By 1934, grassroots challenges to the New Deal--from both sides of the political spectrum--appeard. Despite new government programs, unemployment hovered near 14 million and unrest was increasing. In California, novelist and former Socialist Upton Sinclair ran for governor on the EPIC (End Povery in California) platform, which promised to turn idle land and factories into self-governing cooperatives. Sinclair's campaign ended in defeat, but one year later President Roosevelt's signing of the Social Security Act signaled America's emergence as a modern welfare state.