'People just quietly took it in the Great Depression, but people won't do that nowadays' said in 70s

[bobbieinok]

Our local branch of Am Assn of University Women was talking about current events and the economy. The older members started reminiscing about their parents' stories about life in the 30s. And about how their families lived when they were kids

And that's when one of the women made that remark. Most of them agreed--people living nowadays (70s) weren't so accepting of what happened to them. They wouldn't stay quiet. Eventually there'd be real trouble.

Were those women reminiscing 50 years ago accurate?

[dawg day]

1. Well, it depends on who and what

50 years ago was 1970. The Civil Rights movement, the women's movement, and the anti-war movement were fully engaged. The people involved in those movements were definitely "Troublemakers".

But Nixon got elected and re-elected, boasting of how he represented "the silent majority".

That time, the people's movements changed everything. But... but Nixon was still re-elected.

People getting up and "moving" is essential, but the deliberate blocking by the powerful, and the exploitation of the apathetic "silent" ones, can always slow progress down- and in Trump's case, reverse it.

[The Magistrate]

2. As Usual, Ma'am, Yes And No

I had occasion some years ago to read through a great many newspapers from 1932 and 1933, looking for reports of events in Manchuria by several respected correspondents. Obviously most of the material bore on national and local news, and many items caught my eye.

A definite sense of simmering rebellion emerged from the journalism of 1932. One story which got much traction related the mock execution of judges who pressed foreclosures on farms --- taken from home at night, hoisted up by a noose several times till they agreed not to continue the practice. There were reports of major disturbances in mining districts.

Most such accounts dated to the Hoover administration. After the election of President Roosevelt things seemed to cool down. It has always seemed likely that Mr. Roosevelt's election may well have averted a revolutionary outbreak in this country, though whether its character would have been left or right is hard to say.

[brewens]

3. My mom grew up on the family homestead in S.Dakota. She said they were just fine as far as food and

not having to worry about losing their home. They just couldn't get any money to buy new shoes and stuff. She felt lucky, though they never had much. She married my dad from Montana and both were lifelong Democrats.

I've been saying all along that millions of people being ruined by this aren't gonna take it. As long as we can feed everyone, keep the lights on, and keep essential workers safe, there really is no reason for people to lose everything. it's really just everyone up the food chain still demanding their money. Wait until they realize the wealthiest people in the world are coming out farther ahead on this. The shit will hit the fan and stay hit!

[Igel]

7. People are no less skeptical.

Just more connected to the media. A bad combination.

The only report I've seen saying that the wealthy are doing so much better (the wealthy" being the top 1-2%, where a lot of the income is from dividends/capital gains and not earned income) was truly loaded.

The claim was that between these two dates the wealthy folks' wealth had skyrocketed. This relies on the idea that if the market declines nobody loses anything, but if they go up people gain a lot. Stupid sounding? Yes, but given the conclusion it was a premise most tacitly swallowed.

The two dates picked were the bottom of the stock market in March and a local maximum the week before. Shift the reporting period by a month in either direction and most of the fabulous gains evaporated. It's a common way of deceiving the listener--esp. when they like the conclusion and as a result they're highly motivated to believe the assumptions.

[brewens]

15. When this is over they will probably tell us some outrageous percentage of wealth evaporated

worldwide. But, the people at the top will be even farther ahead and scarf up all kinds of assets, even if their total wealth in dollars is lower.

When I first heard of the stimulus package, I said it would be a thousand for us and a million for them. I was probably quite a bit low on the high end. It's all out looting to get in the best position to really clean up.

[Freddie]

4. My Dad grew up in Reading PA during the Depression

Reading had a Socialist Mayor and things got done. Don’t think things were as bad there as other cities. I wish I’d asked him more about it when he was still with us, we lost him at 92.

[bobbieinok]

8. Have read in early 1900s OK was most socialist state in the country!

Sure wonder what happened

Read once that OK farmers and ranchers had real problems with banks and resisted

But then the oil industry took over the state, and that was that!

[bobbieinok]

9. The Cross of Gold speech spoke to them, I believe

William Jennings Bryan (yes, THAT Bryan) made the Cross of Gold speech at the 1896 democratic national convention. It is considered by many to be one of the greatest American speeches!


Closing lines (I believe)

'You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crow of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold'

[Grins]

5. In college in the late 60s....

And I’m talking ‘68 or ‘69, a time when the country was on fire.

One of my professors made an off-hand comment that if there ever was a time for a 2nd American Revolution - it was the depression. And the implication - an armed revolution. That it didn’t happen, he thought, was amazing luck for the nation.

Looking back, the reason why there wasn’t a 2nd revolution could be because FDR was elected and was eager to do anything to get back to normalcy and flip the old order out the door. He offered - hope and BIG change!

If Hoover had been re-elected...?

[bobbieinok]

6. Some believe FDR's election stopped a man (Huey Long of LA?) from becoming a fascist leader

[The Magistrate]

18. The Kingfish Was All Right, Ma'am

We could a few more like him today.

[bobbieinok]

19. I thought a lot of historians viewed him very negatively

Bearvwith me, please. I know very little about him.

Except he was a major figure in LA

He was murdered--?

