Changes

Farm incomes increased significantly in the first three years of the New Deal. Consumers paid higher prices than in 1932-33, but food was still 25% lower in price than in the 1920-31 period. A Gallup Poll revealed that a majority of the American public opposed the AAA, but the majorities existed in Congress to pass it.  The AAA established an important and long-lasting federal role in the planning on the entire agricultural sector of the economy.  

Farm incomes increased significantly in the first three years of the New Deal. Consumers paid higher prices than in 1932-33, but food was still 25% lower in price than in the 1920-31 period. A Gallup Poll revealed that a majority of the American public opposed the AAA, but the majorities existed in Congress to pass it.  The AAA established an important and long-lasting federal role in the planning on the entire agricultural sector of the economy.  

===Sharecroppers===

===Sharecroppers and the 1935 purge of the far left===

One criticism from the left was that in the South the AAA favored rich landowners over the impoverished tenant farmers and sharecroppers.  The allegation was false but was widely spread in history books.  (The AAA required land owners to maintain the same number of tenants and croppers as before.) There were other New Deal programs focused on the needs of tenant farmers and sharecroppers.

One criticism from the left was that in the cottonbelt South the AAA favored rich landowners over the impoverished tenant farmers and sharecroppers.  The allegation was false but was widely spread in history books.  (The AAA required land owners to maintain the same number of tenants and croppers as before.)  

In 1933-35 there was a group of leftist lawyers in the Agriculture department, led by Jerome Frank. They were on the far left and several were secret Communists or fellow travelers.<ref>One who later became infamous as a Soviet spy was [[Alger Hiss]].</ref> They wanted to use the New Deal farm program to redistribute income and power AMONG farmers--they favored the tenant farmers and sharecroppers as opposed to the farm owners. (The "conservatives" wanted to redistribute wealth away from the cities to the farmers, meaning farm owners.)  The AAA head was Chester Davis, a "conservative" who strongly distrusted the leftists. The "conservative" position was that (in cotton) a landowner had to keep the "same number" of croppers. The red position was the landowner had to keep the same number ''and the same people'' as croppers. The radical solution would have the effect of locking the croppers to a piece of land--something like serfdom did in old regime Europe. The radicals wanted that so they could eventually build a stable base of voters among the croppers (who otherwise moved so often they seldom could be mobilized.)

In 1933-35 there was a group of leftist lawyers had moved into the Agriculture department, led by Jerome Frank. They were big city people who were on the far left; several were secret Communists or fellow travelers.<ref>One who later became infamous as a Soviet spy was [[Alger Hiss]]. Jess Gilbert, "Eastern Urban Liberals and Midwestern Agrarian Intellectuals: Two Group Portraits of Progressives in the New Deal Department of Agriculture," ''Agricultural History,'' Vol. 74, No. 2 (Spring, 2000), pp. 162-180 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/3744845 in JSTOR]</ref> They wanted to use the New Deal farm program to redistribute income and power AMONG farmers--they favored the tenant farmers and sharecroppers as opposed to the farm owners. (The "conservatives" wanted to redistribute wealth away from the cities to the farmers, meaning farm owners.)   

One day in early 1935 Davis was on a trip and the legal office got the acting head to send out a ruling (written by Hiss) that protected tenant farmers in cotton. Davis was outraged as were southern farm owners, the Farm Bureau (the main national organization of farmers) and politicians. Davis got approval from Wallace and in Feb. 1935 fired the main leaders. The leftists appealed to Wallace and FDR but they approved the purge. <ref> Lawrence J. Nelson, "The Art of the Possible: Another Look at the 'Purge' of the AAA Liberals in 1935.' ''Agricultural History'' 1983 57(4): 416-435. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/3742633 in JSTOR]</ref>

The AAA head was Chester Davis, an "agrarian" who belonged to the more  "conservative" faction that deeply distrusted the leftists as un-American. The agrarian position was that (in cotton) a landowner had to keep the ''same number'' of croppers. The red position was the landowner had to keep the same number ''and the same people'' as croppers. The radical solution would have the effect of locking the croppers to a piece of land--something like serfdom did in old regime Europe. The radicals wanted that so they could eventually build a stable base of voters among the croppers (who otherwise moved so often they seldom could be mobilized.)

The radical plan failed in the AAA because of the 1935 purge, but then Tugwell, forced out of the AAA, and other leftists tried to mobilize the croppers and tenants through two new agencies, the "Resettlement Administration" (RA) and the "[[Farm Security Administration]]" (FSA). Their efforts failed because the tenants wanted money to buy land and become landowners and the reds saw that meant losing the proletariat. During World War II most of the sharecroppers and tenants (white and black) left farming and moved to town for much better paying jobs.  

 

The radical plan failed in the AAA because of the 1935 purge, but then Tugwell, forced out of the AAA, and other leftists tried to mobilize the sharecroppers and tenants through two new agencies, the "Resettlement Administration" (RA) and the "[[Farm Security Administration]]" (FSA). Their efforts failed because the tenants wanted money to buy land and become landowners and the reds saw that meant losing the proletariat. During World War II most of the sharecroppers and tenants (white and black) left farming and moved to town for much better paying jobs.

==Goals==

==Goals==