Mrs. Ruland's U.S. History Class Project
Socialist/Progressive critics of the New Deal
Devon, Laura, Ann,Tommy
The overall view of the Socialist and Progressive critics of the New Deal was that it did not do enough to help people get out of the Depression. Three major critics of the New Deal were: Upton Sinclair, Father Charles Coughlin, and Huey Long.
- Novelist Upton Sinclair, a Socialist critic, believed that the nation's entire economy needed to be reformed in order to get out of the Depression. Sinclair tried running for governor of California in order to get his plan across, but people associated him with Communism and he lost the election.
- Father Coughlin believed, along with Sinclair, that the New Deal was not radical enough to solve the problem of the Great Depression. Coughlin used both his radio show and an organization that he formed in 1934 called the National Union for Social Justice to attack FDR.
- Huey Long also didn't believe that the New Deal did enough to help people, especially the poor. Long's main idea of getting out of the Depression was his "Share-Our-Wealth" program, a program designed to spread the wealth evenly among people. A few planks of the Share-Our-Wealth platform included: every family was guaranteed an income of at least 2,000 - 2,500 and no person would be allowed an annual income of 100 - 300 times that of the average family income. Specific information on Huey Long and his criticism of the New Deal is located on a separate page.
Overall, the Socialist and Progressive critics of the New Deal thought that FDR didn't do enough to get the U.S. out of the Depression, and they each had their own ideas on how to get out of the Depression.
NEW DEAL Overview
General Overview of the New Deal
This website gives a general overview of the New Deal, including welfare, Labor, and agricultural reforms. The site is helpful in providing a background for research on New Deal critics. It is necessary to see what changes were made in the New Deal before the arguments of the critics are studied. This will help you develop an overall understanding of Socialists.
Successes and Failures of the New Deal
The website uses a good visual aid to help show the different programs of the New Deal. The visual aid is divided into three sections: the program, a description of the program, and the outcome of the program. The first section of the chart gives the full program name and the abbreviations of the name. The second section of the chart tells you all about the program and what it did. The third, and final, section of the chart describes the overall outcome of each specific program, good and bad.
How FDR Made the Depression Worse
This website contains a present day analysis of the problems of the New Deal. The article talks about New Deal policies like raising prices and cutting back on production. By examining this site, a student can gain a good understanding of what view conservatives took, because even though it was written closer to today, the arguments are very similar.
Overall Opinion of Socialist/Progressive Critics
This website talks about the New Deal and its programs, but mostly it describes the opposition to it. It tells you different specific critics of the New Deal such as: Huey Long and Father Charles Coughlin. Also, the website gives links to other pages on this website about FDR, the New Deal in general, and the Agricultural Adjustment Act.
A sufficient source of information on the left wing critics which is what socialists and Progressives were considered. This website gives information on many different critics. It also contains a look at the general opinion socialist and progressive critics had. Also, the site talks about the other side, the conservative critics who thought the New Deal did too much. The contrast between these groups shows how controversial the New Deal was to many.
The
Federal Government's Cultural influences on White County During the New
Deal
This site gives a very thorough explanation of the main views of Socialist and Progressives about the New Deal. The article points out that they thought it did not do enough, and gives other information as to their beliefs. Also, the site describes the programs of Long and Townsend, socialist critics. The information is mainly in the second and third to last paragraphs.
Disagreeing About the New Deal
A primary source of information about New Deal critics, this site gives a very good example of the Socialist/Progressive opinion and what others though of it. The newspaper was talking about a Socialist plan to solve the problems of the New Deal. The man's comments reveal a major theme of Socialist/Progressive critics.
Famous Critics and Their Programs
Huey Long and the Share-Our-Wealth Program
This website gives Huey Long views on redistributing the nation's wealth after the New Deal and why it was needed. It describes his New Deal Plan and the factors included in it. This site also provides information about the earlier life of Long and what he did earlier as a Socialist critic.
Huey Long was a critic of the New Deal that believed FDR did not do enough to redistribute wealth. He was a demagogue from Louisiana. Huey Long developed the Share Our Wealth Program. This site contains a collection of Huey Long's speeches, including the one about the Share Our Wealth Program.
This site provides information on the famous novelist and muckraker Upton Sinclair. Through his novels such as The Jungle, Upton Sinclair exposed problems in the society that he believed needed to be reformed, some of which were not helped by the New Deal.
Upton Sinclair was one of the critics of the New Deal. He believed that FDR did not do enough in his New Deal plan. He created an Epic Platform, which called for a new economic system. In this system, the state would take control of factories and farms. This site contains a copy of Sinclair's Epic Plan in which he discusses his hopes for ending poverty in California.
This site contains an excellent summary of three of the main critics, Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and Dr. Francis Townsend. The article also shows the view of right-wing critics, which sheds the light on some Socialites and Progressive views because they are opposites. The work of Long, Coughlin and Townsend shows typically what Socialists and Progressives though was a problem and how they intended to change it. The information is under the subtitle “Understand the Election of 1936.”
Father Coughlin was another demagogue during the 1930's who believed that the New Deal did not go far enough. He organized the National Union for Social Justice after being “denounced”by FDR. This site contains Father Coughlin's speeches on his search for social justice.
Last updated March 28, 2005
© Marcella Ruland 1998-2008, All rights reserved
