ABSTRACT

One might speculate about what economics would be like without a crisis theory or psychology without a body of material seeking to explain the growth and resolution of psychic tensions. The constitutional crisis of 1935–1938 was the final term in the propositional sequence of their reasoning. Today a similar group in the country has fetishized a rigid political system. The course that the constitutional crisis ran is fairly clear, and has been given some precision in Mr. Jackson’s narrative. The victory of Congress deflected attention from the actual resolution of the constitutional crisis through the play of power politics upon doctrine. The varied forces that had been generating opposition, for one reason or another, to the social philosophy or the political tactic of the Administration were polarized around the issue. The imperatives of production become political imperatives. The scope of labor choice and bargaining and organization becomes a question fraught with immense political importance.