And some did, and their lives did improve for a while, but most importantly the majority of workers (ie European workers who didn’t have a revolution) did not join and their conditions still improved (WHS laws, working hours, sick leave, PTO, pension, healthcare).

How does Marx explain this? This shouldn’t be possible according to Marx.

When I was saying people have built on Marx I was alluding to revisionists like Bernstein.

He points out that self interest is a motivating factor, once a worker has a certain level of condition then they are no longer willing to risk that in a revolution, capitalism has effectively satiated them. Revolution is no longer possible in this situation.

This is the western world I see today, a lot of people who aren’t willing to risk what they have to get something better.

My solution (which isn’t really mine) is to appeal to their self interest, sure it’s nice now, but it would be even better under socialism etc.