class war redux?

[Brad De Long]

>MScoleman at aol.com wrote: "Which, all raises an interesting question ...
>is it actually easier to raise class consciousness in good times
>than in bad?"
>
>There must be some reasonably well done histories that explore this. But
>I think it is at least possible that almost *all* great mass struggles
>and/or revolutions have occurred in periods of "rising expectations."
>Falling expectations or increasing misery, on the other hand, tend to
>have an individualising impact, and thus tend to dampen mass activism.
>
>I think one possible area of research on this is the period in the U.S.
>from 1970-80; There is a coincidence (which by itself establishes
>nothing) between the falling economic and personal expectations after
>the 1974 slump and the steady shrinking of left activity during the same
>decade.
>
>Carrol

Or western Europe between 1945 and 1973, the golden age of social democracy...

Brad DeLong