Commentary
Those entering the business world after World War II inherited the most promising economic conditions since the early years of the “Roaring Twenties.”
Entrepreneurs and working class members of the “boomer” generation thrived on the economic and political liberty that their parents and grandparents had fought hard to rescue.
But, by the latter years of the 1970s, a revival of depression era socialist policies had considerably diminished the post-war liberty dividend. Western democracies found themselves in another period of uncertain destiny. Left-wing parties were becoming powerful factors in the political landscape, and post-war prosperity was interrupted by “stagflation.”
European Marxists developed a theory of social and economic transformation referred to as Eurocommunism. They sought to reduce the stigma of their affection for the Soviet Union by developing a communist movement that was more appealing in the nations of the West. This trend was especially prominent in Italy, Spain, and France, but it also drifted into the zeitgeist of Fabian circles throughout the English “Commonwealth of Nations” and the United States.
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