Zinn’s thesis 8:
Most of the people did not benefit from this economic progress.
Opposing view:
Look around at today’s standard of living and ask how credible is this point of view, that the products of the Industrial Revolution did not reach the American people? The Howard Zinn video “The People Speak” uses scenes from the Great Depression while making this point—scenes from the worst economic disaster in our nation’s history, but those ten years hardly do justice to telling the long-term story of American productivity and prosperity for the last two hundred years.
How does capitalism make the progress that it does? And how does one answer such a question if one insists on only focusing on the worst financial crises in the nation’s history while ignoring long-term patterns of growth and development? While the working class of any era may be justifiably concerned with their own living and working conditions, the fact remains that America also created a middle and upper class of considerable depth, diversity, and wealth.
The existence of poor people and of exploited workers does not mean prosperity and productivity is only a figment of someone’s imagination. In fact, the United States became the leading industrial nation by 1900, producing more iron and steel than England, France, Germany, and Japan. The industrial revolution that began in the 1800s shows no sign of letting up even today, having given rise in turn rise to an amazing technological revolution.
This country has created a very high standard of living for most of its people—and while it is true that not all have partaken of this new wealth equally it would be illogical to say that America’s productivity hasn’t represented a giant qualitative leap forward in material prosperity for millions of Americans.
It is one-sided to constantly harp on the worst aspects of poverty without acknowledging the tremendous forms of material progress the country has made, and continues to make, measured by whatever criteria one chooses.
