the result, union membership peaked in 1945 at 33%, up from 2.7% at the turn of the 20th century and remained high throughout the 1950s and '60s. under pre-new deal conditions, the asset will-less went along -- assetless went along to survive or to pitch ballots against bosses that that sometimes threatened stability. post-new deal, they could challenge mass political parties. in a way, this model made explicit what ordinary people already knew, that economic life involves coercion. but it also gave them a measure of power to negotiate the coercion to which they have the long been subjected. restoring political exchange capitalism then foremost requires boosting union density, the share of the labor force belonging to labor organizations. today that figure has sunk to 6% in the private economy following the long decline that began, as yous know, in the 1970s. now, apologists for the current state of affairs claim that this is because unions have lost their luster among employees or because automation and globalization shifted manufacturing out of the united states. yet organized labo