• simplymath@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Also, I need a source about other countries enacting this before the US. In the 1880s, there wasn’t exactly a plethora of Democratic governments anywhere. Germany was a brand new idea and so was Italy. France encompassed parts of Spain and Sweden, which was itself an empire with a military dictator. The UK is still a monarchy with colonies that want to secede (namely Jamaica) and the Netherlands is too. Swedish people didn’t have surnames yet–they adopted the last name of their employer.

    Eastern Europe had serfdom and antisemitic laws were the norm.

    I would totally believe the UK got it first, but not without a mass mobilization of working class people.

    Seriously, what are you talking about?

    • nonailsleft@lemm.ee
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      6 days ago

      Well, the US only enacted it in 1937

      So I only have basically all of Europe off the top of my head

      • simplymath@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        Right. So it was a 50 year long struggle led by the working class and groups like the Wobblies and your solution is to vote harder?

        To what extent can we credit colonial nations like Portugal and the UK and the Netherlands for extending this right exclusively to white people with political capital?

        Is it really a “pass” if the comfort of the homeland was predicated on slavery and/or empire elsewhere?