The Great Depression, Working-Class Strife, and the CPUSA: Understanding Propaganda in John Steinbeck's in Dubious Battle

As one reads John Steinbeck's In Dubious Battle (1936), one can't help but notice that the novel is part storytelling and part propagandizing. As a consequence, one finds it hard to view it as a literary work, but one can easily view it as a piece of propaganda. However, although the novel is rooted in topical issues such as the Great Depression, working-class struggle, and the CPUSA (Communist Party of United States of America), the novel can not be dismissed as pure propaganda. In essence, all propaganda presents a call to action (the purpose of the work being to make the reader initiate certain acts: social, religious, or political). This "call to action" is central in much of working-class literature (literature written by working-class people about their class experience). In fact, one can argue that the weakness of propaganda fiction is that it becomes obsolete once the injustices it exposes have been addressed. However, In Dubious Battle not only brings attention to topical working-class issues: it also grapples with the universal, endless, and abstract topic of human nature.

It is easy to understand why many readers would dismiss In Dubious Battle as mere socialist propaganda. The setting, characters, and plot of the novel revolve around topical socialist issues of the age. The novel takes place during the Great Depression (a period that spurred many socialist forms in the United States). The main characters are members of the Party (Reds/Communists). And the plot revolves around a working-class strike. In order to understand the significance of propaganda in the novel, one must first take into account the historical and theoretical atmosphere relevant to the discourse found in In Dubious Battle.