Conclusion
Comparative history provides an opportunity for scholars to move beyond national boundaries and reflect on their own societies in new light. But such comparisons are not always straightforward. While both Australia and the United States have federal governments, the state played a more coercive role against organized labor and radicals in the United States than in Australia. Several factors softened the impact of the state on labor in Australia: a stronger trade union movement, the formation of labor parties, and a political consensus on regulating industrial relations at least until the 1980s. In the United States, unbridled hostility of large corporations toward organized labor governed state policy. Despite these differences, labor in both countries found political space to promote progressive policies and modify the harsh behavior of governments....