was just as impressive. Th e thrust of trade unionism into the urban and rural proletariat escalated like never before: almost 3.8 million workers— fi ve times the prewar total— participated in organized labor protests. What’s more, the socialist workers’ federation surpassed all others in popularity. Th e CGdL grew impressively: in just the two postwar years participation climbed eightfold, reaching 2 million members by 1920. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 349

Categorization

• XREF: These explosive unionization numbers supply the material basis for the austerity-as-reaction thesis — connects directly to the reader’s foundational argument that austerity is ruling-class retaliation against labor strength.