Written by Administrator Saturday, 11 February 2012 21:43
The 1930's saw the National Unemployed Workers Movement organise a series of huge marches that defied government, police and trade union leaders.
History
Leading articles on the History of Unemployment & the Fight to Defeat it.
Fighting unemployment in the 1930s
'Struggle or starve!' 1932 - When Birkenhead workers beat the means test
Written by Administrator Saturday, 11 February 2012 21:25
To the present generation of workers and young people, the phrase 'means test' probably means little. Yet the mere utterance of those words once struck terror into the ranks of the poor and unemployed in 1930s Britain because it denoted a state-enforced programme of savage cuts in the living standards of the most vulnerable. For this reason, in the decades that followed, the mere mention of a 'means test' was largely taboo.
One of the most important movements against the means test took place in the autumn of 1932 in the town of Birkenhead. In his book, Idle Hands, Clenched Fists - The Depression in a Shipyard Town, first issued in 1987, Stephen F Kelly recounts the tumultuous events in this town in 1932 and predicts what could happen today. I confess to having a special interest in the events that unfolded then because my own parents were involved in this epic battle.
Read more: 'Struggle or starve!' 1932 - When Birkenhead workers beat the means test
We will not starve in Silence - The unemployed struggles of the 1920s
Written by Administrator Saturday, 11 February 2012 20:48
Dave Garroch looks at the unemployed struggles between the Wars in a review of two books about the period – Harry McShane’s “No Mean Fighter” (Pluto Press) and Wal Hannington’s “Unemployed Struggles (Lawrence and Wishart).
In March 1921 Harry McShane led his first demonstration, “…a couple of thousand turned up and they were really wild and angry men. Some of them were carrying hand grenades they had brought back from the front – I also knew that some even carried guns on demonstrations. They were a very militant, threatening crowd.” They had good reason to be. They were among the 1.5 million unemployed in that month. In percentage terms that meant about 12% of those covered by unemployment insurance.
Read more: We will not starve in Silence - The unemployed struggles of the 1920s
