2. Analyse the various responses tounemployment in Wales between the two world wars.

University Degree Media Studies

2. Analyse the various responses to unemployment in Wales between the two world wars.

Unemployment in the interwar period was of course, a major problem for not

only the heavy industrialised areas of south Wales and the more agriculturalised west

and north, but for Great Britain as a whole. However, it may be said that World War

One was not the only cause of this dramatic economic downturn, but that pre war

economic planning played its part too. “…the years immediately preceding the First

World War witnessed the breaking of output records right across the industrial board.

However, this economic development had created an environment, and a physical and

organisational infrastructure, which were both overly narrow and largely

inappropriate to the circumstances of the twentieth century. The unbridled expansion

of a few, heavy, capital goods industries and the failure of other industrial activities to

compete effectively, resulted in an economy which quickly became locked in a

straight-jacket of economic helplessness”. From such a seemingly strong pre First

World War position then, Wales, particularly the south slipped into an economic

decline of enormous magnitude.

Unsurprisingly then huge unemployment followed this economic slump. It brought

with it its own vast array of different problems, social, political and economic which

deserve to be recognised in their own right.

What then were the major factors that led to this mass unemployment in the inter-war

period? The First World War obviously had a huge impact on the economy of not just

Wales but in Britain as a whole. “The war marked the end of an era. It ushered in a

period during which Britain was to find it increasingly more difficult to earn her

living and for some parts of the country, such as the south Wales coalfield, this

implied absolute economic decline…the county [Glamorgan] was faced with the

harsh reality of substantial economic depression and large scale unemployment”.

Unemployment was then the major cause for concern which arose from this inter war

economic slump.

In 1913, the coal and steel industries accounted for over 70% of the employment of

the insured labour force in south Wales and the specialisation of south Wales in just

these two areas of industry and the neglect of subsidiaries, quite clearly had a marked

effect on the economy and unemployment figures when the slump hit hardest, it put

south Wales in “… a straight jacket of economic helplessness”.

The extremely high levels of unemployment in south Wales it has been widely agreed

stemmed from the areas uncompetitiveness in the marketplace, “The large scale

unemployment in Glamorgan resulted directly from the uncompetitive nature of the

basic industrial activities…this, in turn, caused the counties economy to run at a

particularly low level of efficiency with a consequent deteriation in the prosperity of

the population at large”.

In south Wales unemployment was huge. The area was heavily dependant on

coalmining and the tin and steel industries. The decline of these industries after the

First World War accounted for a huge majority ...

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stemmed from the areas uncompetitiveness in the marketplace, “The large scale

unemployment in Glamorgan resulted directly from the uncompetitive nature of the

basic industrial activities…this, in turn, caused the counties economy to run at a

particularly low level of efficiency with a consequent deteriation in the prosperity of

the population at large”.

In south Wales unemployment was huge. The area was heavily dependant on

coalmining and the tin and steel industries. The decline of these industries after the

First World War accounted for a huge majority of the unemployed in the inter war

period. For instance, in 1924 48.7% of the workers once employed in the tin-plate

industry and 31.2% of those previously employed in the steel works in Glamorgan

were unemployed. Although unemployment in the coal mining industry was lower in

a percentage term, 11.8% in 1924 were unemployed coal miners and 22.9% in 1929,

many more were employed in this industry, 51.8% of the south Wales labour force,

so the actual number of unemployed was greater than the other industries of south

Wales. South Wales in particular suffered more severe continued unemployment than

in any other part of the United Kingdom, with just 4.5% of the UK’s population, it

suffered 19% of all unemployment in 1936 and 16% in 1936.

Unemployment then triggered many responses and attempted remedies in the inter

war years. One of the major responses to such high unemployment was out migration

to England, Europe and indeed the rest of the World. “An obvious escape from the

distress was migration, not only from the present, but also form an obscure future”.

“For many the only alternative to long term unemployment was to leave the country

and find work elsewhere”. Between 1921 and 1938 some 440,000 people left Wales.

