It improved in spite of them, not because of them. Worker organizing and direct action is the stick that forces governments to occasionally go against their capitalist overlords
While that certainly is a factor contributing to levelling the power between different entities within the country and hence ensuring overal benefit from the economic development, it seems a bit farfetched and romantisised to attribute the improvement entirely to organised workers.
Plus, more importantly, if it really were true what the commenter wrote, that conservative politicians lead to far right parties, why did it take almost 50 years of conservative rule for it to happen? We see a rise in far right parties all over the world and irrespective of them having a conservative government. Take fairly liberal countries with a strong welfare state such as Denmark or Sweden. What about the Netherlands? They are also part of the current shift towards rightwing populism, so an explanation like “must be conservatives” seems a bit too simplified to me.
While that certainly is a factor contributing to levelling the power between different entities within the country and hence ensuring overal benefit from the economic development, it seems a bit farfetched and romantisised to attribute the improvement entirely to organised workers.
Plus, more importantly, if it really were true what the commenter wrote, that conservative politicians lead to far right parties, why did it take almost 50 years of conservative rule for it to happen? We see a rise in far right parties all over the world and irrespective of them having a conservative government. Take fairly liberal countries with a strong welfare state such as Denmark or Sweden. What about the Netherlands? They are also part of the current shift towards rightwing populism, so an explanation like “must be conservatives” seems a bit too simplified to me.