WWI mobilization taught British workers society could change, prompting austerity’s backlash.

Evidence

Th e British workers had fueled the nation’s war eff ort, and in the course of the wartime mobilization became aware that socioeconomic relations were no natural givens and could be diff erent. By imposing austerity measures aft er the war, the British government eff ectively told its working classes to return to the back of the line. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 42

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: World War I’s state interventions emboldened workers to reject a return to capitalism — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 455; Post-WWI austerity was deployed to block moves toward economic democracy. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention, 161; Austerity was designed to reverse workers’ revolutionary wartime and postwar gains — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 654 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Austerity was designed to reverse workers’ revolutionary wartime and postwar gains #expands (0.88) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 654
• World War I’s state interventions emboldened workers to reject a return to capitalism #qualifies (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 455
• Austerity originated after World War I as a counteroffensive against working-class unrest #corroborates (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 28
• Post-WWI austerity was deployed to block moves toward economic democracy. #contradicts (0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 161
• Interwar austerity crushed class-based activism in Britain and Italy. #expands (0.78) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1549
• Capitalism’s 1918-20 crisis triggered austerity as a counterrevolutionary reaction. #corroborates (0.75) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 115