The Depression and the New Deal

Abstract

The travails suffered by working class people during the Great Depression evoked a visceral reaction within Tresca, which increased his already profound hatred for capitalism and government. Gone was the self-imposed “moderation” Tresca had exercised in the 1920s, when, for example, he had refrained from criticizing the American president as a precautionary measure. Now Tresca was attacking every important political figure, policy, and institution associated with American capitalism, while hoping that the dreadful conditions produced by the Depression would generate radical action by the working class.¹