Right Out of California: The 1930s and the Big Business Roots of Modern Conservatism

Abstract

In Right Out of California Kathryn S. Olmsted tells two stories. The first is a fascinating narrative of labor activism and New Deal support for agricultural strikes in California in 1933. The second is a less successfully told tale of the development of conservatism in reaction to both the strikes and the federal government's actions. Olmsted argues that Western growers helped to cultivate and nurture the antilabor, antistatist movement that dominates American politics today. By the end of the Depression decade, the philosophy, tactics, and leaders of modern conservatism had emerged in California. (p. 4) The modern Republican party, she claims “came right out of California” (ibid.). Congress passed the National Industrial Recovery Act in 1933 but did not extend the collective bargaining rights provided by its section 7a to agricultural workers. Nevertheless, California farm workers on the state's giant factory farms believed the law's broad language extended the freedom to organize to them, just as much as it applied to industrial workers. Long hours, low pay, and brutal living and working conditions made these farm laborers willing to strike, which they did in 1933. Organizers from the communist-led Cannery and Agricultural Workers Industrial Union rushed to the Central Valley in response. There, they helped lead a massive strike in the cotton fields. Once growers responded with violence, organizers reached out to the Roosevelt administration for protection against the growers. Surprisingly, George Creel, the administration's representative, extended food aid to the strikers and threatened to cut off federal aid to the growers, a “shocking break from past practice” (p. 69). He convinced both sides to present their arguments to a nonbinding commission, which ultimately decided in the workers’ favor. The administration's actions infuriated growers. In response, they developed a strategy to manage strikes and regain their advantage over labor.