Production-for-Use or Production-for-Profit?: The Contradictions of Consumer Goods Production in 1930s Work Relief

A variety of work relief projects were implemented in the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), the first U.S. federal relief agency begun in May 1933 and lasting until December 1935. They included construction, projects for professionals (e.g., writers, artists, actors and musicians), and production of consumer goods. The construction and professional projects elicited criticisms of "make-work," i.e. that little of value was produced. In contrast, the output of the consumer goods production projects was clearly useful, as canned food, garments, mattresses, bedding, and other goods were produced and then distributed to relief recipients. But these projects, termed production-for-use by FERA administrators, came under fire from capitalists for competing with the private sector. As a result, production-for-use projects that capitalists found offensive were terminated by the time the Works Progress Administration (WPA) began in late 1935, and no such government production of consumer goods has been repeated since. In this paper, I examine the FERA production-for-use projects, discuss the contradictions of "make-work," and describe the effects on government work programs since the 1930s.