Political Unrest in The Great Depression
Question:
How likely was political unrest given the social impacts of the Great Depression?
Political unrest was highly unlikely given the social impacts of the Great Depression, because people grew too weak physically and mentally from starvation, and were severely demoralized to either stir political unrest or voice their discontent. Their weak psychological and physical state prevents them from banding together and launching a mass protest against the government. From the excerpt of Men Without Work, a young married woman who is poverty-stricken speaks of being demoralized by The Great Depression: “I don’t know how it is, but these last few years since I’ve been out of the mills I don’t seem able to take trouble, somehow; I’ve got no spirit for anything.” By mentioning her lack of spirit, it shows that she will not be inclined to take aggressive action anytime soon to show her dissatisfaction with the crisis. Furthermore, in Men Without Work, it is mentioned that the majority of unemployed men suffered from severe anxiety from their inability to find a stable job; everyone was too occupied looking for jobs, as evidenced in Men Without Work, that they didn’t have time to consider the government’s role and contributions to The Great Depression, and their highly ineffective response towards the crisis. For many, they were also too busy in search for food, clothing and shelter as mentioned in The Great Depression PDF “For millions of people the struggle for food, clothing and shelter grew desperate. Shantytowns appeared overnight in urban areas, and bread lines stretched for blocks.” Fulfilling these mere basic necessities of life was apparently far more important than demonstrating their dissatisfaction towards the government. The stock market crash of 1929 as outlined in The Great Depression PDF reading further intensified unemployed citizens’ necessity to find a job, since many if not all lost their life savings to the crash; eleven financiers even committed suicide, which shows the extent of their depression. A limitation to this document is that it lacks the perspective of those who were directly affected by the crisis, and so we are unable to determine how exactly they felt about their loss without solid evidence. Anxiety in the unemployed men grows worse as they are met with one dead end after another, and by the time they realize it is hopeless, they are too demoralized and “depressed” to be able to stir political unrest, and as one wife mentions the restlessness of her husband in Men Without Work, “Now he’s out of work he don’t seem to be able to settle for anything.” Political unrest was also unlikely because some citizens that were made homeless or unemployed by the Great Depression would be unwilling to act aggressively towards the government, since their livelihoods depended on the government’s efforts as depicted in With Germany’s Unemployed. After witnessing the miserable conditions in a municipal lodging house, the German author mentions the citizens’ desperate need for food and their growing, unstable state of mind, “There was the same hunger then, and the same trembling, anxious expectation of rations.” With their demoralized state of mind and physically weak bodies as a result of starvation, citizens who lived during The Great Depression were in no position to stir political unrest. The psychological impact was so great that citizens were demoralized to the point where they believed change was hopeless, which is why they didn’t bother to protest for change. However, in some areas such as Germany, hope was not completely lost, since with the rise of the Nazi party, they hoped for the crisis to deteriorate by putting them in a position of authority; as mentioned in the second Great Depression PDF reading, votes for the Nazis grew from 810,000 in 1928 to 6,400,000 in 1940.
Second Argument:
Political unrest was very likely given the social impacts of the Great Depression. In fact, the fact that political unrest did not erupt [to a severe extent] is actually surprising. Unemployment, the stock market crash of 1929, and bad economic policies all posed as potential catalysts to stir political unrest. Unemployment was the greatest factor which affected citizens, especially the working class. From the excerpt of Men Without Work, it is mentioned that citizens suffered from both physical and psychological hardships during the Great Depression, either from unemployment or starvation. The majority of unemployed men suffered from anxiety. Their inability to find work after losing a job which they had worked for a very long time puts a severe mental stress on them, and this sort of emotional state is conducive to fomenting anger towards the government, since the initial lack of employment opportunities provided by the government could have banded the unemployed and dissatisfied citizens together to begin a mass protest. The ineffective response towards the stock market crash of 1929, including the implementation of bad economic policies, could have served as the motive for unemployed citizens to put the blame on the government and launch a protest. As a matter of fact, if a protest had conspired in the early stages of the Great Depression, government response would have most likely been far more immediate and aggressive in hopes of appeasing the angry citizens; in other words, government intervention in domestic economies could have arrived earlier if widespread public discontent had more of an influence. In the Great Depression PDF reading, over a thousand people from various classes (“from poor widows to industrial tycoon”) had lost their lifetime savings to the crash; eleven financiers even committed suicide. Their “depression” over the crisis had the potential to evolve into outrage and violence, which would could have ultimately led to political unrest. However, the lack of perspective from those directly affected by the stock market crash of 1929 limits the credibility of this PDF source. Furthermore, economic policies carried out by the government which proved to be detrimental rather than beneficial for the regular citizen could have contributed to public discontent, and ultimately, political unrest. The “Smoot-Hawley Policy” to raise tariffs on foreign imports enacted in 1930 backfired; in response, foreign nations raised their own tariffs on US exports, making US citizens unable to earn money if foreign consumers are not willing to buy their highly-taxed foreign goods. In addition, the lack of buyers led to a surplus of commodities in the country, which unemployed workers since the production of more goods were no longer needed. This chain of events alone could have caused producers and workers alike in the US to be highly dissatisfied, and lead them point fingers at the government for letting this happen; however, everyone was too busy looking for jobs, as evidenced in Men Without Work, instead of finding someone to blame for their coming, inevitable miseries. Other detrimental policies such as the policy to reduce female unemployment rate had the potential to stir discontent among the female group of citizens as well; however, the widespread notion of “women belonging at home” and their (women’s) entrenched mindset of bearing the responsibility as housewives/mothers most likely prevented it. We don’t exactly know what the women affected by this policy thought of it, which limits the source. ALSO, being unemployed, thus being unable to make money or afford food and ultimately being starved, weakened the citizens to a significant extent, and by the late stages of the Great Depression, citizens were severely demoralized, which prevented the circumstances for political unrest. In Men Without Work, a young married woman who is poverty-stricken speaks of being demoralized by The Great Depression: “I don’t know how it is, but these last few years since I’ve been out of the mills I don’t seem able to take trouble, somehow; I’ve got no spirit for anything.” If the Great Depression were to recur in our present time, there would definitely be political unrest, especially if Donald Trump becomes president for the 2016 presidential election.
Men in search for jobs during The Great Depression