It's already creeping its way into government and the Labour Party
that's ruling England between 1974 and 1979
and in the coalition that will take charge in France in 1981.
But for better or worse, the cause of democratic socialism
became powerfully identified with the cause of the power of unions--
unions like the one that had caused Ted Heath's U-turn in Britain in 1972,
unions like
the National Union of Mineworkers, paralyzing Britain with a
strike to shut down the coal fields when new Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher, at the end of 1970s, said she
would take them on and close those fields if necessary.
It was Thatcher versus Scargill, versus the head of the unions.
The public had to decide, which side are you on?
On the side of the striking miners,
or on the side of the conservative Prime Minister?
From the union perspective, they had a lot to argue about.
The Great Inflation was hitting their workers hard.
The unions are pushing hard for wages to keep up with inflation.
But from Thatcher's perspective, the only way to combat the inflation will
be to make some very painful decisions that the unions will reject.
The British public had to take sides.
The majority of the British public
end up taking sides with Thatcher.
Another facet of the democratic socialism was the surge in popularity
of the Communist Party in Italy and the Communist Party in Spain.