261 pages

English

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Bread and Work , livre ebook

Pluto Press - Matt Perry

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

261 pages

English

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

Between the world wars, unemployment spread throughout the industrialised world like a disease. In Bread and Work, Matt Perry places this global unemployment crisis in its proper international context. Focusing on Britain, Europe and the United States, he compares and contrasts popular attitudes and the government response toward unemployment.

Looking beyond statistics and economic cycles, Perry investigates the human impact of unemployment. He uncovers the experience of being jobless from the perspective of those who lived through it, their employers and their communities. He uses oral history, memoirs, literary accounts, and newspaper articles to reveal the reality of unemployment.

Perry argues that the scale of the crisis has been minimised by historians who have tended to emphasise that prolonged unemployment was the problem of the distressed fringe.

Finally, Perry argues that the lessons of the 1930s have direct relevance today since the structural problems of industrial capitalism remain inherent.
Preface

List of tables

Introduction

1. Unemployment: history and perspectives

British Experience:

2. Government, Employers and Unemployment

3. The Experience of Unemployment

4. The Labour Party and Unemployment

5. Unemployed Struggles

International comparisons:

6. The Unemployed in the USA

7. The Unemployed in Europe

Conclusions

Glossary

Tables

Bibliography

Sujets

HISTORY

Economics

World

Business

Labour

Informations

Publié par	Pluto Press
Date de parution	20 janvier 2000
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781849640404
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,6250€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

BREAD AND WORK Social Policy and the Experience of Unemployment, 1918–39

Matt Perry

P Pluto Press LONDON • STERLING, VIRGINIA

First published 2000 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA and 22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166-2012, USA

The right of Matt Perry to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 0 7453 1486 4 hbk

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Perry, Matt, 1967– Bread and work : the experience of unemployment, 1918–39 / Matt Perry. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ). ISBN 0–7453–1486–4 1. Unemployment—Great Britain—History—20th century. 2. Unemployment—United States—History—20th century. 3. Unemployment—Europe—History—20th century. I. Title. HD5765.A6P47 2000 331.13'7941'09041—dc21 99–40488 CIP

Designed and produced for Pluto Press by Chase Production Services, Chadlington, OX7 3LN Typeset from disk by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton Printed in the EU by TJ International, Padstow

Contents

List of tables Preface Glossary Introduction 1 Unemployment: History and Perspectives Unemployment and industrial capitalism Unemployment and the demise of the Poor Law Late and contested recognition of unemployment The discovery of unemployment Unemployment in Britain between the wars: revisionism and its critics Sources of controversy: revisionism and historical methods THE BRITISH EXPERIENCE 2 Government, Employers and Unemployment Concessions born of unrest, 1918–22 Reform and retrenchment, 1922–39 Half-measures: public works, labour camps and special areas Employers’ organisations, bosses and unemployment Conclusion

The Experience of Unemployment The representation of unemployment The reality of unemployment Housing and health An authoritarian social policy: the administration of the unemployed The unemployed condition: dole and revolution? Conclusion

The Labour Party and Unemployment Labour Party thought and unemployment Dissenting economic views 1924 – Labour’s first term Labour’s second term, 1929–31 The aftermath

vii ix xii 1 10 10 13 17 19

23 28 35 37 38 41

45 48 56 58 59 63 69

74 78 80 81 82 85 86 90 97

BREAD AND WORK

5 Unemployed Struggles The National Unemployed Workers’ Movement and its major battles 1919–23 1931–36 The record of the National Unemployed Workers’ Movement INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS 6 The Unemployed in the United States Britain and the United States Individualism, welfare capitalism and the problem of unemployment Government and the emergence of mass unemployment, 1929–32 New Deal reforms and the unemployed, 1933–40 The American experience of unemployment in the 1930s Experiencing relief Unemployment, race and gender Representation and reality of unemployment The struggles of the American unemployed The communists and the Unemployed Councils Non-communist unemployed protests Conclusion 7 Unemployment in Europe between the Wars Unemployment insurance in Europe Unemployment insurance in crisis, 1929–33 Public works: work-creation and coercion Europe’s unemployed Unemployed women in Europe Deprivations of the unemployed Contemporary social research into unemployment European unemployed struggles Conclusion Conclusions Tables Notes Select Bibliography Index

103

104 104 106

113 125 127 127

129

130 133 137 139 141 143 147 148 153 158 160 161 165 168 173 176 178 182 187 192 195 202 209 235 241

List of Tables

1 British unemployment figures 2 Scales of benefit under Unemployment Acts, 1919–39 3 Comparison of wages and UAB scales 4 Comparison of unemployed income and need 5 British coal exports 6 Average number of persons employed in and about the coal mines in Great Britain 7 Maternal mortality in Wales, per 1,000 live births 8 Infant mortality rate: social class and inequalities by region, 1930–32 9Suicide rates during the depression in Great Britain 10 General Election results, 1918–35 11 Unemployment rates and figures, selected countries 12 Bankruptcies in selected countries; Number of bankruptcies index 13 Various indicators of the economic effects of the depression, selected countries 14 Origins of social insurance and welfare provision, selected countries 15 Suicide rates per 10,000 in Europe