By far the worst affected area of Wales was the industrial south, and in particularly

Glamorgan. In the Census 1921 – 38 it is estimated that Glamorgan alone lost 154,965

workers due to migration. The Welsh language was another casualty of the curse of

unemployment and out migration. From 155,000 speakers in 1921 to 97,000 in 1931

and 60,000 in 1939, it could be argued that with the migration of labour a migration of

culture was also taking place. Many new organisations also appeared at the time to

support and help those who were unemployed and could not find work, “To many,

these were positive attempts at relief and rehabilitation, to others they were merely a

‘smoke-screen’ for the lack of more positive action by the state and private

enterprise”. The government also responded to the massive unemployment in Wales.

Its major policy was to create south Wales a ‘Special Area’. An industrial survey of

south Wales was undertaken in 1931, which amongst its other provisions, analysed

the prospects for expansion and new developments within the area. Te government

then placed emphasis on the introduction of new industries, with less emphasis placed

on the resurrection of established industries. This survey was followed by a report

authored by Sir Wyndam Portal, which made several recommendations for the

improvement of conditions in south Wales. What he particularly recommended was

slum clearance, more government financial aid and the development of unused land.

However, it appeared that by 1936 the ‘Special Area’ initiative had been less than

successful. In the south Wales area unemployment had fallen from 157,174 in

November 1934 to 141,771 in September 1936, but together with a slight upturn in

the economy as a whole and those leaving the area to find work, the effect can be seen

as negligible.

In recent years, particularly since the late 1970’s, the study and writing about Wales’

history has become more commonplace and indeed more opinionated and fruitful than

ever before, and one topic which seems to have captured the imagination of every

writer is that of the depression and the inter war period.

“The enduring image of Wales in the inter-war years is one of unremitting

depression, unemployment, decline and misery, a hollow eyed nation in a permanent

precession to the Soup Kitchen. It is an image perpetuated by the most effective

literature of the period and by carefully nurtured nostalgia of politicians. It is also an

image perpetuated by historians who readily march side by side with the hungry”,

wrote Deian Hopkin. Hopkin then seems to be less sceptical about the actual state of

Wales at the time, “…it cannot have been like this all the time, for everyone, and

everywhere”. Hopkin argues then that in Cardiff there were at the time more

wireless sets, a luxury item, per head in Cardiff than in supposedly booming Slough,

so that conditions in Wales although maybe bad, were not disastrous for everyone

who lived there.

The seemingly slightly optimistic view of Hopkin though was not echoed by many

more writers, “The Wales we know and live in emerged from the wreck of that

society after the First World War and the painful attempt to rebuild that followed. The

results are imprinted on the psychology of many people in Wales. We are living

through the morning after a night before which lasted four generations”, wrote

Gwyn A. Williams, illustrating the still high numbers of unemployment and economic

under-prosperity still living on years past the slump of the inter war period, people

still weary from the depression some 60 years previously.

This pessimistic view is also shared by K.O. Morgan, “…the prolonged economic

depression of the inter war period…Wales was paralysed by a collapse in its

industrial, manufacturing and commercial life…south Wales plunged unprepared into

a depression and despair which crushed its society for almost twenty years and left

ineradicable scars upon its consciousness. Thirty years or more after the end of the

Second World War, the legacy of the decades of depression still formed a grim folk

memory for households and families in Wales”. Morgan also sees the scars of the

inter war depression that have been left upon Wales as a whole, where jobs and whole

industries lost forever with the closure of most heavy industry in Wales, and also

being written at the time of the last stand of Welsh miners during the bitter miners

strike, ‘Rebirth of a Nation’ paints a very grim picture indeed.

