FDR and the New Deal: Myth vs. Reality
The New Deal looms large in the American political imagination. We are taught in school to think of the Roosevelt administration’s “New Deal” through the 1930s and 40s as an effective tool kit which alleviated the effects of the crisis of capitalism. In recent years, policy proposals from those aligned with the Democratic Socialist of America, such as the ill-fated “Green New Deal,” wink directly at the policies of the past—some even making the case that the New Deal policies represented effective socialist policies that should be directly emulated.
The truth is far more complicated. This talk will address questions surrounding the New Deal. Was it effective in its stated aim of resolving capitalist crisis? Do these policies invalidate the fundamentals of Marxist economics? Did the New Deal policies fundamentally represent a material gain for the working class or did they represent a significant strengthening of the monopolists vis-a-vis the working class?
This discussion will be introduced by Mark Rahman, a leading member of the RCA in Chicago.
Reading list:
Articles
- Ten Years of the New Deal – George Novack
- Keynes: Capitalism’s Utopian and Impotent Oracle of Doom – Adam Booth
- What Causes Capitalist Crises: Under-consumption or Overproduction? – Rob Sewell
- Marxism in Our Time – Leon Trotsky
Books
- Labor’s Giant Step: The First Twenty Years of the CIO, 1936-55 Chapter: ‘New Deal’: Myth and Fact” – Art Preis
