Over the course of the century's first eight decades, working people fought and bled and died to win new rights and improved conditions. In what seemed no time at all, gains achieved over several generations were torn to shreds. Labor and the liberation movements were losing ground and on the defensive. By the mid-1990s, though, the bosses had pushed so hard that a renaissance of rebellion was inevitable.
Repression seeds fresh revolt.
The 1980s opened with the world economy mired in recession and plagued by double-digit inflation and enormous deficit spending. Internationally, the story was similar. At the same time, the imperialist powers suppressed resistance outside their borders through covert operations and outright invasions from El Salvador to Iran. The ideological accompaniment to this wave of reaction also began in the 1970s. To bury the political, collective, and anti-profiteering sensibilities of the 1960s, TV shows, pop music, and every facet of culture began to promote narcissism, the cult of the individual, and consumerism.