[The Magistrate]

22. Many Do, Ma'am, But To My Mind Mostly In Error

The biography by T Harry Williams, titled simply 'Huey Long' is, though now a half century old, still the best source for a proper appreciation of the man. His economic policies might well have come a cropper had he succeeded in becoming President, and his enemies would certainly have been made uncomfortable. But his enemies mostly ought to have been made uncomfortable. He got his start by making Standard Oil pay taxes to the state of Louisiana, which prior to his campaigns it had barely pretended to do. His programs of paved roads, free schoolbooks, a state hospital open to any, were met with vociferous hatred from conservative and corporate interests in the state, which on several occasions reached the pitch of armed resistance. He broke a crooked city machine in New Orleans which squealed to high heaven at the curbing of gambling and prostitution it had fattened on. There is question whether the man who murdered him acted alone, and no doubt several groups entered into conspiracy to achieve that end.

[bobbieinok]

23. You reminded me---when I 1st read about him, his ideas sounded great. Then...

It was all FDR really saved us from a disaster. He would have been the popular type of leader like Mussolini. And would have driven the country into economic disaster and had to become a fascist leader to try to save it

Thanks for reminding me of my 1st reactions to his plans!

[The Magistrate]

24. I Do View Him As a Mixed Figure, Ma'am

He certainly had a dictatorial heart. But on the state level he did things that badly needed to be done, and on the national level he said things that needed to be said.

[McCamy Taylor]

10. Read "Grapes of Wrath" before you say they "quietly took it"

Look at the history of the American Communist Party in the 1930s.

[empedocles]

12. Those '30's peoples/voters, ran the republicons out of power for 24 years,

5 Dem Administrations.

The excesses/demands/etc. of the later '60's were key in enabling the republicons to take over and be very influential for decades.

[greenjar_01]

11. There was massive Left political activism during the Great Depression

I'm kinda mystified by the representation.

[bobbieinok]

13. Well, they were older, may pretty conservative. One had argued vehemently against the use of Ms!

She told us how even as a child she had taken pride in 'doing for' her dad and uncles and brothers. The younger members and I just smiled st each other and kept silent while she explained how 'wrong' Ms was.

ETA---According to her, the introduction of Ms was wrong because it implied there was something wrong with being a wife, being Mrs Somebody.*That was a popular argument during the time the term was introduced

*And she strongly emphasized how much she enjoyed her status as Mrs. It was 50 years ago, and she'd grown up in an earlier culture. Yet don't forget, she'd gone to college, unusual for girls when she was young (same for my mom, b 1913). And IIRC she had advanced degrees and was a professor at the U.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

14. There was a lot of unrest during the 1930s.

We just don't learn much about it in high school American History class.

Just a quick google of "Labor strikes in 1930s" gives lots of links. Here are a few:
http://picturethis.museumca.org/timeline/depression-era-1930s/political-protest/infol
https://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/7342/reviving_the_strike_section_title_part_1
https://thgreatdepression1929-1939.weebly.com/labor-unions.html

Of particular note in that last one is a photograph of workers carrying a sign that says: Work or Riot. One or the Other.

In 1936-37 there was a sit-down strike in Flint, Michigan. https://www.history.com/news/flint-sit-down-strike-general-motors-uaw

And then there was the Bonus Army. WWI vets who marched on Washington in 1932. That's also worth knowing about.
https://www.nps.gov/articles/bonus-expeditionary-forces-march-on-washington.htm

[bobbieinok]

16. Ya know, it's totally unreal how much we do NOT learn in school! Carefully planned, ya think!

[BannonsLiver]

17. Hard to disagree

America has become a personal grievance culture with almost no sense of community. We see that with the mask issue. So yeah, it’s easy to picture the country doing poorly in a similar Depression-World War scenario. We’re pretty soft these days.

[Frustratedlady]

20. Absolutely. It was incredible what our parents went through during the Depression.

My family made it through OK, because my father was innovative and my mother could "make-do" with all kinds of substitutions for food, clothing, shoes, household goods, etc. She continued that even beyond and up until they were retired. They always warned about buying on credit, getting loans and living payday to payday.

My father would gather up livestock, grain, garden produce, eggs or whatever else other farmers had to sell and take it to market for them. Once he had bargained the best price for the goods, he would take the cash to various places of business and buy whatever was on the farmers' lists...mainly, coffee, sugar/flour and yard goods for their wives. For this task, my father was given a percentage of what he sold. It didn't sound like much, but since he farmed and my mother kept a garden/chickens, they were able to buy whatever else they needed. Mom said the price for field corn was so low, they burnt it for heat. We had six kids in the family and clothes were handed down to the others or given to the needy. Of course, most of those clothes were handmade. My grandpa was a cobbler, so we had shoes. Most of all, we had security and love.

People would be hard-pressed to work the long hours our parents had to work just to keep our heads above water. I absolutely love the stories of the Depression. I remember my mother saying that she hated the Depression so much, that when it was over, she threw the "free" Depression glass she obtained in oatmeal, laundry soap, etc., over the back fence. She was SO tired of looking at it. I think she may have kept some pink glass, but all the rest was destroyed.

[Demovictory9]

21. so many people living in cities and suburbs now.. difficult to impossible to make do the way

your parents did. We basically need paychecks.