BRITAIN BETWEEN THE WARS
7.1 Economic and Social Problems
Unemployment
A big problem throughout but peaked 1921-22
(2 million) and 1929-32 (3 million)
Governments could not decide whether to
balance the budget or spend out of depression.
Social insurance schemes were brought in
and contributions and benefits increased.
A dole was brought in also.
The General Strike 1926
Employers had not modernised.
Coal industry not efficient and prices
collapsed when the French occupied the Ruhr.
Mines reduced wages and workers called a
strike and were locked out.
The TUC called a general strike in May.
The government organised emergency
supplies.
Many saw the strikers as communists and
became scabs.
After a week the TUC called off the strike.
The miners saw this as a sell-out and
stayed out for another 6 months. They gave in on worse terms than they had been
offered before.
1927 Trade Union and Trade Disputes Act
banned general and sympathetic strikes.
Midlands and South-East
Radio, motor vehicles and electrical goods
brought prosperity.
Homes got electricity and standard of
living increased.
Very different to the depressed North East
and Scotland.
Housing
After WW1 Lloyd George promised ‘homes for
heroes’
3 different housing acts led to slum
clearance and one million good council houses.
The private sector built 3 million houses.
The very poor still lived in bad
conditions.
Health
Generally things improved except for the
unemployed.
Infant and maternal mortality was high
among the poor.
TB was rife until 1950s.
Measles and whooping cough killed children
until vaccinations were introduced in the 1950s.
Communism
Thing never got as bad in Britain as in
Germany, Italy and USSR.
The Labour Party was a democratic outlet
for socialists.
Communism was discredited in the 1930s as
news of Stalin spread.
Governments used the ‘red scare’.
Fascism
Oswald Mosley started as a Conservative,
then joined Labour.
His ideas were not being accepted, so in
1932 he founded the British Union of Fascists.
Violence with communists was unacceptable
to the public and he never won a seat.
1936 the government banned political
uniforms and the Fascists faded away.
The Abdication Crisis 1936
Edward VIII and Mrs Wallace Simpson
(American, commoner and divorcee).
Baldwin’s government and the Church of
England opposed.
King abdicated and his brother became
George VI
They moved to Paris.
7.2 John Maynard Keynes: Profile
Cambridge educated.
Part of delegation to Paris Peace
Conference and opposed the vindictive nature of it.
Believed that slumps were short-term caused
by lack of demand and proposed government spending as a solution. He became a
major influence on government policies.
A member of the Bloomsbury Group of
intellectuals (Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster and Bertrand Russel)
An expert on Isaac Newton.
A collector of books and art.
Led the British delegation to the Bretton
Woods Conference that resulted in the IMF and the World Bank.
7.3 The Jarrow March
Great Depression hit shipbuilding, steel
and coal industries as trade declined.
Palmer’s Yard was closed in the 1930s
By 1934 70% of Jarrow was unemployed.
The Dole was costing the government a
fortune, so in 1931 they brought in a means test.
This meant families had to break up as
pensions counted. The alternative was the Poor Law where men had to work for
his keep and take home very little.
‘Hunger marches’ had been organised by the
National Unemployed Workers’ Movement in the 1930s.
Jarrow decided to do the same but stayed
clear of the NUMW as it was seen as communist.
200 men marched 300 miles
They got great support.
They had a civilised demonstration in Hyde
Park and went home.
No immediate gain but a ship-breaking yard,
an engineering works and a steel works were set up there by 1939
Why democracy survived in Britain.
- Not devastated after WW1
- No currency collapse and standard of living improved.
- Long tradition of parliament.
- USSR gave communism a bad name
- Fascist violence did likewise
- Social insurance and Housing lessened the impact of depression.
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