Lincoln T.

Eggertz
Written Assignment #5
History 1700
In John Steinbecks exert from Harvest Gypsies: On the Road to the
Grapes of Wrath (1938), he describes the scene of agricultural
economics in the western United States. He specifically refers to the
migrant workers that have immigrated to America to work the fruit
fields of California, and how they were viewed by society. Through his
description, I have concluded that the migrant farm workers in the
early 1900s were just as invaluable to capitalism and agricultural
economics today as they were then, and that their working conditions
then and now are equally as tragic.
The first element of my argument points to the nature of capitalism,
which can have a tendency to take advantage of any circumstance that
will allow an increased profit margin. By definition, capitalism is an
economic and political system in which a countrys trade and industry
are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state(1).
The labor offered by the migrant workers was undoubtedly cheaper
than that of the American citizens. Without regulation, this allowed the
land and farm owners to take advantage of the migrant labor. In a time
when hundreds of thousands were unemployed, seeing migrant
workers with jobs was undoubtedly frustrating to anyone who could not
find work, which most likely led to some of the unfavorable viewpoints
Steinbeck describes in his writings.
Frustration from citizens and society towards the migrant workers leads
to the second element of my argument, which is that even though
unemployment was at one of its highest points in the brief history of
the U.S, the work offered in the fields was extremely difficult, and was
most likely something that was not sought after by American
workforce. The migrant workers and their families then filled in this gap
in labor. It is also important to remember that this was not long after a
time in the U.S. when improved labor conditions were something that
had been sought after and protested for by the working class of
society. In a story ran in The Economist, the picking jobs were actually
offered to the general American public, At a time of high
unemployment, many Americans are convinced that these aliens take
American jobs. As a test, this summer the United Farm Workers (UFW),
the main agricultural union, launched a campaign called Take Our
Jobs, inviting willing Americans to work in the fields. In the following
three months 3m people visited takeourjobs.com, but 40% of the
responses were hate mail.(2). Ultimately, at the end of the campaign
that September, seven Americans had taken jobs as pickers in the
fields. This shows the irony in the views held by American society,

which is reinforced by Steinbeck, The migrants are needed and they

are hated.they are hated for the following reasons, that they are
ignorant and dirty people, that they are carriers of disease, that they
increase the necessity for police and the tax bill for schooling in a
community.(3)
The third element of my argument compares the current working and
living conditions of migrant workers to the picture Steinbecks paints in
his exert. Through research, it is apparent to me that the working
conditions and general viewpoint held by society has changed very
little. In the same story from The Economist, a journalist follows one
migrant familys journey from Oaxaca Mexico, illegally across the
border and into the United States to find work in the fruit and
vegetable fields of California, And thus they joined the vast
undocumented workforce that undergirds America's food supply. The
government estimates that more than 80% of America's crop workers
are Hispanic (mostly Mexican), and more than half are illegal
aliens.(4). Many of them work ten to twelve hours a day, in
unfavorable conditions which require most of their time spent working
either bent over or on their hands and knees. This work also includes
high temperatures, and exposure to pesticides, among other things, all
for less than minimum wage. It can also be noted that as of 2013,
seasonal farmworkers had not yet been included in the Fair Labor
Standards Act.
And finally to address the second point of my third element, which is
that today, just as in the 1930s, workers and their families are subject
to hostile attitudes from American society. Steinbeck writes As one
little boy in a squatters camp said, When they need us they call us
migrants, and when weve picked their crop, were bums and we got to
get out.(5). To compare, in The Economists story, its subject family
refers to their fear of letting their little girls outside to play, stating,
He used to let Diana (with whom his wife was pregnant during their
crossing) play outside. But then the American neighbours, who seem
generally hostile, complained about noise and threatened to call the
cops(6). Unfortunately it seems through these examples that the
tragic conditions that these families tolerate have changed little in the
last 85 years.
An opposing view to my argument might state that the migrant
workers are not, and have never been, forced to make the dangerous
journey across the border into the United States to work these
hazardous and underpaid jobs; with which I would agree. Most of the
time the reasons these families choose this way of life can be traced
back to their country of origin and the living conditions present there.
This is a different topic all together, but I can soundly say that living

conditions that have the ability to drive individuals to continue

pursuing this type of life through generations over the course of eight
decades is an even more saddening story. Given the cost of living and
inflation, the pay these workers receive for their work is still as
undervalued as it was in 1930s.
To conclude, the unfortunate situation of the migrant workers detailed
by Steinbeck in the short exert in our text and his iconic story, Grapes
of Wrath, coupled with research about the current state of agricultural
economics and its farm workers shows that little has changed for both
the workers and land owners who employ them. This seems especially
true regarding capitalism working effectively to take advantage of a
specific workforce in order to increase profit margins. Migrant workers
are responsible for a large portion of the fruits and vegetables
consumed by the American public. Next time Im at the grocery store
and grab a bundle of strawberries to take home, Ill definitely be
thinking of more than just the low price.

Works Cited:
Primary Resources:
From John Steinbeck, The Harvest Gypsies: On the Road to the
Grapes of Wrath (1938), from Give Me Liberty! ; By Eric Foner, page
657
(3, 5)

Secondary Resources:
(1),

Google definitions, https://www.google.com/search?

client=safari&rls=en&q=capitalism&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8; Date
accessed November 30th 2015
(2, 4, 6),

from Fields of Tears, published by The Economist, Dec 16th

2010;
http://www.economist.com/node/17722932; date accessed November
30th 2015