ABSTRACT
The Great Depression of the 1930s was the most severe trauma the nation had experienced since the Civil War. The severity of the collapse of the economic system caught most Americans by surprise. A crisis of capitalism grew out of the failure of the economy to provide for either the needs of individuals or the needs of the social system. The American values of individualism and consumerism were counterproductive during the economic setback of the 1930s. A large number of Americans had come to want and expect a type of lifestyle they could no longer have. The economic hardships of the great depression fell disproportionately upon the family unit. The family has always been one of the primary organizational units within a society. Although the American communists saw conditions as ripe for revolution, the unfolding of historical events suggested that revolution was not the only response to economic misery.
