Bread Givers Summary And Analysis

The twentieth century within the United States saw great changes when it came to the issue of labor and the role that workers interacted with company owners with the government increasing it role in private business matters. The growth of the labor movement and the growth of a workers ability to collective bargain was heavily influenced by Congressional action. Prior to the Second World War, the federal government did not have much involvement in the struggle between private businesses and organized labor, but this changed in light of the war. The government had played a very small role in the lives of Americans in regards to labor and to regulating corporations, which prompted a mass economic down turn when the bubble that the United States

In particular it was immigrant laborers that experienced the the greatest hostility from the government, not to mention the employers. Immigrants faced discrimination and hostility from the government through actions such as negative propaganda campaigns that depicted new immigrant groups as savage and out to ruin America.7 The lack of governmental aid is seen in the novel Bread Givers in which the only aid that seems available to the Jewish immigrants at the time is funds that they have contributed to from their merger wages.8 At the time of Anzia Yezierska's story there did not exist much in the way of government assistance for private citizens to provide them much if any protections or safety nets. It was not until the passage of the Social Security Act that some form of government protection and assistance begins to emerge.9 The very little governmental interaction that one sees on the part of citizens comes on the part of consumers. This was apparent in the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906 that aided in the safety of what consumers purchased in the time of increasing consumption, but had not effect in the protection of laborers.10 It was not until the passage of the National Labor Relations Act, also known as the Wagner Act, that the government provided laborers with some form or rights and protections until after the Taft Hartley

Prior to the Great Depression the government had adopted a very laissez faire attitude in regards to their involvement in private business, which resulted in very little to no government regulation or interference. An example of the lack of regulation on the part of the government was seen in the actions that caused the Depression, such the housing market crash and the drop in the stock market that led to bank runs and massive unemployment. The stock market at the time was not regulated and it was run on credit with much speculation on the mortgages of Americans, many of them bubble mortgages, so people could not cash out the stock tickets that they had.13 The Hoover administration decided to continue their hands off regulation and offered no support.14 Considering the result of the lack of regulations on business and lack of aid to workers or the poor, the role of the government had to change in American