One of the most iconic parts of the Democratic Party’s history is the New Deal. The wide range of worker’s rights & protections included unemployment benefits, social security, a jobs program, abolition of child labor & the minimum wage. Since then, the Democratic Party has boasted off FDR signing the various pieces of legislation to underscore their alleged support for workers. The New Deal was so popular among the working class people, that Roosevelt was elected four times — and is still regarded as one of the most beloved Presidents by Americans.

However, there is history behind Franklin D. Roosevelt and the way the New Deal came to be, that has purposely been erased and forgotten.

During the early 20th century, Leftists were organizing unions and fighting for worker’s rights. People proudly and openly proclaimed themselves as unionists, socialists, communists, anarchists, and other Leftists — in the streets, at home and at work. As the great depression came into existence, the working class was decimated. As millions of people moved into Hoovervilles with the crash of the capitalist economy, Leftists began to demand immediate action from Roosevelt.

Economics Professor Richard Wolff during a Global Capitalism lecture, May 2016

To say that Roosevelt was anything but reluctant to sign the New Deal, as if he really wanted to do what he did, would be ahistorical. If the New Deal Coalition; the unionists, the socialists, the communists, and other Leftists, did not organize and did not threaten Roosevelt, many many things would have been missing, if not the entire New Deal. Roosevelt signed the New Deal and enacted those programs that were so popular among the American people, and still are so popular among Americans, because of Leftists. Because he was afraid of not being elected and the threat of a revolution. It wasn’t so much that Roosevelt wanted the New Deal as much as organized Leftists made FDR enact the New Deal.

Many people within the ruling class at the time were very unpleased with FDR’s decision and would much rather have had FDR use police-force.

Communist-led march in 1932 called “Ford Hunger March” where four people were murdered by the police under Democratic Mayor, Frank Murphy

This historical reality is incredibly important now that we fast forward nearly a century later, to 2016. Since McCarthyism and the end of most Leftist organizations and political parties, the Democratic Party and more so Republican Party have spent half a century dismantling social programs as much as possible. The decentralization of wealth of the bourgeoisie under the New Deal allowed for the working class people to be able to escape Hooverville. But for the last half century, since the end of the New Deal Coalition and the assimilation of many Leftists into the Democratic Party, the American bourgeoisie has and is trying to, systematically dismantle(d) the New Deal programs and prevent more from rising.

Whether it was with Reagan and neoliberal trickle-down economics, a wide range of bipartisan austerity measures, or Bill Clinton & “the end of welfare as we know it”, the American bourgeoisie has successfully been able to re-centralize their wealth. The assimilation of Leftists into the Democratic Party has allowed for little-to-no pressure to force Democrats to be any bit left-wing, as they did during the Great Depression. Perpetually voting Democrats like Bill Clinton and Obama out of fear despite massive, billion-dollar cuts to food stamps and attempts to slash social security, have allowed for the decimation of the working class.

In 1954, the Communist Control Act was signed by Republican President, Eisenhower. In the Senate, it passed unanimously and in the house, only two people voted against it; one democrat, one republican. This legislation was a method of preventing Leftists from organizing and fighting for the working class. It not only outlawed the Communist Party of the USA but also outlawed members of communist organizations from being able to democratically assume office. The Democrats alongside of Republicans effectively criminalized the people that made the New Deal possible.

During the last century, both Democrats and Republicans have actively and happily attacked Leftists in order to prevent a repeat of the New Deal. Under Woodrow Wilson, his attorney general, A. Mitchell Palmer deployed the “Palmer Raids” in order to stop Leftists from becoming as powerful as historically were and could be. These raids targeted Leftists and hundreds were exiled. In respects to the failure of stopping Leftists during the first Red Scare to stop the future New Deal from being demanded and passed, what follows by the Democrats and Republicans was more successful.

