The Impacts of the Great Depression on California - Assignment Example

People from Mid West and South West entered California in search of food, shelter, and work. But soon they became a burden on the state economy and in the cities like Oklahoma, San Francisco, etc. crowded refugee colonies could now be discerned. The Depression had worldwide presence and effects, but it hit California very severely due to its suddenness. “The ‘20s had been an optimistic time.

The population had boomed. The Bay Area had grown and prospered, and the population of Southern California had tripled. California was the future. Suddenly, almost overnight, the mood darkened. Businesses that had been expanding suddenly cut back. People were laid off, couldn’t pay their bills, couldn’t find a new job. In those days, there was no such thing as unemployment insurance. No welfare, no social security, nothing.” (Nolte, Paragraphs 3-4)In his writings, Starr has depicted the situation as very pathetic indeed.

There was a dramatic drop in the wages of the agricultural workers just in 4 years during the beginning of the 1930s. By 1934, the number of workers had become almost one and a half times the number of available jobs. The dream of an economic boom had been turned into a nightmare. (Starr, 235-251)2. What was the political platform of EPIC? How did it appeal to voters? Was it successful? Why or why not? In the United States, there were two major political parties during the beginning of the 20th century.

The Democratic Party had a centre-left political position, while the Republican Party emerged had emerged as a right-wing establishment. This situation continues even today. However, during the Great Depression, tensions increased considerably. There was the emergence of the “red scare” (Nolte, Paragraphs 1) and the public had become antagonized toward the capitalist order of American democracy. In such a crisis situation, the Democrats moved ahead with a sort of reform agenda and assured the people of a better future and a more responsible scheme of governance.

This social democratic approach became the political scaffolding of the End Poverty In California (EPIC) program, and Sinclair (Paragraph 4) emerged as its strong advocate and a socio-political designer of the fiscal scheme. Sinclair was then a member of the Democratic Party, and he wished to avoid the spectre of widespread socio-economic unrest in the country. Sinclair was an expert in economic depressions and he declared that the Americans should have taken lessons from the economic depression of Germany.

He suggested more precision-guided financial disbursement programs for the needy, unemployed people and advocated the usage of “warehouse receipts or labour certificates” (Sinclair, Paragraph 5) instead of paper money. Sinclair was running for the senate elections of the state, and people voted in his favour in large numbers. EPIC soon took the form of a popular movement. Although Sinclair was able to receive large support, he could not defeat his Republican rival in the elections. Hence, EPIC was never materialized.

EPIC was aimed at re-establishing the defunct private firms as production units for public utility through cooperative management. This socialistic approach, however, inspired many young and energetic idealists who would turn into future leaders of the Democratic Party in the state. Sinclair’s efforts were unsuccessful due to the strong reactionary resistance from the Republicans, but it became an ideological success in the context of Californian liberal thought.