World War I shattered working-class belief that capitalism was immovable.

Evidence

Put simply: the new, historic conditions of the war eff ort and the interwar period allowed citizens, especially those in the working class, to see that society could be diff erent. Th e selfrationalizations of the system were breaking down, and with their deterioration came proposals for radical alternatives that could overcome them. … In aggregate, these workers demanded an overhaul of their economies, a replacement for the capitalist industrial system that moved toward a new social order in which associations of workers would control industries, either partially or completely. … In this sense, emancipated work would replace capitalist exploitation, and public service and production for use would replace production for profi t. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 112

Categorization

• XREF: Directly connects to the reader’s stated goal of understanding austerity as a class weapon and its reaction to labor radicalism; echoes foundation of interwar Britain/Italy labor studies. — connects to: Interwar workers rejected the commodification of their labor outright. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 377; World War I’s state interventions emboldened workers to reject a return to capitalism — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 455; After World War I most Europeans regarded capitalism’s abolition as imminent — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 31 (+6 more)
• SEED: Angle: how wartime rupture, not peacetime reform, is what persuades populations that societies CAN be different — a lesson for modern austerity politics.

Broader Connections

• World War I destroyed faith in progress, evolution, and continuity with history. #corroborates (0.85) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 1766
• World War I proved production relations could be deliberately changed #expands (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 174