history dwr kq2

• By 1933 world unemployment reached 30 million with 3 million of them British. Worst hit areas of Britain were those who were still heavily dependent on old industries. The two worst hit places in Britain were South wales and north-east England. You could see how humiliating and devasting unemplyoment was on people in Wales, particularly in the valleys. Rhondda valleys saw a massive rise in unemployment, it was an employment black spot with unemployment rates at almost 40%
• A man without work was entitled to benefit from the unemplyment insurance scheme for the first six months, this is called the dole
• In 1931 the dole was cut by 10% and the government introduced the means test.
• The means test was designed to control and reduce the amount of dole families were recieveing.
• The means test was very unpopular and created tensions because if an older child had work, or a mother had a part time job, or a grandparent was living in the house without paying rent the dole coyld be refused. Heirlooms had to be sold and saving spent before the dole would be recieved.
• The first hunger march was in 1905, this type of protest drew the publics attention to the suffering people in areas that politcians seemed to ignore.
• In 1936 in Jarrow a town in north east england people were desperate and organised a meeting with the cabinet minister, however he told them to go home and work out their own salvation.
• The people marching in the jarrow march were told their dole had been reduced due to them not maling themsleves avaliable to work during the time of the march. The jarrow march did gain sympathy from the public but made very little impact on the government.
• the people of Jarrow organised a non-political march to London. 200 men, in their Sunday best, led by the Mayor of Jarrow, the MP Ellen Wilkinson and some town councillors, marched peacefully for over 450 km. The marchers recieved great support and sympathy everywhere, when they arrived in london there was little support from the government.
• Rhondda, Autumn 1927- Two years before the Wall Street Crash, the Rhondda was already struggling with high poverty levels. On Sunday 18 September, a meeting named the 'Red Sunday in Rhondda' called for a march to London to raise awareness of the economic difficulties. Due to disagreements between different organisations the march never took place. The planned march highlighted both the poverty in the Rhondda, and the feeling that politicians in London did not understand the area.
• 5 September 1931 - 112 people, including 12 women, took part in a march to Bristol, with a third of the marchers from the Rhondda. Under the slogan 'Struggle or Starve', the march was broken up by the police in Bristol.
• 14 October 1932 – there was a nationwide hunger march to London. 2,500 marchers from all over Britain participated, including 375 from south Wales.
• Unemployment could result in poverty, a failure to meet basic living costs, and a sense of hopelessness. Poverty affected the lives of many people, both physically and mentally.
• Often, the women suffered more then men, they would neglect their own health to help their families and had to make the greatest sacrifices. They would eat the smallest portions at meal times as they struggled to feed their families.
• Families of the unemployed ate a lot of cheaper food such as potatoes and bread with margarine, but little of more nourishing food types like meat, vegetables, fresh fruit and milk. This made them more likely to suffer other illnesses.
• According to government statistics, between 1931 and 1935 the death rate in women between 15 and 35 years old was more than double in areas of high unemployment compared to other areas.
• making a small amount last a long amoun of time is the meaning of making ends meet
• Thousands of unemployed workers and their families moved from Wales to the more prosperous or less affected areas, such as the Midlands and south-east England. In their search for work and a new hope, some took up the government scheme which was arranged to find work and accommodation in England for unemployed Welsh workers.
• 430,000 left Wales during the 1920s and 1930s. Merthyr Tydfil lost 10,000 people during the 1930s
• The radio appeared in 1922, but soon they were cheaper to purchase as they were mass produced. By 1937, half the households in Britain, even in the poorer areas of Wales, had a radio.
• In 1937, a Welsh region of the BBC gave radio in Wales a further boost with local programmes being made in both Welsh and English. The BBC was able to offer a great variety, including live theatre, news, music, plays and comedy.
• The cinema was probably the most popular form of entertainment in the 1930s. Silent films had been shown since the beginning of the century, but from the end of the 1920s people were attracted to the new talkies.
• By 1934, Cardiff had over 20 cinemas and there were over 320 in the whole of Wales. It became a place for young people to meet, children to watch action-packed matinees, and for adults to briefly escape the reality of the Depression. The first Welsh language talkie was screened in 1935.
• By 1939 there were 4,776 cinemas in Britain and an average of 23 million tickets were sold per week.
• Rugby union was popular, and in 1935 the Welsh team beat both England and New Zealand. The Glamorgan cricket team enjoyed success in the 1930s. Tommy Farr was an extremely successful boxer and a Rhondda hero. His world heavyweight championship bout against the famous American boxer Joe Louis was legendary, even though he lost.
• The speaical areas act of 1934 was introduced by the government to provide help for areas worst hit by the depression. The Act appointed two commissioners to oversee grants of £2 million to encourage companies to move into speacial areas. By 1938, over £8 million had been spent, but only an estimated 14,900 new jobs had been created. The act also encouraged retraining and supported workers moving to other towns.
• The idea was that factories would be located together to form a trading estate. The largest of these, built in June 1936, was the Trefforest industrial estate located between Pontypridd and Cardiff. By 1939, only 2,500 workers were employed there. The new light industries on these estates could not absorb all the unemployed from the coal mining and ship building areas. However, the government continued to invest in the industrial estate, and by 1945 there were 16,000 people working in the Trefforest Industrial Estate.
• Hire-purchase - buying on credit, buy now pay later allowed people to get luxuries 'on the never-never'
• A number of new light industries emerged in the 1930s. Many of these new industries were powered by electricity instead of coal, so they did not need to be built near coalfields. They could be built nearer areas of high population such as the Midlands and south-east England.
• New goods came into production such as cars, radios, cookers and fridges. They were mass-produced in modern factories.
• Advertising was used to encourage consumers to buy these items through the hire purchase scheme. This was even the case for the more expensive items.
• The most purchased car, the Austin 7, could be bought for only £125 in 1936. This was £100 cheaper than in 1923.
• Major employers included car producers such as Ford of Dagenham, Hoover at Isleworth, west London and Cadbury at Bourneville, Birmingham.
• Areas which had needed the old or traditional industries certainly suffered: coal mining, eg Rhondda Valleys, cotton, eg Lancashire, steel and shipbuilding, eg Merseyside and Jarrow. Ellen Wilkinson, the Jarrow MP, referred to Jarrow as the town that was murdered.
• Areas that benefitted from employment in the new emerging light industries, eg motor vehicles, electrical goods their lives were very different- Improved housing and transport links, in addition to the rising employment and consumerism.