The politics of affluence

1. The politics of affluence Europe in the 1960s & 1970s

2. New Political Science Curriculum Information Meeting 1:00-1:50pm Wednesday, April 1 Room SN-2105 For returning Political Science Honours, Majors and Minors Topics Course renumbering New courses New requirements New prerequisite policy "Grandfathered" status Sample course patterns Questions and answers

3. The new Europe • US actively engaged • Governments actively involved in the management of their economies • With Marshall Plan Aid, currency reforms most European economies recover • Steady economic growth through 1950s • By late 1950s, 1960s many countries approaching full employment • Older conflicts ease – cf. class tensions, religious divisions • Cold war imposes political stability in both east and west

4. The European Project • European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) established 1949-50 • European Economic Community (EEC) & Euratom established 1956 • European project stalls in 1960s – • De Gaulle insists on national veto (empty chair crisis) • Vetoes British membership • Nevertheless: • Tariffs reduced • Framework for discussion in place • Enlargement from 1973 onward • 1970s: • Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) • greater role for European Parliament

6. Organized Europe Western Europe enmeshed in overlapping international organizations: • ECSC (later EEC, then EC, EU) • European Free Trade Association (EFTA) • OEEC (later OECD) • NATO • Western European Union • Council of Europe http://geology.com/world/europe-physical-map.shtml

7. Foreign policy • Britain & France try to carve out international roles • UK via special relationship with the United States • Has its own bomb • France, via independent force du frappe • (after 1958) • But international architecture shaped by the Cold War • Durable rather than shifting alliances • Few neutrals: most countries aligned • European countries are policy-takers rather than policy-makers

8. Domestic politics: From stringency to affluence • Economic miracle in the 1950s: sustained growth in western Europe • Annual growth rates of 5-6% in 1950s & 1960s • Full employment in Northern Europe • Importation of ‘guest workers’ from Mediterranean rim • Growing sense of wellbeing, welfare by early 1960s

9. Social changes: • Urbanization: • Shift from countryside to towns • Towns to cities • Changes in work • Further industrialization, then shift to service sector • Growth in new service sector occupations • Growth in public sector jobs – needed to run expanding welfare states, systems of social protection

10. Religion & social control • Decreasing religiosity • John XXIII, Vatican II & changes in the Roman Catholic Church • Less inclination to instruct from pulpit • Changes in Protestantism? • Diminished social control: • Less inclination to censure television or films • Possibility of divorce opened up • Gradual removal of prohibitions on homosexuality

11. Class differences • Attempts to ensure more equal life chances – e.g. via comprehensive schools • Greater upward mobility – for some • In Northern Europe decreasing sense of deprivation: everyone is better off • UK: differences in speech, social mores continue • France & Italy: sharper tensions, reflecting • late industrialization • strong position of Communist trade unions & Communist parties

12. Changing lifestyles? • Housing • Shopping • Clothing • Blue jeans as a leveler -- blurring of class distinctions • Transportation • Emergence of youth culture • Leisure • Music • Television • Vacations • Broader exposure • Americanization?

13. Political consequences: Competing hypotheses: • An end to ideology: ‘the democratic class struggle’ could go on without apocalyptic ideologies, red flags, May Day parades’ • Post-materialism: those coming of age in affluence & relative security have the freedom to pursue post-material (quality of life) values: • Erst das fressen, dan die morale’

14. Changes in parties & party politics • Centre right takes credit for new prosperity: • British Conservatives, • W. German Christian Democrats, • Gaullists in France • Christian Democrats in Italy • So do Social Democrats

15. Social Democratic parties: • Abandon Marxism, doctrine of inevitable class conflict… • Pragmatic leaders emphasize increasing the pie rather than dividing it • Emphasis on fairness, equality of life-chances • Managing capitalism rather than public ownership • Evident in • Germany: SPD’s Bad Godesberg program • British Labour… • Scandinavia • Netherlands & Belgium

16. But not everyone agrees: • Emergence of left socialist parties in Norway, Denmark, Netherlands… • Reject of strong cold war, pro-NATO orientation of Social Democratic parties, • Insist on reality of class conflict • Yet reject state socialism, Soviet domination • Ongoing divisions in British Labour Party: left demands • Further nationalization of industry • Different foreign policy: • Oppose NATO membership • Demand unilateral disarmament

17. Emergence of new conflicts & tensions • By late 1960s, not only the cold war, but also Viet Nam as a backdrop • Civil rights movement & anti-war protest in the US • Doubts about arms race, Soviet threat • Growing activism, questioning authorities, search for alternate lifestyles: • JUSOs (Young Socialists) in W. Germany • PROVO & dissident groups in the Netherlands • Events of May 1968 in France • Hot Autumn in Italy

18. Events of May 1968 • Begin with demonstrations protesting limits on visiting hours in women’s residences • Spread throughout university system, public institutions, with occupation of buildings • Result in general strike, massive demonstrations, barricades in streets • At height, 10 million of a workforce of 17 m are out on strike or occupying buildings • Economy at a standstill • Counter-demonstrations launched

19. Resolution • De Gaulle and his premier (George Pompidou) initially hesitate • Efforts of the Communist Party, (PCF) to channel or stop the demonstrations • CGT (Communist Union) turns political demands into economic demands • Massive wage increases granted • Protests dissipate when De Gaulle dissolves parliament, calls new elections, blames Communists (‘Party of Fear’)

20. May 1968 in context • Protests, occupations reflect deep-seated grievances • Combine modes and techniques of 1960s (occupations) with modes from French Revolution – barricades in streets • Sufficient to make regime more attentive & responsive – but not completely so • Continued protest potential, though rarely manifests on same scale • Cf. 1990s protests against education reform • Last week’s General Strike

21. The Hot Autumn in Italy • Autumn 1969 • Wave of strikes and demonstrations, some spontaneous • Rapid spread • As in France, a heady political moment, • Long term: • Increased benefits for workers • Increased support for left, especially Communists • Communists nearly brought into government • Civil society begins to assert itself: • 1977 initiative results in a referendum legalizing divorce

22. Was there an end of ideology? • Left and right moved toward each other • Agree on desirability on managed economy and the social protections of the welfare state • But Social Democratic parties retain commitment to socialism, understood as a fairer distribution of wealth • Example: Swedish Social Democratic Party • Left socialist parties remain • Student groups, extra-parliamentary pick up & use fragments of Marxism • e.g. JUSOS in Germany • Red Brigades in Italy, Baader-Meinhof group in Germany

23. Balance sheet • Economic stability • Older conflicts contained • But new ones emerging Nevertheless: • Political stability • Minimal support for extreme politics • Few changes in government: coalitions endure over several elections • A Germany, partitioned • which France tolerate • with which the west could live • that could be integrated into Europe • In which normality could prevail (eventually)