Search results
You are looking at 1 - 9 of 9 items for
- Author: Stephanie Ward x
- Refine by access: All content x
Unemployment and the State in Britain offers an important and original contribution to understandings of the 1930s. This is the first full-length study of the highly controversial household means test introduced by the National Government in 1931. The means test was often at the centre of public and private debates about unemployment, and it generated the largest examples of street protests in the interwar period. The book examines the construction of the image of the means test and claims that it worsened the position of the long-term unemployed. The idea that the test led families to separate, malnutrition and ill health to increase and suicide rates to escalate ensured its lasting significance politically and culturally. How the unemployed responded to the measure and the wider impact of collective action is a central theme of this book. Through a comparative case study of south Wales and the north-east of England the nature of protest movements, the identity of the unemployed and the wider relationship between the working class, local authorities, the police and the government is explored. Based upon extensive primary research, this study will appeal to students and scholars of the depression, social movements, studies of the unemployed, social policy and interwar British society.
This chapter serves as an historiographical introduction to the major themes of the book. It provides a critique of the historiography of the interwar depression and examines the evolution of studies of unemployed protest movements. The case for the value of regional comparative histories as a way of exploring the history of the depression is made. The regions of south Wales and the north-east of England are introduced. One of the purposes of the book is to compare the protests of the unemployed. To this end, the nature of industrialisation, work practices, trade unionism, political culture and gender relations within south Wales and the north-east are compared. The major themes of the work and the importance of examining the means test are outlined.
This chapter explores the economic and employment situation in Britain from the close of the First World War. It charts the unfolding of a world economic crisis in the 1920s and the response and actions of various international and national organisations. Early organisations and protests amongst unemployed groups are examined to demonstrate how the out of work became more organised following the economic crash of the early 1930s. The rise of unemployment in south Wales and the north-east is compared, and the economic and social conditions in both regions in the interwar period are placed within a national and international context.
This chapter examines the complex relationship between the unemployed, local government officials, elected councillors and Whitehall. It focuses on the introduction of a household means test, by the newly formed National Government, as a requirement for benefit for all long-term unemployed men and women. The Public Assistance Committees were left to administer the test which was fashioned on the old poor law examination. Investigating the financial circumstances of the respectable working-class, who had little previous contact with the PAC, was highly controversial and was potentially political suicide. Attempts to generously administer the test, from Labour Party councillors in particular, led to extreme variations in allowances and interventions from the Ministry of Labour including replacing local authority administrations. The debates over the means test are revealing of governmental and popular attitudes towards the unemployed and working-class families, and the framing of social policy. The importance of the notion of respectability in working-class communities and the shift in attitudes towards receiving state benefits is considered.
Chapter 3 explores the arguments against the use of a means test in greater detail. Such an analysis is integral to explaining why the means test was so controversial, and in doing so it furthers understandings about the experience of unemployment. Drawing upon evidence from the unemployed themselves, social investigations, the labour movement, press reports and official government enquiries, the chapter explores the debates surrounding the means test from a number of angles. The representation or image of the means test as worsening the position of the unemployed and the reality of its impact is considered. The chapter focuses the most controversial claims against the test including, the belief that it led to the break-down of family life, caused widespread ill health and the penalization of the thrifty respectable working class. The gendered impact of the test, especially the emasculation of fathers, and the effect of the measure on the whole family is examined. The discussion here of the representation and effects of the measure helps to explain the protest movements and the legacy of the test in later chapters.
This chapter draws together the themes of the previous two chapters to analyse how the unemployed responded to the means test. While many studies of the unemployed have noted that the movement against the means test generated the largest interwar demonstrations, there has been little attempt to look at these movements in detail. By comparing the anti-means test protests in south Wales and the north-east of England, this chapter considers how protests were shaped by place, political culture and traditions. The attempts to develop a sustained movement of the unemployed by the Communist Party and the affiliated National Unemployment Workers’ Movement are contrasted to the leadership offered by the Labour Party and trade unions. The protests of unemployed and employed, men and women and the policing of the marchers, are considered at a local, regional and national level. While the marches of the unemployed may have captured the public imagination, this chapter is also concerned with the other ways in which the voice of protest could be expressed.
The protests in early 1935 against the newly established Unemployment Assistance Board drew crowds of hundreds of thousands and contributed to the government introducing a legal standstill of the reformed means test regulations. This chapter examines the attempt by the National Government to centralise the administration of unemployment benefit, ending local control over the means test, and the movement against the new measures. One of the important features of the protests in 1935 was the role of bodies and organisations beyond the unemployed; these included working-class wives and children, and middle-class shopkeepers, teachers and chapel and church leaders. Why such a cross section of society became involved, and the nature of ‘community’ protests are considered. Emphasis continues to be placed upon the leadership of the unemployed, and the role of these bodies in organising action from the very announcement of benefit changes in 1933 is analysed. The reasons why south Wales produced a greater number of street protests in comparison to the north-east of England is considered. The tactics of the police in managing the crowds and allegations of police heavy handedness form an important part of the debate within this chapter.
This last chapter draws together some of the major themes of the book. It considers the continued impact of unemployment and the means test in those areas which did not share in the recovery witnessed from the mid-1930s. How the means test affected gendered identity and family life are analysed and particular emphasis is given to issues of masculinity. How the enduring impact of the means test continued to inspire men and women to protest right into the war years is discussed. The protests in the summer of 1936, largely overlooked in the historiography, represented the last great movement against the means test. The differences in patterns of protest and the nature of the labour movement within south Wales and the north-east of England are again stressed. The chapter challenges romanticised images of working-class communities through an examination of evidence of spying and tale telling to means test inspectors. The creation of a particular popular memory of the means test is considered through a focus upon family life and suicide. This analysis helps explain the legacy of the means test debates, and their significance to post-war discussions of welfare.
The conclusion explains the differences in the response to the means test in south Wales and the north-east of England and highlights the importance of place, topography and political culture. Conclusions are drawn about the significance of traditions of militancy, how the identity and the perception of the unemployed influenced leadership for collective action and how protest could be expressed through a variety of mediums and the impact of this. The central points about the lasting impact of the means test are placed within the context of the worldwide depression and the coming of the Second World War. Finally, the book ends with a discussion of the importance of history of the unemployed and how historians approach collective action from those groups on the margins of society.