JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post
I just couldn't resist sharing the cover design for this 1937 pamphlet, as Dick and Jane walk into the purifying light of an atomic sunset. Well, not quite that, as they were walking the other way into the Purity-of-Essence of a Communist/Cooperative deep red sunrise:
The Cooperative Movement indicts Capitalism for the first half of the pamphlet:
- Education: "capitalism is robbing youth both of its chances for education..."
- Romance: "With other things it wrecks, Capitalism is wrecking marriage and home life".
- Good Time: "Modern civilization is not giving youth what it wants".
- Art: "...increasing insecurity of our times simply means that youth's chances of being artistically creative are growing less and less".
- "Profit system": "Youth facing life under capitalism does not have a very cheerful outlook".
On the other end of the equation, the Cooperative movement promised abundance, increases employment, makes romance and good time possible, encourages creative effort, and advances practical Christianity. It was 1937, and the Great Depression had its downs and ups but mostly down, deep into 1937/8/9, and people were looking for solutions everywhere. The New Deal may have been part of that, though by 1937 it was mostly being taken off-the-books, and there were plenty of conservative and more-rightist Republicans and Dixiecrats who thought of the FDR acronymic programs as just this side of Socialism--which is all fine and good, though those guys should also remember that FDR did more to save Capitalism than just about anyone in this country, ever. So: yin-yang.
Comments