During the later half of the 20th century, Democrats and Republicans came together to repress the Left. One major way of doing so was with COINTELPRO. COINTELPRO consisted of a series of FBI missions and activities to frame, sabotage and otherwise destroy and end a wide range of Leftist movements and leaders. Under many Democratic Presidents including FDR himself, were actively repressing and attacking Leftists. Presidents Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson were all actively supporting the FBI’s anti-Leftist missions. Kennedy as a prominent example pushed for the FBI to wiretap and smear Martin Luther King Jr. as a communist. His brother, Robert F. Kennedy, personally authorized as Attorney General, various policies to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, neutralize or otherwise eliminate” Leftist groups and leaders.

One person in particular, Martin Luther King Jr., was targeted. King was targeted by the State for being anti-racist as well as being anti-capitalist. The FBI under JFK/Johnson called King, “the most dangerous and effective Negro leader in the country” and that he ‘knowingly, willingly and regularly cooperated with and took guidance from communists.’

In 1968, before King was assassinated, he was organizing the Poor People’s Campaign. This campaign was set to, in essence, deliver another New Deal — “an economic bill of rights”. This economic bill of rights proposed by King was to give every person what they need in order to survive. King called for and demanded beyond what the Leftists of FDR’s time were able to get — he called for a guaranteed minimum income, rent control, and so on.

Democrats and Republicans alike attacked King for organizing the Poor People’s Campaign. Nixon told congress to not even think about it. Democratic senators like John McClellan accused King and protesters of attempting to start riots. The campaign brought together People of Color, some working class whites and varying organizations such as National Association of Social Workers and strong endorsements from the few unionists, socialists and other Leftists that were not silenced by Democrats and Republicans. This caused great fear to the American bourgeoisie; after FDR and the New Deal, they knew what this could possibly lead to. In fact, this is how the entire Johnson administration prepared and reacted to the Poor People’s Campaign:

“The whole Johnson administration reacted as though the campaigners were an invading horde from a strange land intent on the violent disruption of the government rather than fellow Americans, most of whom were underprivileged & powerless nonwhite citizens. Many Kennedy-Johnson government liberals acted no differently than as if they had signed on as outriders in Hoover’s private war against King and the poor people’s movement.” — Gerald D. McKnight from “The Last Crusade: Martin Luther King Jr., The FBI, And The Poor People’s Campaign”

It was the unionists, socialists and communists that fought for and made sure that the New Deal was delivered to the working class people of America. The legacy that the Democratic Party have worn as a badge of honor is a legacy brought to you by actual Leftists, that they were reluctant to do and only did out of fear of a socialist revolution and losing. A legacy that has been attacked by Democrats like the snakes in the grass that they are. FDR wasn’t looking out for the working class, the Leftists were. After the years of the first red scare and anti-Leftist propaganda by Democrats and Republicans alike to prevent another New Deal — or even a revolution — the Poor People’s Campaign rose. It threatened the American bourgeoisie and the Democrats actively took measures making sure it was not successful. This was then followed by more repression that still exists to this very day.

During the entire Democratic Primary, Democrats have red-baited Bernie Sanders for even the bare slightest bit of Leftism. Policies like universal healthcare, free higher education, and so on were policies constantly subject to vile red-baiting by the media and Clinton campaign. The first thing asked to Senator Sanders on the first Democratic Debate was “Does Sanders’ socialist views give Republicans ammunition for attacks?” After Sander’s was asked that, Hillary spewed more red-baiting, implying he is anti-freedom for being a socialist. From there, the Clinton campaign was red-baiting Bernie Sanders every step of the way, as much as they possibly could. Currently, the Clinton Campaign and bourgeois pundits are pushing a new strand of McCarthyism and Russophobia.

The Democratic Party’s propaganda is that they are the champions of the New Deal and of the working class. This is a lie. Leftists are the ones that brought the American people the New Deal and it was the Democrats that needed to be threatened to do it. It was the Democrats that repressed the Leftists that brought the working class people relief from capitalism. It was the Leftists that sought to help the working class people even more during the mid 20th century and it was the Democrats that successfully prevented it. And it is the Democratic Party attempting to neutralize the Left now.

Instead of praising the Democratic Party for fighting against Leftists that want to and try to help the working class people and all marginalized people, don’t. You should be thanking your local Leftists for fighting for you.