War-induced labor scarcity forced state intervention to discipline workers

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: Direct application of Marx’s reserve-army-of-labor mechanism; connects to how austerity wages depend on unemployment discipline. — connects to: State discipline, not wages, resolved wartime labor scarcity for capital — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention, 171; State wartime intervention fused economic and political labor struggles. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 374; Wartime labor-mobility restrictions functioned as wage caps against workers’ enhanced bargaining power. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 176 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Government discipline replaced bosses in raising exploitation rates during war #corroborates (0.92) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 173
• State discipline, not wages, resolved wartime labor scarcity for capital #corroborates (0.88) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 171
• State wartime intervention fused economic and political labor struggles. #expands (0.82) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 374
• Wartime labor-mobility restrictions functioned as wage caps against workers’ enhanced bargaining power. #expands (0.78) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 176