La Europa Oscura

In those days no one knew what (time) was moving towards. Nor could anyone quite distinguish between what was above and below, between what was forwards and what backwards.

In therethinking of democracy that took place during the Second World War, the political-forms of liberal parliamentarism were suplemented by a new commitment to social provision. The golden Agethat followed was less collectivist than most wartime thinkers had flowering in the 1950's of consevative individualism and economic growth through regulated capitalism. The socialcontract which grew out of this dual reform of capitalism and democracy evolved over twenty-five years. It was influenced rather less by the Cold War and rahet more by popular aspirations,historical memories of inter-war failure, and economic performance. It rested, above all, upon the twin achievements of full employment and growth. Full employment brought in the tax revenuesto finance the burgeoning welfare state; growth allowed gains in living standards to be shared out across the board. Upon these bases, the democratic nation-state was built anew. But inthe early 1970's this remarkable period in European history- a time of extraordinary political stability compared with preceding decades-suddenly came to an end. A sense of crisis andmalaise gripped the West, and tensions between labour and capital resurfaced with a new intensity. The oil shocks revealed European capitalism's vulnerability to the outside world. Growthwas no longer seen as an unmitigated good, and its environmental dangers were spotlighted. Full employment became a memory, and neo-liberal economics came back into vogue.
Someintellectuals were quick to find evidence of a crisis of "post-modernity", and certainly the contrast with the buoyant property of the 1950s and 1960s was striking.

(dark continent, Mark)