The Dirty Thirties Flashcards
The Dust Bowl and the Depression
The decade of the 1930s became known as the “Dirty Thirties” due to both the consequences of the Stock Market Crash impacting middle class and business owners in the cities, and the ecological disaster of the Dust Bowl, which impacted rural communities across Canada– particularly in the Western provinces. This economic and social downturn remained in effect until the start of the Second World War in September 1939.
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To make matters worse, 1929 saw a decade of bad harvests in the prairies. Droughts caused the crops to dry out, and there was widespread crop failure. There were also plagues of grasshoppers and various hail storms that affected the productivity of Canadian farms in the West.
Farmers were forced to abandon their farms and try to find work in the cities, where the depression was hitting hard.
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What was life like for farmers in the West
- In 1928, average income for a farmer was $1614, in 1933 it was $66
- Investments in farm tech meant farmers were already indebted
- Regular dust storms turned daylight into hours-long darkness
- Those living in the Dust Bowl developed “dust pneumonia”/”the brown plague”, which could be fatal
The combination of these two events, as well as the drop in prices of international commodities, (meaning Canada couldn’t get as much money for items it sold internationally) resulted in the Great Depression in Canada.
By 1933, 30% of Canadians were unemployed and 1 in 5 needed to get money from the government to survive. Throughout the decade, the unemployment rate never dropped below 12%– comparatively, the rate today is 5.5%. In the prairies, this rate reached 50%.
The Canadian government, under Prime Minister Bennett and his replacement Prime Minister King, believed that the economy would restore itself, and did not want the government to go into debt to help.
Local communities helped families and set up relief for the hungry and homeless, with soup kitchens and shelters. They would not provide support for unmarried men
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The government set up relief camps to aid unmarried men. They earned 20 cents a day doing various types of hard labour.
The conditions in these camps were terrible.
The workers decided to stage a cross country protest to gain better working and living conditions
They decided to travel by train to Vancouver, Regina, and Ottawa to draw attention to their protest.
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In April 1935, 1000 men walked out of their relief camps in protest
The men in the relief camps wanted what?
They met in Vancouver, boarded boxcars and began heading east.
- Higher Wages
- Medical Aid in the Camps
- The Right to Vote in Elections
- For the Worker’s Compensation Act to Insure Them
Prime Minister Bennett sent representatives to meet the trains in Regina. He asked for 8 delegates to come to Ottawa to meet with him, while the rest of the protesters stayed in Regina
The meeting with Bennett did not go well, and he insulted and threw out the delegates. They headed back to Regina where the protesters were waiting for them
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When the delegates returned the protesters discovered the RCMP had blocked the railways
On July 1st, 1935 a general meeting was called in a pulblic square. Over 2000 people showed up, only 300 of whom were on the trek.
The Police charged the crowd with batons on all four sides. The crowd was stunned. They fought back with anything they could find. This continued for 6 hours.
The RCMP used tear gas on the crowds but they kept rioting. Stores were burned, a policeman was killed, one trekker was killed, and 120 people were arrested.
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When it was over, Bennett agreed to allow the men to return home. He believed he had squashed a communist rebellion in Canada.
The Great Depression would continue for 5 more years in Canada. Poverty was so widespread, that people took the engines out of their cars and attached horses to them because they couldn’t afford the fuel. They called them Bennett Buggies.
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While RB Bennett didn’t pass any legislation to help the Depression, he often gave money out of his own pocket, sending cash to mothers who wrote asking for it for their children. However, formally the government never intervened. They believed in “lassez faire” economics, that the economy would eventually reset.
It took until 1939. It would take a war to bring Canada out of the economic turmoil of the 1930’s. World War II brought about the need for factories, and military service, and gave people jobs. The Great Depression was over.
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Anti-Immigration Attitudes - Causes
- When the Dust Bowl hit, they say the immigrant farmers as “foreigners” coming to take the limited jobs in the cities
- Economic instability leads to population trying to find a group to blame
Anti-Immigration Attitudes - Effects
- Mass Deportation (1 in 3)
- Anti-Immigration Laws, Immigrants were down to 16,000 in the 1930s from 126,000 prior
