After World War II, the unionized autoworkers earned enough money and benefits so they could claim they were in the middle class. However, they had to fight against the bosses (labor wars) right from the start, circa the 1920s, namely, Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, and others. As the wheels of capitalism ground forward into the neoliberal phase, the bosses were back in charge. Detroit, MI–called the Motor City–is the best example of these occurrences. Milwaukee, WI is another city that was famous for making many things–not just beer! Many old-timers have told me that after WW II, a person could “quit a job in the morning and have a better one in the afternoon.” Many persons from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula went down to Milwaukee and other Wisconsin towns and cities to have union protected jobs.

I see this comparatively fair and progressive period within the volatile history of national and global capitalisms. The Western democracies’ governments had gone through a very difficult time, during the 1930s Depression, and WWII. The businesses’“big-shots” in the US were not able to be aggressive as they were before. Most of the American people wanted to have changes that would make their lives secure. The men and women had some power because of their war service. Moreover, the Western “democracies” faced the Soviet Union’s power in Eastern and, even Central Europe.