It's pretty well known that European countries have better labor conditions than the United States. But I've seen it said that the reason behind this was because the soviet union was next door and to prevent communism the labor conditions were made better.
In lenins imperialism the highest stage of capitalism he claimed an English men once said that if they don't begin exploiting labor overseas, the workers will revolt.
Now I'm told by liberals that the soviet union had horrible working conditions and that all communism is is when the capitalist class is replaced by the government. I took this as liberal propaganda though.
I wanted to know if the increased living conditions of Europeans was actually influenced by the communist bloc being at its doorstep. Or if this is just speculation.