Christian Stewardship
23-06-2004, 21:20
I came across a Mexican political cartoon last weekend that expressed an idea I had never considered before. Basically, it suggests that the labor protections enjoyed by workers in the West (things like higher pay, the right to organize, the right to strike, safe working conditions, retirement benefits, workers’ comp insurance, the eight-hour workday, etc.) were granted only because of the fear and panic among the leaders of Capitalist countries after the Russian revolution and the failure of the West’s early attempts to overthrow the Communist government there.
After just a real quick look at a few labor history timelines it seems to me that there is a correlation between the rise and strength of the USSR and the strength and success of the labor movement. Similarly, when it became clear to Western intelligence services in the late 1970's that the USSR was a hollow shell and would soon disintegrate, government policy began to regress in worker protection.
By no means am I trying to give support to Communism, or especially to the USSR here. I'm just curious: what does everyone think about the idea that improvements in working conditions and compensation in the West in the mid-20th century were not really a rejection of the social darwinism that ruled the 19th and early-20th centuries but were only concessions made in the face of the threat of non-cooperation or even revolution among their own workforces, a threat which is now severely diminished if not completely gone? And what does that now say for the future of workers?
After just a real quick look at a few labor history timelines it seems to me that there is a correlation between the rise and strength of the USSR and the strength and success of the labor movement. Similarly, when it became clear to Western intelligence services in the late 1970's that the USSR was a hollow shell and would soon disintegrate, government policy began to regress in worker protection.
By no means am I trying to give support to Communism, or especially to the USSR here. I'm just curious: what does everyone think about the idea that improvements in working conditions and compensation in the West in the mid-20th century were not really a rejection of the social darwinism that ruled the 19th and early-20th centuries but were only concessions made in the face of the threat of non-cooperation or even revolution among their own workforces, a threat which is now severely diminished if not completely gone? And what does that now say for the future of workers?