1: The Impact Of The Depression

Question 1

What was the national insurance benefit and when was it set up?

Answer 1

1911
It’s a benefit that covers workers in a dew industries like shipbuilding where work was not steady
One of the few financial supports workers had at the end of WW1

Question 2

What was the unemployment fund?

Answer 2

Workers and employers paid into the unemployment fund and if work dried up, the fund paid benefit for up to 15 weeks

Question 3

What did the government do in November 1918 to help the unemployed?

Answer 3

The government set up an Out-of-Work donation scheme aka the Dole which paid a small amount of benefit. The scheme was set up to help returning soldiers and war workers who couldn’t find a job.

Question 4

What did the Depression do to Britain after WWI?

Answer 4

Made unemployment much worse. In 1929 unemployment was 1.5 million but in 1930 it had risen to 2.4 million.

Question 5

Why were there hunger marches?

Answer 5

Unemployed were unhappy about the amount of support they had from the government and there were frequent marches organised by the National Unemployed Workers Movement to gain publicity from the government to get more benefits.

Question 6

In which industries and parts of Britain was unemployment the highest in the 1930s?

Answer 6

Coal, iron and steel, cotton and shipbuilding industries

North and East of England, Scotland and Wales

Question 7

What was the percentage unemployed in 1929 compared to 1932?

Answer 7

1929 - 8% unemployed

1932 - 17% unemployed

Question 8

What was the percentage of unemployed in 1932 in London, Scotland and Wales?

Answer 8

London - 13.5%
Wales - 36.5%
Scotland - 27.7%

Question 9

Who came into power in 1929 and what did the government need to sort out?

Answer 9

Labour - Ramsay MacDonald

The government needed money but the depression made it very hard to borrow money.

Question 10

What did the government do in 1929 to improve the failing economy?

Answer 10

They made huge spending cuts. They cut wages of government workers by 10-15%

Question 11

What did the government start to do to the unemployed in August 1931? What was the result?

Answer 11

They wanted to cut benefit rates by 15% to set up a means test. This test allowed officials to visit the benefit claimer’s home to examine the living conditions (to make sure they’re poor enough) and they had a right to know the amount of savings and money other family members earned. However most ministers disagreed with this because they thought it caused to much hardship and the government collapsed.

Question 12

Who is involved in the National Government?

Answer 12

Labour
Liberal
Conservative

Question 13

What and when was the Special Areas Act?

Answer 13

1934

£2 million aid for the unemployed in Scotland, the North East, the North West and South Wales

Question 14

What and when was the Unemployment Act?

Answer 14

1934
It made a clear division between National Insurance payments and the dole. National Unemployment Assistance Board was to run the dole from taxes.

Question 15

What was the employment exchange?

Answer 15

The unemployed had to go to the employment exchange at least once a week to register as looking for work and to collect your money.

Question 16

What percentage of people had to live with less than the minimum money for food nourishment in 1938?

Answer 16

44% of people that were getting the dole

Question 17

What was so shocking about Alfred Smith and his family?

Answer 17

Smith, his wife and his 4 children lived in a four room house with a tiny kitchen and he had been unemployed for 3 years. He spent most of his time looking for work. The family’s weekly budget was about £3 and Smith was extremely ill - mentally&physically. His story got posted in a newspaper to show the horror of some of the families without employment.

Question 18

What was shipbuilding like in the 1930s?

Answer 18

They suffered high levels of unemployment. Shipbuilders set up the National Shipbuilders’ Security Ltd to rationalise the industry, making it more efficient. They closed down a lot of shipbuilding places (including the one in Jarrow). Some shipbuilding areas were part of the Special Areas Act but it didn’t cover everyone.

Question 19

What is Jarrow and why was unemployment so high there?

Answer 19

It’s a town in Tyneside that was part of the Special Areas Act but they were never given the government contract as they had no industry to apply for it. Most workers in Jarrow worked at Palmers Shipyard but the NSS closed it down and unemployment in Jarrow was then 64% - many people were starving.

Question 20

What was the employment exchange?

Answer 20

The unemployed had to go to the employment exchange at least once a week to register as looking for work and to collect your money.

Question 21

What percentage of people had to live with less than the minimum money for food nourishment in 1938?

Answer 21

44% of people that were getting the dole

Question 22

What was so shocking about Alfred Smith and his family?

Answer 22

Smith, his wife and his 4 children lived in a four room house with a tiny kitchen and he had been unemployed for 3 years. He spent most of his time looking for work. The family’s weekly budget was about £3 and Smith was extremely ill - mentally&physically. His story got posted in a newspaper to show the horror of some of the families without employment.

Question 23

What was shipbuilding like in the 1930s?

Answer 23

They suffered high levels of unemployment. Shipbuilders set up the National Shipbuilders’ Security Ltd to rationalise the industry, making it more efficient. They closed down a lot of shipbuilding places (including the one in Jarrow). Some shipbuilding areas were part of the Special Areas Act but it didn’t cover everyone.

Question 24

What is Jarrow and why was unemployment so high there?

Answer 24

It’s a town in Tyneside that was part of the Special Areas Act but they were never given the government contract as they had no industry to apply for it. Most workers in Jarrow worked at Palmers Shipyard but the NSS closed it down and unemployment in Jarrow was then 64% - many people were starving.

Question 25

When did the NUWM organise a National Hunger March to London?

Answer 25

1936

Question 26

Why did Jarrow March with the NUWM?

Answer 26

They thought they’d get more recognition if they went independently

Question 27

Why was the march called the Jarrow Crusade?

Answer 27

To give it more respectability

Question 28

What happened on the Jarrow Crusade?

Answer 28

They covered 291 miles in 22 stages. They often held public meetings to explain why they were marching.

Question 29

What was the government reaction of the Jarrow Crusade?

Answer 29

They didn’t accept the petition. The cabinet disapproved of all the marches. The government stopped the marchers benefit payments while they were protesting. The Jarrow unemployment offered one job for one person but he refused it.

Question 30

What were some gains of the Jarrow Crusade?

Answer 30

Several people were offered work but had to leave Jarrow. John Jarvis (MP) set up a steel work in Jarrow but it only employed 200 men.

Question 31

What was the Jarrow Legacy?

Answer 31

The crusade became a legend and it inspired many other unemployed people to protest.