The domestic labor movements across the US were heavily inspired by the recent successes of the Bolsheviks, and the capitalists were terrified of the same repression the workers bestowed upon them in Russia happening across the US Empire as well. The Russian Revolution fundamentally changed the entirety of labor struggles around the world.

The Gilded/railroad barron age, did create a progressive movement in US that would eventually lead to income tax in 1913. Global leftists breathed/shared the same air. 1929 stock market crash wiped out republican representation, leading to new deal. Nazis took back control of supreme court to block progressive legislation until the 1960s. Though GI bill was republican led progressiveness (except for racial discrimination mostly in south).

Without the USSR, and especially after its collapse, pure nazi economic oppression would/did rule. USSR was/is a nazi enemy, and global influence had to moderate the naziism to maintain democratic illusions. There needed to be respectful of social welfare because of USSR. After Reagan any concern for people was "trying to turn the US into a failed communist state".