Ends And Odds: The Ravings Of An Old Man by Dave Jaffe. Chapter 11, Part Five.

      Chapter 11. Why Feminism Didn't Lead To Socialism. by Dave Jaffe.




   "The socialist age was coming to an end," Peter Jenkins wrote about the 1970's. In fact Jenkins jumped the gun here because many left wing governments were in power or elected to office in the 1970's. These governments included those in Australia, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and New Zealand. Also revolutionaries took power in places like Ethiopia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Nicaragua and Vietnam. The revolutions in Iran Cambodia and Ethiopia turned into horror stories. Still, large parts of the world did pivot to the left in the 1970's.
      Yet by the 1980's, right wing governments took power in many places. Aided by business groups and their allies governments took to slashing social programs and doling out big tax cuts to the rich. By the 21st century the conservative forces had shifted the politics of the world massively to the right.. Free trade agreements took many rights away from people. For instance Canada lost 600,000 well paying jobs after it signed free trade agreements with the United States and Mexico. The U.S. in turn saw millions of jobs vanish from its industrial sectors.
    By 2018  observers pointed out that the wages of many blue and white collar workers hadn't really gone up since the 1970's. A new expression, namely 'the precariat' entered social science jargon. Here were the young workers who couldn't find decent jobs, slaved away at two or three jobs just to get by, and often in their late 20's still lived with their parent or parents. Others gave up any hope of joining the middle class.
      "I'm planning to move into my car and live in it," said Peter a 40's something British Columbian who had just completed a training course in technical work to. One of his friends was now parked in a station wagon since he couldn't afford to live in an apartment. "The rents are too high," Peter points out , "and he only works eight months a year."
     Yet one thing stood out amidst the governments' wars against social programs and the poorest half or third of society. Right wing governments were not only elected, they were often re-elected. Many working people voted for harsh right wing governments along with the rich and the middle class. Austerity paid off at the polls.
      When in the 1970's, Jackie told Dick  "Capitalism can't survive feminism," she ignored the incredible power of capitalism. The free enterprise system has shown amazing flexibility. The new left of the 1960's and 1970's did achieve some great victories. In the U.S. it helped overthrow the vicious regime of segregation and with some help from the National Liberation Front of Vietnam, it  ended the military draft. All across the world it shook governments up and paved the way for many liberating changes. Yet in the end, the new left couldn't survive the massive counterattack that powerful business groups and their allies launched against it.
   "The left wins the skirmishes," Dick told Jackie. "But the right wins the battles." To some extent Dick was right.