As the inflationary boom gathered pace the anxiety caused by a surging cost of living was palpable. Rising prices threatened real wages and drove workers into the ranks of the trade unions. In 1919 and 1920 the French government was confronted with huge May Day strikes and threats of a general strike. In Italy the summer of 1919 ushered in a Biennio Rosso. On 30 August 1919 the Japanese Trade Union Congress was born under the sign of international progressivism.
