Popular mobilization and progressive policy making: lessons from World War II price control struggles in the United States

Holding down prices was one of the U.S. government's important economic achievements during World War II. A major reason for its success was that the Office of Price Administration 'deputized' tens of thousands of volunteers to administer and ensure compliance with its system of price control. Diverse class forces and struggles shaped the government's recruitment and use of volunteers, the business offensive that ended their use, and the negative postwar consequences of that defeat for working people. This volunteer experience has continuing relevance for activists involved in contemporary struggles for social transformation.