The Great Depression and more!

In the 19th and early 20th century, Labor was disliked by the public and disenfranchised by the government. The Knights of Labor (1869) was founded by Terrance Powderly, and sought to organize textile workers. Workers were organized regardless of skills/race/gender. The American Federation of Labor (1886) was founded by Samuel Gompers, and only organized male, skilled workers for shorter hours, higher pay and better working conditions. It was a small subset and cooperated with business. Industrial Workers of the World (1906) was known as "one big union", or the wobblies. They reached the height of their influence in the PNW in the timber camps of Spokane.

The Haymarket Massacre (1886) was in Chicago, IL, where a bomb blew up a peaceful protest, wherein police killed many protesters fleeing the scene. Union leaders, without any proof, were arrested and convicted. In 1892, the Homestead Steel Strike was a strike against Carnegie's US Steel, attempting to get union recognized. The PA state militia and the "Pinkertons" were used to break up the strikers, a foe of organized labor. In 1894, the Pullman Strike was initiated by the American Railway Union (Eugene Debs) and US army troops were sent in to "Face off" strikers.

This brief but severe depression in the United States post- WWI resulted/was caused by rampant deflation and 10% unemployment. After this brief depression, there was a huge economic boom. This resulted in a 40% growth in the GDP along with strides in technological innovation.

Because of the rampant growth of production during war time, farmers and manufacturers went into debt in order to benefit more from the high prices for goods during the war. After the war, the demand went down; but the production continued to match the pace during WWI, resulting in over-production and the devaluing of goods. While corporate America thrived during the 1920s, the farming and manufacturing community was growing weaker and weaker. This was the first symptom of the Great Depression, and was the first group that showed signs of the widening economic gap.

During the 1920s, there was a burgeoning economy for a variety of reasons, including new technology, installment plans, and a lack of competition abroad. To buy the new and improving technology, many Americans bought into the immediate gratification of buying products without the necessary funds, borrowing from banks or stores themselves to buy things like cars and washing machines. This coupled with weak competition abroad, the United States overtook international economy in many Latin American countries such as Guatemala through dishonest and corrupt practices, and eliminated competition in many markets. Thus resulted in a new wave of imperialism in the United States, all in the name of economic gain.

With the huge growth of the economy in the United States during the 1920s, there was a wave of consolidation in the corporate world. By 1930, 200 of the largest corporations in the United States owned 50% of the wealth, while 50% of the banking resources was owned by 1% of the banks. This was the peak of the bubble about to burst.

Galbraith stated there were 4 aspects to countervailing power which controlled and stabilized the business cycle:
1. Government Regulation
2. Organized Labor
3. Consumer Groups
4. Market competition
Each of these factors held very little power in the 1920s leading up to the Great Depression. Government regulation was heavily defunded and stripped of power during the Harding administration. He removed gov. oversight of financial institutions, he defunded the Federal Trade Commission. The Treasury Department provided business with tax loopholes, resulting in reckless and unregulated business practices. Organized Labor in the 1920s was weakened by the courts and the government. Labor organizations like AFL and IWW were not allowed to organize or strike through court injunctions, deportation of immigrant organizers and overturning laws that helped workers, like minimum wage laws. Consumer groups were weak and without mainstream support. The National Consumers League inspected US companies, monitoring conditions and if they were union. Lastly, competition was all but eliminated during the 1920s; the market was dominated by monopolies. All these factors resulted in a huge bubble, one that was soon going to burst

The 1920s weakened labor, especially through court injunctions and companies' ability to get away with union busting tactics:
1. Violence, intimidation, surveillance
2. Court injunctions
3. Firing and blacklisting
4. Yellow Dog contracts
5. Exploiting internal divisions (race, gender, skilled/unskilled, immigrants)
6. Scabs (replacement workers for striking workers, often disenfranchised groups in need of work. Exploiting racism and nativism)

As labor advanced during WWI, companies softened a bit, trying to squelch the revolutionary nature that was being cultivated. They raised wages a bit, offered small amount of stock options and created "company unions" to disable the threat of collective bargaining. They tried to cultivate company loyalty by superficial means.

With a new wave of modern advertising in the 1920s and merchandise, there was also a new market: women. Corporate America co-opted the emerging women's rights movement/ appealing to motherly "instinct" to sell new technology. The automobile was a major element of this.

Galbraith, a Canadian economist, listed five reasons he attributed to the crash of 1929:
1. Unequal income distribution
2. Dishonest Business practices
3. Unsound banking structure
4. US as a creditor nation
5. Poor state of economic intelligence

During the 1920s, the stock market valuation quadruples. When the bubble burst, billions of dollars are withdrawn from banks in order to buy stock and many common citizens buy stock on margin, promised they will make it all back and more in the end. In September of 1929, panic begins to set in when they realize the market is wildly inflated and over valued. The "crash" is a series of wild drops in October 1929. On oct. 18, the market goes into free fall before major banks and investment companies intervene to quell panic. Even the most trusted companies, or "Blue chips" plummet: including, GE, ATT, US Steel, etc.

During the month of October, there were a series of wild drops in the stock market.

it's message shifted from complete radicalism, it created a dual-unionism movement, which created more division in the fight for organized labor. During the rise of fascism in 1933 (Hitler) it shifted to the popular front and became very popular among artists, advocates and working people. it strengthened, but was still vulnerable to anti-communist scares.

Hitting an already struggling and impoverished community, the dust bowl of 1930 was because of a drought and the destruction of farm land in the central United States. It was the consequence of unregulated farm practices and was one factor in a mass migration west for work.

Mass demonstrations marked the late 1920s and early 30s, raising the concern in many of Bolshevism. One of these protests was by over 40,000 veterans on Washington demanding government payments which were expected in 1945. Because of the Great Depression, they requested them early. In Minneapolis, there was also a march for $8 a week given to people to live off of.

In 1934, there was an upsurge of strikes on the west coast. Long shoremen across the coast struck. The strikes turned violent with tear gas. These violent strikes spurred FDR's National Labor Relations Act.

Started by John L Lewis, this organization organized industrial workers and had a scope broader than just unionizing. It sought to transform society as a whole and they fought for civil rights, pay equity and raised tremendous amounts of funds for the democratic party. Lewis did not like communists, but recognized their organizing power. It targeted big companies and was an umbrella organization for unions like the United Auto Workers. In 1937, it organized a successful sit-down strike against GM and Carnegie Steel was successfully organized after the previous success.

During the rush of modernity during the 1920s, there was an upsurge of fear in reaction to the changing times. There was a strong movement of fundamentalism in reaction to the growing wave of secularism, along with a new wave of nativism. There was a huge KKK revival in the South, as well as in the North and Midwest. With the Great Migration of Blacks, Jews and Catholics there was a lot of fear and hate in response. There was also immigration restriction and prohibition, largely propelled by fear of immigrants and their consumption of alcohol. Because of Russia's revolution, there was a Great Scare that the revolutionaries would infect the United States,