The impact of the Great Depression

Question 1

US stock market collapse

Answer 1

1929 - lead to the Great Depression as US had been supporting the European economy since WW1 but now had to stop lending money and recall all loans.

Question 2

What brought about the Great Depression ?

Answer 2

US stockmarket crash + restructuring of British economy following WW1 - many left unemployed as a result

Question 3

What did industries have to do as a result of the Great depression ? (4)

Answer 3

• industries sold less
• pay workers less
• restrict working hours
• sack employees

Question 4

National insurance benefit

Answer 4

• set up in 1911 an covered workers in a few industries such as shipbuilding where work was not steady
• workers and employers paid into an unemployment fund and if work dried up the fund paid benefit for up to 15 weeks

Question 5

Out-of-work donation scheme (Dole)

Answer 5

set up by the government in Nov 1918 to help returning soldiers and war workers who could not find jobs - only a small amount was paid to everyday workers

Question 6

What were women expected to do following the war ?

Answer 6

Give up their jobs to returning men - no longer able to contribute to to family income

Question 7

Unemployment figures in Britain during Depression

Answer 7

• 1.5m unemployed in 1929 - rose to 2.4m in 1930

- 3,400,000 unemployed in 1932 - 17% of workforce BUT only 2,828,000 of unemployed received national insurance

Question 8

Ways the unemployed protested

Answer 8

• petitions
• wrote to the government
• wrote to newspapers
• trade unions set up
• took part in hunger marches to London; mostly organised by the NUWM established in 1921 - wanted to make the point that the unemployed were not lazy and wanted more work than benefits

Question 9

Import duties act

Answer 9

1932; 10-20% duty placed on all imports, but it didn’t work because other countries were doing the same.

Question 10

Unemployment stats in 1932

Answer 10

highest year for unemployment:
Wales = 36.5%
North East = 28.5%
Scotland = 27.7%
North West = 25.8%

Question 11

In what industries was unemployment in the 1930’s highest ?

Answer 11

Coal
Iron and steel
Cotton
Shipbuilding - all in North and East England, Scotland and Wales

Question 12

Unemployment stats of miners and shipbuilders

Answer 12

1932 - 34.5% of all miners and 62% of all shipbuilders unemployed

Question 13

Building of factories

Answer 13

• 80% of all new factories built from 1932 to 1937 were in London and usually for new industries such as car making - they ran mostly on electricity and not coal so worsened unemployment in coal industry
• Did keep unemployment up in London and the South East

Question 14

Chemical industry unemployment

Answer 14

Had 17.6% unemployment in 1932 (low) - shows that Great Depression did not effect all

Question 15

When did the labour party come to power ?

Answer 15

1929 - Ramsay MacDonald as prime minister - they made huge spending cuts to help with debts

Question 16

How much were workers wages cut after 1929 ?

Answer 16

10-15%

Question 17

Unemployment Insurance Act

Answer 17

1930 - many more people entitled to benefits resulting in greater costs for the government
-people no longer had to prove they were ‘actively seeking work’

Question 18

What did government ministers discuss in August 1931 ?

Answer 18

cutting benefit rates by 15% and setting up the means test - most ministers refused for they saw it would be too humiliating but government collapsed and MacDonald continued to be prime minister over National Government and went on to make these changes

Question 19

When did the National Government win the election ?

Answer 19

October 1931

Question 20

Means test

Answer 20

officials visited the houses of benefit claimants to examine living conditions to make sure they were poor enough for the dole - if their children earned any money per week then their dole was reduced

Question 21

Unemployment Act

Answer 21

1934 :

• clarified differences between types of benefits
• no means test
• everyone had right to National insurance which they were paid for 15 weeks, so long as they contributed
• the dole was given to the unemployed who couldn’t pay NI or had already received their 15 weeks

Question 22

Special Areas Act

Answer 22

1934:
- gave £2million to Scotland, Tyneside, Cumberland and South Wales
- local authorities applied for the money for their area but it was not evenly shared out - used for economic development and social improvement

Question 23

Special Areas (Amendment) Act

Answer 23

1937:

• gave tax cuts and low rents to businesses that moved into ‘special areas’
• government spent £5 million but had also given orders worth £24 million to firms in these areas by 1937
• By 1938, the government had spent £8,400,000 with one success being the opening of the Team Valley Trading Estate near Gateshead in 1938

Question 24

What did the Unemployed have to do weekly ?

