Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff

Episode: The Great American Purge (REPEAT)

Date: May 27, 2021

Overview

In this episode, "The Great American Purge," economist Richard D. Wolff explores the pivotal moment in American history following World War II when a powerful coalition of labor unions, socialists, and communists that had led to significant advances for working people was systematically dismantled. Wolff details how this political purge—commonly known as the McCarthy era—not only devastated left-wing movements and the labor movement itself, but also deeply reshaped American economics, society, and culture for decades. The episode connects this historical event to ongoing issues like economic inequality and the marginalization of social criticism in the U.S.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Historical Context: Rise of a Coalition (00:20–06:30)

• Formation and Achievements of the Coalition

  • After the Great Depression, a coalition of communists, socialists, and labor unionists pressured President Franklin D. Roosevelt to enact sweeping social programs.
  • Programs included Social Security, unemployment compensation, the first minimum wage, and direct government hiring of the unemployed.
  • These reforms were paid for primarily by taxing the rich and corporations.

• Quote:

  "Together, the communists, the socialists and the unionists really struggled to develop a good situation for the mass of the American working people..."
  — Richard D. Wolff (02:05)

2. The Political Backlash and Purge (06:30–18:55)

• Business Reaction and Strategic Destruction

  • The business community resented high taxes and the political power of the coalition, identifying the Communist Party as the coalition's 'weakest link.'
  • Efforts to demonize and systematically destroy communists, followed by socialists and then the labor movement, began after WWII.

• Turning Allies into Enemies

  • Despite the USSR and U.S. having recently been WWII allies, communists and socialists were now labeled as foreign subversives and traitors.

• Quote:

  "Suddenly, a group of people in the United States who had been celebrated... became instead, almost overnight, demons."
  — Richard D. Wolff (01:30)

• McCarthyism and Public Demonization

  • The McCarthy period led to public denouncements, arrests, and deportations of leftists.
  • Labor movement representation declined drastically—from representing one-third of workers in 1945 to just one-tenth today.

• Cultural and Educational Repression

  • Books and newspapers avoided discussing socialist and critical ideas.
  • Major parties, schools, and media excluded leftist voices entirely, often out of fear.

3. Economic Consequences of the Purge (19:00–41:20)

• Taft-Hartley Act and Direct Legal Repercussions (19:00–25:20)

  • The 1947 Taft-Hartley Law targeted communists, socialists, and labor unions.
  • It barred communists from union leadership and created “free rider” rules, allowing non-union workers to benefit from union contracts without contributing dues, undermining solidarity and membership.

• Quote:

  "That's fundamentally unfair, and you know it and I know it, and the people then knew it. It was a hammer blow against the labor movement."
  — Richard D. Wolff (23:00)

• Collapse of Union Power

  • U.S. labor representation fell sharply, erasing any meaningful balance between "big business" and "big labor."
  • Union membership dropped from about 35% of workers to around 10%.

• Quote:

  "Big business has gotten bigger and richer. Big labor, it's gone. There is no big labor. Hasn't been for years. We are an economy dominated by one side."
  — Richard D. Wolff (25:40)

• Purging Critical Thought and Education

  • Teachers and professors with leftist or critical leanings were removed from public and higher education.
  • Americans were deprived of exposure to critiques of capitalism, limiting progress and critical thinking about social and economic systems.

• Quote:

  "If you don't criticize capitalism in school, you prevent people from learning to think critically about their system. And that undercuts progress."
  — Richard D. Wolff (29:40)

• Hollywood and Cultural Shifts

  • The "Hollywood Ten" were blacklisted, ending careers of progressive writers, directors, and actors.
  • Movies stopped portraying working-class struggles or leftist heroes, instead celebrating capitalist leaders as "captains of industry," a reversal from calling them "robber barons" just decades before.

4. Long-Term Impact: Weakening the American Left (33:20–40:50)

• Silencing and Self-Censorship

  • The trauma of the purge induced lasting fear. Even remaining "critical" professors or cultural figures were reluctant to speak.
  • The left's absence made it possible to roll back New Deal reforms, freeze minimum wage increases, and eliminate large-scale public job programs even in crises like 2008.

• Narrowing the Political Spectrum

  • Both major parties came to compete over who best celebrated capitalism, rather than debating alternative economic systems.
  • "Critics" of capitalism became essentially unrepresentable in major politics or media.

• Quote:

  "We have people in Republican leadership and Democratic leadership whose job it is to outdo one another in celebrating the system as it is and demonizing critics."
  — Richard D. Wolff (36:50)

• Resulting Economic Inequality and Political Instability

  • Successive waves of economic crisis (notably 2008) left the working and middle class unprotected, as the coalition that pushed for protections was gone.
  • Corporate bailouts became the norm, while no comprehensive social programs were even proposed.

• Quote:

  "There was no pressure. So the government—Bush, Obama, Trump—bails out the big corporations all they want. And for the rest of us, nothing. No Social Security or equivalent, no unemployment, no public jobs. That's the cost for us of the defeat of the left after World War II."
  — Richard D. Wolff (41:00)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Forgotten Power of the Left:

  "It makes you stay with the system you got because you're afraid to think critically... It was shutdown time, and it lasted half a century. Politics destroyed a whole part of the American political spectrum."
  — Richard D. Wolff (17:40)

• On Today's Political Landscape:

  "Anyone in America today... who talks about an economy with 'big business' on the one hand and 'big labor' on the other, is either ignorant or lying in your face. Big labor, it's gone. There is no big labor. Hasn't been for years."
  — Richard D. Wolff (25:25)

• On Systematic Suppression of Dissent:

  "Where were the critics? They were afraid. They kept their mouths shut. They were afraid to see what was going on or certainly to speak about it."
  — Richard D. Wolff (35:30)

• On Cultural Transformation:

  "It was to make movies that said our industrial leaders were captains of industry. Kind of funny when you think that at the end of the last century, those same people were called robber barons."
  — Richard D. Wolff (32:00)

Key Segment Timestamps

• 00:10–06:30 — Historical context: The left-wing coalition and its achievements
• 06:30–18:55 — The post-WWII purge: Tactics, McCarthyism, dismantling of the coalition
• 19:00–25:20 — The Taft-Hartley Act and its impact on unions
• 25:20–31:00 — The collapse of union power and suppression of critical education
• 31:00–34:30 — Hollywood and cultural reengineering
• 34:30–41:00 — Silencing critics; consequences for inequality and political debate
• 41:00–End — Final thoughts: Lessons and warnings from history

Summary & Takeaway

Richard D. Wolff’s "The Great American Purge" makes a powerful case that America’s mid-20th-century destruction of its left-wing coalition—through political, legal, and cultural means—fundamentally altered the country’s economic and political trajectory. The long-term result, argues Wolff, has been persistent economic inequality, a depoliticized and fearful public discourse, and the loss of genuine efforts to confront crises through robust public programs. This history, he insists, is crucial for understanding why the United States struggles to address the needs of ordinary working people and why critiques of capitalism are marginalized even today.