Were the 1930's the Devils Decade or The Dawn of Affluence?

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Were the 1930’s the “Devil’s Decade” or a “Dawn of Affluence”? To what extent where Britons living in poverty?

The 1930’s is marred with the image of dilapidated housing, ill health and mass unemployment, however historians such as D.H Aldcroft and John Stevenson have argued this is not necessarily the case. Their representation of the 1930’s showed innovation in our economy due to the unearthing of mass production, better health and greater entertainment and leisure opportunities. This image of poverty is one merely exaggerated and historians are overlooking the economic truths about Britain in favour of unemployed textile workers in Manchester. So were Britons living in poverty? Or is this simply and mythical image.

Britain was the father of the industrialisation of Europe, the empire and staple industries in Britain helped support the booming economy. But by the 1930’s the staple industries were falling apart, foreign competition meant that Britain were being pushed out of the market and this left 2.64 million unemployed in 1931. Industries such as shipbuilding saw 30.6% unemployment and this trend on high unemployment was prevalent throughout the core staple industries such as textiles, coal and steel. This bleak image of mass unemployment supports the claim that the 1930’s was the “Devil’s Decade” however John Stevenson noted that actually for the majority of the 1930’s the staple industries were recovering. Steel production which was badly hit by the wave of depression drowning world commerce showed strong recovery. In 1932, at the height of the depression, only 5.2 million tons of steel was produced. However because of new larger factories (that were spreading across Britain) by 1937 13 million tons of steel was produced, a dramatic improvement. Shipbuilding, which was arguably the most devastated industry by the depression, also showed recovery. Although not as phenomenal as the turnaround in steel Britain saw a rise from 133,000 tons of output in 1933 risen to 970,800 tons by 1938, despite never reaching its heyday of production in 1923 the level of stabilisation in the shipbuilding cannot be overlooked. It was no longer the chaotic industry in the early 1930s that shed workers daily but now a growing industry from the ashes of the Wall Street Crash. The recovery in Shipbuilding was partly helped by the incisiveness of the National Government who introduced a Shipbuilders Act of 1935 which made use of scrap metal.  Moreover coalmining was showing some improvement as well due to better organisation and government intervention; the Coal Mines Act of 1930, allowed greater efficiency and simply stabilised a spiralling industry.

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The recovery of the old industries allowed greater employment opportunities but still unemployment was rife in Britain, therefore the new industries erupted. D.H. Aldcroft argued that the 1930’s was a period of “sustained economic growth” and statistics support this. The motoring industry catalysed the economic revolution, with the introduction of mass production methods and new factories emerging in the Midlands and the South East car production rose dramatically. In 1923 only 95,000 cars were produced but by 1937 this number has quintupled to 500,000. As well as for private consumption motoring proved useful in the economy because it allowed better ...

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