Labor parties in Western countries are free market capitalists. They aren&#x27;t purists but neither are the parties of business, who use government to aid their constituents and distort marketplaces.<p>For a counter-example, the period of greatest (I think) growth in the &#x27;West&#x27; was the 1950&#x27;s and 60s, when their economies was much more highly regulated, government much more directly involved, and unions much stronger. Since deregulation and anti-union forces ascended in 1980&#x27;s, at least in the U.S. most of the population&#x27;s income has stagnated.