Wales in the interwar period then is seemingly portrayed as a desperate nation, in

economic ruin and with massive unemployment. The major reaction of the public and

workers at the time was to migrate from Wales to seemingly more ‘prosperous’ parts

of the United Kingdom. The reaction of the government at the time to this economic

slump and massive unemployment was seemingly too little and to late. The making of

Wales a ‘Special Area’ did little for the countries economy as a whole or for the lives

of people living in Wales. This is illustrated today by the various works that have

been published by the likes of Gwyn A. Williams, K.O. Morgan and less so, Deian

Hopkin. There is a consensus that the responses at the time to this massive

unemployment and economic collapse were not as positive as they should have been

and that the scars that were borne out of the great depression and economic slump

have taken years to overcome, and in some cases, are still evident today.

Word Count – 1800.

Bibliography.

K.O. Morgan, Rebirth of a Nation, 1980.
Gwyn A. Williams, When Was Wales? 1985.
Wales Between the Wars, edited by Trevor Herbert and Gareth Elwyn Jones, University of Wales Press, 1990.
Glamorgan County History, Volume V, University of Wales Press, 1980.

Colin Baber and Dennis Thomas, ‘The Glamorgan Economy, 1914 – 45’ in ‘ Glamorgan County History’, Volume V, University of Wales Press, 1980, P 519.

Colin Baber and Dennis Thomas, ‘The Glamorgan Economy, 1914 – 45’ in ‘ Glamorgan County History’, Volume V, University of Wales Press, 1980, P 520.

Colin Baber and Dennis Thomas, ‘The Glamorgan Economy, 1914 – 45’ in ‘ Glamorgan County History’, Volume V, University of Wales Press, 1980, P 536.

Colin Baber and Dennis Thomas, ‘The Glamorgan Economy, 1914 – 45’ in ‘ Glamorgan County History’, Volume V, University of Wales Press, 1980, P 519.

Colin Baber and Dennis Thomas, ‘The Glamorgan Economy, 1914 – 45’ in ‘ Glamorgan County History’, Volume V, University of Wales Press, 1980, P 536.

Colin Baber and Dennis Thomas, ‘The Glamorgan Economy, 1914 – 45’ in ‘ Glamorgan County History’, Volume V, University of Wales Press, 1980, P 537.

Figures from : Colin Baber and Dennis Thomas, ‘The Glamorgan Economy, 1914 – 45’ in ‘ Glamorgan County History’, Volume V, University of Wales Press, 1980, P 537.

Dennis Thomas, ‘Economic Decline’ in ‘Wales Between the Wars’, edited by Trevor Herbert and Gareth Elwyn Jones, University of Wales Press, 1990, P 16.

Dennis Thomas, ‘Economic Decline’ in ‘Wales Between the Wars’, edited by Trevor Herbert and Gareth Elwyn Jones, University of Wales Press, 1990, P 24.

Colin Baber and Dennis Thomas, ‘The Glamorgan Economy, 1914 – 45’ in ‘ Glamorgan County History’, Volume V, University of Wales Press, 1980, P 540.

Figures from : Dennis Thomas, ‘Economic Decline’ in ‘Wales Between the Wars’, edited by Trevor Herbert and Gareth Elwyn Jones, University of Wales Press, 1990, P 32

Figures from : Dennis Thomas, ‘Economic Decline’ in ‘Wales Between the Wars’, edited by Trevor Herbert and Gareth Elwyn Jones, University of Wales Press, 1990, P 24.

Colin Baber and Dennis Thomas, ‘The Glamorgan Economy, 1914 – 45’ in ‘ Glamorgan County History’, Volume V, University of Wales Press, 1980, P 551.

Colin Baber and Dennis Thomas, ‘The Glamorgan Economy, 1914 – 45’ in ‘ Glamorgan County History’, Volume V, University of Wales Press, 1980, P 552.

Deian Hopkin, ‘Social Reactions to Economic Change’ in ‘Wales Between the Wars’, edited by Trevor Herbert and Gareth Elwyn Jones, University of Wales Press, 1990, P 52.

Gwyn A. Williams, When Was Wales? 1985, P 181.

K.O. Morgan, Rebirth of a Nation, 1980, P 210.