The downfall of the bureaucratic societies constituted the predictable end result of a long process of degeneration of the workers' States. The latter had such disastrous balance sheets, their social acquisitions seemed to be so little worth defending, that the road of capitalist restoration appeared to be the easiest one. This unchallengeable historical rerdict will probably be completed, once time has gone by, with another aspect: the threat of revolutions in Europe in the post-war period and then in the Third World during the following decades, will undoubtedly have constituted an important element in the implementation of components that made up a better regulated capitalism which, in particular, was able to guarantee full employment in the advanced countries. But now, everything is proceeding as if the failure of the supposed alternatives, whether bureaucratic or reformist, has left the field wide-open for the regressive functioning of contemporary capitalism. 3.4 THE DECLINE OF THE WELFARE STATE
The progressive dismantling of what could be called the Welfare State is one of the primary objectives of the neo-liberal offensive. Potentially, all the elements of the codification and socialization of the wage relationship are up tor grabs today.
This does not mean that this oftensive is advancing without running inte