life during the depression

• Hunger march


  A march taken by a group of people in protest against unemployment or poverty.
• The dole

  • The Unemployment Insurance Act of 1920 created payments for unemployed workers to give them financial support while they found a new job.
  • These payments were known as 'the dole'.
  • Some believed the dole would become too expensive as unemployment increased, and it would discourage people from looking for work.
• Means test 


  Investigation to find whether an individual or family is eligible for government assistance.
• In 1931, the National Government introduced the means test to reduce the amount of dole that was paid. This meant a dramatic fall in living standards for families of the unemployed.
• The means test meant that before they could receive the dole, people had to have their housed inspected to check all their possessions and savings.
• The means tests were carried out by inspectors from the local Public Assistance Committee.
• Families could be forced to sell possessions if they wanted to receive the dole. If a family had family had any other sources of income, deductions were made from weekly payments.
• The means test was a great strain on family life.
• Some local authorities applied the means test very harshly, while others refused to carry it out.
• If the officials thought there was enough money in the house, they would stop the dole.
• It was humiliating for families to have to reveal their earnings, savings and the value of possessions.
• People did not like having to make their relatives live somewhere else.
• People hated having an inspector go through their belongings and being made to sell some of them.
• The National Unemployed Worker's Movement was set up to try to put pressure on the government. It organised a march in London on October 1932, with marchers attempting to present a petition to Parliament, though they were stopped by police.
• There were many protests against the means test, the most important were hunger marches. These were columns of unemployed men who marched across the country trying to bring attention to their situation. The marches began in the autumn of 1931.
• The Jarrow march - in 1936, the most famous hunger march originated in Jarrow, in the north-east of England, and went to London. It became known as the Jarrow Crusade.
• Jarrow was the worst affected town during the depression. Most people in the town were dependent on Palmers shipyard, which declined after the first world war. By the early 1930's, orders had stopped completely. The yard became too small for the type of ships that were being built. In 1934, a group of shipyard owners set up a company called National Shipbuilder's Securities to buy smaller yards and scrap them. Palmers was one of the first to go. Unemployment in Jarrow reached 80%.
• By the mid-1930s, malnutrition and poor health were widespread in Jarrow. Families were totally dependent upon support from the local government. A march was organised from Jarrow to London to attract attention to the plight of the town by taking a petition all the way to Parliament.
• The government was suspicious of hunger marches because they sometimes had connections to communists. Marchers often led to clashes with the police. The Trades Union Congress and the Labour Party did not support these marches, believing they only brought bad publicity for the plight of the unemployed.
• 200 men marched from Jarrow to London, led my the Mayor, the MP Ellen Wilkinson, and town councillors. They covered over 450 kilometres in 22 stages. Everywhere they went they received great support. They were put up in church halls and given free meals, and their shoes were repaired free of charge. Yet when they arrived in London there was little support from members of the government.
• Jarrow March achievements

  • petition presented to House of Commons
  • returned to Jarrow as heroes
  • police praised Jarrow marchers for being well organised
  • lots of support from the public
• Jarrow March limitations

  • did nothing to stir the government into action
  • Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin ignored the petition
• There were also protests from the Rhondda, an area of 16 mining communities in South Wales. Even before the Depression started, this area suffered from economic problems. As the Depression deepened, unemployment hit the area particularly hard. People turned to the idea of protests and hunger marches as a way of raising the government's awareness.
• On 14 October 1932, a nationwide hunger march began. A total of 2,500 marchers set out from different points around Britain From South wales, 375 marchers set off from the Rhondda area. The intention was to present a petition to Parliament, demanding the abolition of the means test. The police confiscated the petitions so the marches didn't deliver them to Parliament.