>>You're talking about rising *political* expectations. The question at
>>hand was about economic expectations, remember? We were talking about
>>"what are the political effects of an economic collapse?" The programs
>>you've listed *are* the political effects.
>>
>>
>
>No. Rising economic expectations were inseparable from rising political
>expectations. Those rising epectations might have been an illusion, and
>of course the hoped-for rise was from an incredibly low base, but
>expectations, personal hope were indeed rising. One can't understand
>left politics in the '30s without grasping this.
>
>
>
Sure - of course union organizing was easier with a somewhat smaller reserve army of the unemployed. And of course any kind of radical organizing requires hope. No one fights back if they think we're all fucked whatever we do. But Carrol, the question was about the political effects of an economic collapse. 1934 was four years after an economic collapse.
Besides, while I don't know the detailed history of how it went down, I suspect that the really heavy lifting happened in the blackest years (1930-33). 1934 was merely when that hard work started paying off with mass uprisings.
Seth