Thread by @TristamPratori1

Expansionary fiscal policy wasn't orthodoxy on the left until the 1930s and 40s, many people forget this.

Before Roosevelt turned towards Keynesianism, he said you ''...can't get something for nothing.''

Rudolf Hilferding and the SPD thought large deficit spending was utopian.

https://twitter.com/Sharon_Kuruvila/status/1455285132546514948

I can't completely blame them for the skepticism, it was a new idea at the time and many people would've rather stuck with the tried and true rather than titanic financial experiments.

To be clear, the SPD wasn't against social spending. The Ebert-Hilferding finance ministry increased social welfare spending.

But they tried to balance the budget most of the time.

I think the SPD even called their fiscal and monetary policy, ''sound finance socialism.''

Absolutely degenerate phrase by modern standards, but most people didn't realize how wrong it was back then.