Answer 24

visit the employment exchange to register as looking for work - some casual workers e.g. dock workers had to sign twice a day

Question 25

Unemployed hunger stat

Answer 25

A British Medical Association study in 1933 showed it cost 5s1d to feed person the minimum food for proper nourishment - by 1938 prices had risen and studies showed that 44% of those getting the dole had to manage on less than this

-lots of bread and potatoes but no fruit or milk

Question 26

How did the unemployed or poor afford goods?

Answer 26

Many joined savings clubs, where a regular amount was paid each week, then when enough was saved, goods were bought

Question 27

How were the unemployed effected psychologically?

Answer 27

• Confidence declined

- Low self-respect and self-esteem

Question 28

How was the physical appearance of the unemployed different to a normal person?

Answer 28

• Aged quicker

- Stance drooped

Question 29

Jarrow Crusade

Answer 29

March from Jarrow in Tyneside to London in 1936 to ask the government for work

Question 30

Who were the Jarrow marchers ?

Answer 30

200 of the fittest unemployed men in Jarrow

Question 31

How far did the Jarrow marchers travel ?

Answer 31

291 miles in 22 stages - they took a partition along with them which over 1000 people signed

Question 32

Who often supported Hunger marches ?

Answer 32

the British wing of the Communist party - caused authorities to often regard them with hostility and were brutally oppressed

Question 33

How was the Jarrow Crusade different to a hunger march ?

Answer 33

• had religious rather than political overtones
• had a religious service held by the bishop of Durham before they left - showed they were different to the communists and lent respectability to the march

Question 34

What caused the Jarrow Crusade ?

Answer 34

• Shipbuilding was the main industry in the North East and from the 1930’s onward there was a lot of unemployment
• in the 1930’s shipyard owners set up the National Shipbuilders Security ltd (NSS) to make industry more efficient - meant yards were bought up, close and sold off
• almost all Jarrow workers worked at the Palmers shipyard in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and it was closed by the NSS in 1934
• Could not get special areas money because there was no industry there

Question 35

unemployment stats in Jarrow

Answer 35

64% unemployed by 1935 - 6053 BUT did improve by 1936 as 4065 were unemployed - many were starving

Due to fewer ships being built because planes were taking over

Question 36

Jarrow and SAA

Answer 36

Jarrow was part of SAA of 1934 in the north-east but the area receive every little money - in 1936 when some areas could apply for money Jarrow couldn’t because there was no industry there to apply for it

Question 37

Why was the Jarrow march well organised ?

Answer 37

• four organising committees

- 200 best men chosen to march

Question 38

Opposition to Jarrow march

Answer 38

• NUWM wanted Jarrow to join a national march as it was weakening their efforts
• Central labour party and TUC opposed hunger marches and labour MP Ellen Wilkinson was told not support the crusade

Question 39

Actions taken on the crusade

Answer 39

• old bus carried cooking equipment
• people sent ahead to fixed place to organise cooking
• marched for 21 miles between stops - often stopped for more than a day so that they could hold public meetings to explain the purpose of the march and to show they were asking for work and not benefits

Question 40

Public reactions to the crusade

Answer 40

• local cinemas in some towns let marchers in for free
• Barnsley allowed marchers to use public baths for free
• some local churches gave them tea and food at stops - marchers in fact put on weight for they received more food than they got at home
• they sometimes slept in halls, schools or churches
• sometimes had to sleep in the workhouse
• regular donations were made to march funds by passing motorists, audiences at public meetings and general public

Question 41

How much did the crusade raise ?

Answer 41

£1,567 0s 5d of which £680 16s 11d came from the general public

Question 42

When did the Jarrow Crusade reach london ?

Answer 42

Saturday 31st October 1936

Question 43

Positive effects of Jarrow

Answer 43

• several marcher offered work although out of Jarrow - all but one refused
• MP Sir John Jarvis set up steel works in December 1937 after taking interest in the march employing 200 - but this gave the government an excuse to ignore Jarrow
• Crusade became a legend of having large public support
• after WWII labour party voted back in introducing NHS and Welfare state (“never go back to the days of the Jarrow Crusade”

Question 44

Limitations of Jarrow

Answer 44

• parliament did not debate the partition even though they accepted it
• marchers benefits were cut whilst on march - effecting them and their families ta home who were starving
• government felt it was not their commitment to make sure people had work
• political unity of marchers did not last long

Question 45

What were parties/other organisations reactions to the Jarrow Crusade?

Answer 45

• Labour was strongly against hunger marches and it saw this as one
• Conservatives were those who fed and housed members of the crusade