vii

202 202 203 203 203

204 204

204 205 205 206

207

208 208

Preface

Unemployment spread throughout the industrialised world in the years between the two world wars; more virulent in some parts than in others, nowhere escaped. In the USA mass unemployment did not strike until after the Wall Street Crash of autumn 1929. At its height as many as 17 million may have been out of work, hundreds of thousands took to the road in search of work and shantytowns sprang up in the world’s wealthiest cities. Without federal relief for the unemployed, local and charitable schemes were incapable of dealing with the sheer scale of misery. Having tried to hold the line against federal relief, the Hoover administration fell, ushering in F.D. Roosevelt’s New Deal reforms. In Europe there were wide variations in the experience of depression: in the intensity and levels of joblessness, in relief systems and in political responses to unemployment. By the mid-1920s most European governments had introduced unemployment relief schemes, though these varied considerably. Not all the unemployed passively accepted their fate. There were riots and hunger marches across Europe, usually led by the Communist Parties. In France, there was no national unemployment insurance system and unem-ployment was relatively low, but persisted to the outbreak of war. In Germany, a highly developed unemployment insurance system was introduced just two years before the economic crisis broke. As the unemployment insurance scheme’s debts mounted in the face of paralysing unemployment, it, and German democracy, fell victim to the slump, which within three years had forced hundreds of thousands out of their homes and left 8 million without work. The British government had pioneered compulsory unemployment insurance in 1911 and extended it in 1920. This scheme remained controversial: it was unpopular with employers and the Right because they believed it encouraged dole abuse, while the unemployed organi-sations argued that it failed to provide adequate maintenance for the needy. Britain’s unemployment was exceptionally protracted, with at least 1 million out of work from 1920 to 1940. Though concentrated in the staple industries (coal, steel and iron and shipbuilding) and South Wales, Scotland and the North-East, unemployment was a perennial issue of national politics. It was a major concern in all interwar elections and brought down the Labour government in

BREAD AND WORK

autumn 1931. The 1930s are still remembered as the years of unem-ployment and the hunger marches. Every major collapse in international financial markets since the Second World War has raised the spectre of interwar unemployment. Time and again commentators conjure up images of the Wall Street Crash, the dole queues and political instability. This ghost has yet to be exorcised. In the last months of writing this book, the crises of the Far East and Russian economies produced the self-same speculations in the media. These events even prompted the millionaire financier George Soros, to pen a best-selling book entitledThe Crisis of Global Capitalism. In the 1930s, the unemployed endured a more or less common and bitter plight. We can piece together with some confidence their archetypal experience. They wiled away their the day tramping from workplace to workplace in search of a job, shuffling in queues at the labour exchange or standing on street corners chatting to friends; their clothes were shabby, their boots in need of repair. They felt hungry and weak and their complexion had greyed through lack of food. Their diet consisted of bread, potatoes and soup; meat was a rarity. A small number committed suicide, more attempted it, more still contemplated it. Their ill-nourished children found it difficult to concentrate at school. The outside world must have seemed irrational, its economic functions devoid of logic. Urban landmarks – the pithead, the factory, the shipyard cranes – stood derelict, idle, rusting. The depression sent the wheels of progress into reverse. Dreams of widening material prosperity were shattered by calamitous, though admittedly temporary, falls in industrial production. The hand of authority tightened its grip as economic cir-cumstances worsened with means testing, police oppression and the threat of the labour camp. The danger of such a picture though is that the effects of unem-ployment are too narrowly understood. The images convey a certain reality but miss much. Women and young people were denied the opportunities of work and independence. Strained government finances set one social class against another, and economic instability upset international politics. This book seeks to elucidate the experience of unemployment in an international context in order to examine why it has had such a profound impact on popular attitudes and policy-makers and why a generation hoped that those days would never again be seen. As such it is a challenge to the current revisionist orthodoxy of the character of British society in the interwar period.

I would like to dedicate this book to Frank Henderson, a friend and revolutionary socialist, who at the age of 16 in 1940 surveyed the ruins of his home town, Coventry, and decided that there was

PREFACE

something fundamentally wrong with the world and spent every one of his subsequent years fighting to put it right. This book would not have been possible without the kind assistance of others. I would like to thank Don MacRaild in particular for his scholarly support and advice. I am also grateful to Chris Bambery, John Charlton, Keith Laybourn and David Martin for reading and commenting on the typescript. Thanks also to Lynne Hunter for encouraging and sagacious comments in its early stages. And thanks to Christine for her patience.

Glossary

American Liberty League – right-wing organisation set up in 1934 to campaign against radicalism and the New Deal. (USA) Anomalies – various types of claimant who it was believed should not be eligible for benefits, in particular, married women and seasonal workers. (UK) Arbeitslosenversicherung und Arbeitsvermittlung Gesetz(AVAVG) – the 1927 law which established compulsory unemployment insurance in Germany. Bonus March – march on Washington by unemployed First World War veterans who demanded their bonus (veteran’s pension) early. (USA) Civilian Conservation Corps (March 1933) – public works programme initially of 250,000 forestry jobs. (USA) Civil Works Administration (November 1933–March 1934) – forerunner to the Works Progress Administration (q.v.). Work relief scheme engaging 4.2 million by January 1934 in public works such as roads, schools, airports amongst other activities. (USA) Comintern or Third International or Communist International – the body that brought together and organised the Communist Parties across the world; founded in 1919, disbanded in 1943. Courts of referees – local bodies that assessed eligibility of unemployed for benefits. (UK) Covenanted or standard benefit – unemployment benefit for those eligible for National Insurance. (UK) Deutschnationale Volkspartei(DNVP) – German Nationalist People’s Party; Protestant right-wing party. Deutsche Volkspartei(DVP) – the German People’s Party; right-wing pro-business party. Dole – a slang term originally used for uncovenanted benefits but soon used for all unemployment benefits. (UK) Emergency Banking Act (1933) – national bank holiday to stop the run on the banks. Federal regulation of the banks to restore confidence. (USA) Emergency Relief Act (May 1933) – Federal aid to states to provide direct relief for the unemployed. (USA)

xii