Political Agenda in The Grapes of Wrath The Grapes of Wrath is a film that was originally a novel by John Steinbeck that exposes the desperate conditions in which migrating farm families of America during the 1930s period live. The film is about a family that emigrates west to California during the great economic depression of the 1930s. The Joad family had to abandon their home and their livelihood. They had to uproot and drift because tractors were rapidly industrializing their farms along with topsoil erosion to create “the Dust Bowl.” The bank took possession of their land because the owners were unable to repay the loan. The film shows how the Joad family copes with the move to California, how they survive the cruelty of the landowners who take advantage of them, their poverty and willingness to work. Government and political figures also abuse their power to maintain such a lack of balance of power between workers and businessmen, yet some branches of government protect workers. During the Dust Bowl, hundreds of thousands of Southerners faced many hardships, which is the basis of the film. John Steinbeck wrote this fictional novel to describe the harsh conditions during the Dust Bowl. The Dust Bowl occurred in the west-central part of America, especially in Oklahoma. These people in Oklahoma who lost their jobs due to the Depression and at the end of the Dust Bowl were called "Okies". The mistreatment of the "Okies" in The Grapes of Wrath can be concluded as valid. During the Red Scare, Americans distrusted other Americans, especially some government organizations. When a man was telling the "Okie" group that pay and work are minimal in California, an aristocrat or government official accused the person of being a communist. This represents the hatred of communists from the government's point of view. In The Grapes of Wrath, the Californians wanted to free the "dirty" Okies from California because they were afraid of them. They were afraid that the Okie would take their land. The California police also beat them for no good reason because they wanted the Okies to leave the state. The police, shown as corrupt thugs, killed Casey because he was "agitating" the public. Some government organizations were aware of the harsh living and pay conditions faced by the Joad family, yet they tried to suppress it..