Скачать или смотреть The Auction That Broke the Banks — For Pennies,

This haunting photograph from 1936 captures a penny auction at a foreclosed farm in Michigan — one of the most striking examples of grassroots resistance during the Great Depression.
Throughout the 1930s, the economic collapse left hundreds of thousands of American farmers unable to keep up with mortgage payments. Banks and lending institutions moved swiftly to repossess farms, often stripping families of land they had worked for generations. In response, rural communities across the Midwest began organizing in quiet but powerful ways.
At penny auctions, farmers and neighbors agreed in advance to bid only token amounts — sometimes just a few cents — on everything being sold, from livestock and equipment to the land itself. This coordinated action drove auction prices down to virtually nothing, ensuring creditors received little to no return. A trusted member of the community would then “purchase” the property and quietly return it to the original owner, allowing the family to remain on their farm.
The nooses visible in the background of some penny auction photographs were not decorative. They reflected the tense atmosphere of the time and served as intimidation tactics aimed at discouraging outside bidders or speculators from interfering. While violence did not always occur, the message of collective solidarity was unmistakable: these auctions would not follow normal rules.
Penny auctions soon became powerful symbols of rural unity, civil disobedience, and survival. They were not merely about saving individual farms, but about defending entire communities and a way of life under threat from economic forces beyond their control.
By 1933, more than 200,000 farms had been foreclosed across the American Midwest. This crisis fueled organized movements such as the Farmer’s Holiday Association, which sought to halt foreclosures entirely and pressure banks and governments for relief. Though not all efforts succeeded, they left a lasting mark on American social and labor history.
This image is more than a historical curiosity. It is a reminder of how ordinary people, armed with cooperation rather than wealth, resisted an unjust system — one penny at a time.