Are you sure? From the perspective of the worker / peasant, we’re working way more hours and days currently than ever in history.
All the gains of automation have been sacrificed on the altar of increased ‘productivity’ so a very few can have numbers go up in an account.
NaibofTabr raises the point that war is not as constant, but it was seasonal then, now it is year long, and for the last 20+ years the world has never been at peace, with ever more destructive weapons.
You can point to the rise of science and medicine and claim capitalism did that, but you can just as easily claim that was the work of well minded individuals, then claimed by capitalists.
Standard of living has increased, but is that due to capitalism or the rise of population and the wealth of ideas that comes with it?
It is far from clear.
That article is interesting, but I wish it covered more than the UK and the US and a particular set of working conditions. In the US for example, slaves were forced to work from dawn until dusk, giving them 14-hour workdays in the Summer. I have no idea what workdays looked like in China, India, or outside of the period of history prior to the industrial revolution, but I would suspect the amount of exploitation varied widely even within the narrow times and places we have historical access to.
Some things also got worse.
We used to have christmas riots (Link to a YT video)
Any probably many more things.
One thing I think people forget, or were never taught in school, is that there was a time period (like, hundreds of years) when European imperialist nations went to war every summer. After the winter cold passed, and the ground dried up from the spring rains and snow melt, the armies marched. Mercenaries were a part of every serious national military, it was a common profession, alongside regularly practiced conscription. Destruction and death was an annual event for civilians, basically from the end of the Pax Romana until the end of the Napoleonic wars.
Capitalism (coupled to industrialism) tied the wealth of nations to their productivity more than hoarded treasures or even land. Destroying a nation’s infrastructure, and killing its people, damaged its value, possibly irreparably. Going to war became expensive, and less rewarding.
Reality is more complicated, of course, and there were a lot of other factors. The global market also created other avenues for the wealthy and powerful to exercise greed. Economic conquest was a practical substitute for military conquest. The relatively long periods without widespread international warfare are a historical anomaly.
All of that sounds like I’m praising capitalism, and that’s not the point. My point is, I agree, capitalism was an improvement over the way things were before, maybe moreso than people realize in the present. Capitalism isn’t good, but it was a step on the path out of rampant violence - but only a step, not the end of the path.
