For the US and Germany her thesis can be generally accepted as a tendency, but it is less persuasive in terms of a full explanation. For the US, the first period is the problem. She decides not to cover it because there was no left party. However, this ignores the influence of Henry George’s Progress and Poverty, the progressive movement, the governmental reining in of the robber barons with anti-trust, and the impact of Woodrow Wilson’s two Secretaries of the Treasury, one who averted a financial run at the beginning of World War II withdrawing all their money from the US economy to fight a war by closing the NY Stock Exchange, and the other by establishing the Federal Reserve – both notable economic interventions. That they are not labor or social democratic parties is correct, but that statement applies equally well to the whole history of the Democratic Party. Also, one might want to tip their hat to Eugene Debs running for president. Germany might be less of a problem, but one has to note that having been Nazified in 1933, Germany no longer fits her thesis since Hitler banned and then persecuted left parties.