'The Devil's Decade' - How far do you agree with this assessment of the 1930s?

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' The Devil's Decade'

How far do you agree with this assessment of the 1930s?

The 'Devil's Decade' casts a depressive and dark image of the 1930s and identifies it as a time of depression and struggle; when the evil overcame the good. The 1930s were also known as ' The Wasted Years' and ' The Great Depression' and such labels seem appropriate due to the fact that in the 1930s, a substancial section of the population existed in conditions of chronic poverty, poor-housing and ill-health; for many suffering was a day-to-day experience. However, although the popular image of the 1930s is that it was the ' Devil's Decade', due to the research of revisionist historians, challenges to this traditional view have been made. It has been found that if one focuses upon the growth of Britain's economy and the acheivements of the nation, a new light is shed on the ' Gloomy Decade' and a remarkable degree of economic and social advance of new industries, economic growth, properous suburbs and a rising standard of living for those in work can be seen. Such revisionist views strongly contradict those of the traditionalists who left no room for optimism or praise in their views. Therefore, one needs to examine both sides of the argument to understand whether the 1930s could be seen as it was a time of prosperity and growth in Britain and could therefore adopt the title or the ' Dawn of Affluence' or whether the 1930s was genuinely a time of extreme dispair and hardship and should remain known as the ' Devil's Decade'.

One of the defining elements of the 1930s was the decline of Britain's economy. Triggered off by the Wall Street Crash of 1929, Britain was to ecounter it's worst years as a result of the financial crisis. As a direct result of the Wall Street Crash, the value of British exports had halved between 1929 and 1931 and there was a deficit on visible trade for which not even 'invisables' could compensate. This was a result of the staple industries such as coal, iron and steel, on which Britain's leading position as the first industrial nation had rested, havind gone into relative decline, as Britain fell behind new competitors like Germany and the US. Competition played a significant role in Britain's economic decline. Due to the decision to return to the gold standard in 1925, decline was not only hastened but it also aggravated industrial relations and countries and trade links began a process of retalliation against Britain. Britain therefore lost it's once superior economy to evils such as Germany, which was particularly paining as Germany had caused so much distruction to Britain in WWII.

However, although it cannot be ignored that Britain did suffer from the Wall Street Crash, it also must be realised that Britain's economy did recover. Although the old staple industries did suffer a decline in demands, there was an increase of new industries which were primarily producing consumer goods such as motor-vehicles, processed foods, electrical appliances and building materials. Britain simply needed to undergo a painful but necessary period of switching from producing what people did not want to supplying them with what they did. Although Britain's economy was in a poor state at the start of the thirties, by the 1937, industrial output had risen by 50 per cent and Britain had become the fourth top industrial producer in the world. Britain therefore, had suffered economically in the thirties but had not been damaged to the extent that traditionalists have claimed.
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The decline in the staple industries meant that industries had to employ fewer people to match their output to consumer needs. This resulted in the fundamental problem of high unemployment. The unemploment rate rose from 10 per cent ( one million people) in the 1920s to 22 per cent ( 3 million people) in 1932. The situation was particularly bad in regions such as Jarrow where over 70 per cent of it's population were unemployed. With no employment options, ex-workers found themselves bored and would hang around streets with nothing to do except feel wretched and helpless as ...

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