As we briefly touched upon in the discussion of this film, “The Grapes of Wrath” can be symbolically used as a criticism of the capitalist system during the 1930s, specifically the proletariat being exploited by the system. Critics labeled the film “socialist” or “Marxist”, and farming unions and government agencies alike condemned it.
Clell Pruett burns a copy of The Grapes Of Wrath as Bill Camp and another leader of the Associated Farmers stand by. “One member of the county board of supervisors denounced the book as a ‘libel and lie.’
Despite critics in the United States giving the film a Red label, it received a different criticism from a country that no one could question fit all of those same labels: the Soviet Union. In 1948, Joseph Stalin allowed theaters in the Soviet Union to show “The Grapes of Wrath” for reasons that we can assume to be anti-capitalism propaganda, showing destitution that the Okies endured in the face of an oppressive capitalist system (Whitfield). Just a few short yea
