Welfare states were created as revolution insurance, not capitalist benevolence

Evidence

Their only answer has been the strategy of austerity, which in large part has been based on a historical forgetting of why the welfare state was introduced. It was introduced not out of the kindness and largesse of the capitalists, but as “revolution insurance”, so that widespread discontent did not spill over into revolution. They have forgotten that, and as a consequence they think they can keep pulling away those social safety nets without any problem. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1675

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Relevant to the reader’s interests in how elites stabilize stratified societies through prophylaxis rather than charity — parallel to the sacrifice essay’s logic of stabilizing structures.
• XREF: connects to: The Welfare State functions as capital’s flexible adjustment mechanism, not labor’s victory — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the…, 205; The welfare state functioned as revolution insurance now being forgotten. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1675; The welfare state originated as an insurance policy against revolution — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1993

Broader Connections

• The welfare state functioned as revolution insurance now being forgotten. #corroborates (0.90) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1675