National Hunger March, 1932
Encyclopedia
The National Hunger March of September–October 1932 was the largest of a series of hunger marches
in Britain
in the 1920s and 1930s.
had previously taken place in 1922–23, 1929 and 1930, and 1927 had seen a South Wales miners'
march. Due to the Great Depression
and mass unemployment, throughout 1932 there was a profound atmosphere of unrest across Britain with "high tension across the country", "running battles between police and demonstrators" and "violent clashes ... between the police and unemployed protestors in Merseyside
, Manchester
, Birmingham
, Cardiff
, Coventry
, Nottingham
, Oldham
, Porthcawl
, Stoke
, Wigan
, Preston, Bolton
and Belfast
", many of which followed protests organised by the communist-led National Unemployed Workers' Movement
(NUWM).
organised "Great National Hunger March against the Means Test" included about 3,000 people in eighteen contingents of marchers, mainly from economically depressed areas such as the South Wales Valleys
, Scotland and the North of England designed to meet up in Hyde Park
in London. A petition containing a million signatures demanding the abolition of the means test
and the 1931 Anomalies Act was intended to be presented to Parliament after a rally in the park.
The first contingent of marchers left Glasgow
on 26 September, and the marchers were greeted by a crowd of about 100,000 upon their arrival at Hyde Park on 27 October 1932. The marchers had not received much in the way of media publicity on their way to London, but having reached the capital, "...they met an almost blanket condemnation as a threat to public order, verging upon the hysterical in the case of some of the more conservative press". Stanley Baldwin
's government used force to stop the petition reaching parliament, with it being confiscated by the police. Fearing disorder, the police deployment was Britain's most extensive public order precaution since 1848 and Lord Trenchard
, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner
mobilised a total police force of 70,000 against the marchers and their supporters. Serious violence erupted in and around the park, with mounted police being used to disperse the demonstrators, and across central London in the days to come with 75 people being badly injured. Home Secretary
Sir John Gilmour was questioned about the ongoing disturbances in the House of Commons.
. Its founder, Ronald Kidd
, set up the Council as he was concerned about the use of agent provocateurs
by the police to incite violence during and after the 1932 marches.
The 1932 march was followed by another in 1934 and others, including the 1936 Jarrow March
.
Hunger marches
The Hunger marches were a series of marches held in the 1930s during The Great Depression in the United Kingdom to protest against hunger and unemployment in the United Kingdom....
in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in the 1920s and 1930s.
Background
Hunger marches to LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
had previously taken place in 1922–23, 1929 and 1930, and 1927 had seen a South Wales miners'
South Wales Miners' Federation
The South Wales Miners' Federation , nicknamed "The Fed", was a trade union for miners in South Wales.The union was founded on 24 October 1898, following the defeat of the South Wales miners' strike of 1898...
march. Due to the Great Depression
Great Depression in the United Kingdom
The Great Depression in the United Kingdom, also known as the Great Slump, was a period of national economic downturn in the 1930s, which had its origins in the global Great Depression...
and mass unemployment, throughout 1932 there was a profound atmosphere of unrest across Britain with "high tension across the country", "running battles between police and demonstrators" and "violent clashes ... between the police and unemployed protestors in Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
, Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
, Oldham
Oldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amid the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers Irk and Medlock, south-southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of the city of Manchester...
, Porthcawl
Porthcawl
Porthcawl is a town on the south coast of Wales in the county borough of Bridgend, 25 miles west of the capital city, Cardiff and 19 miles southeast of Swansea...
, Stoke
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...
, Wigan
Wigan
Wigan is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It stands on the River Douglas, south-west of Bolton, north of Warrington and west-northwest of Manchester. Wigan is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its administrative centre. The town of Wigan had a total...
, Preston, Bolton
Bolton
Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...
and Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
", many of which followed protests organised by the communist-led National Unemployed Workers' Movement
National Unemployed Workers' Movement
The National Unemployed Workers' Movement was a British organisation set up in 1921 by members of the Communist Party of Great Britain. It aimed to draw attention to the plight of unemployed workers during the post World War I slump, the 1926 General Strike and later the Great Depression, and to...
(NUWM).
The march
With unemployment at 2,750,000, the 1932 National Unemployed Workers' MovementNational Unemployed Workers' Movement
The National Unemployed Workers' Movement was a British organisation set up in 1921 by members of the Communist Party of Great Britain. It aimed to draw attention to the plight of unemployed workers during the post World War I slump, the 1926 General Strike and later the Great Depression, and to...
organised "Great National Hunger March against the Means Test" included about 3,000 people in eighteen contingents of marchers, mainly from economically depressed areas such as the South Wales Valleys
South Wales Valleys
The South Wales Valleys are a number of industrialised valleys in South Wales, stretching from eastern Carmarthenshire in the west to western Monmouthshire in the east and from the Heads of the Valleys in the north to the lower-lying, pastoral country of the Vale of Glamorgan and the coastal plain...
, Scotland and the North of England designed to meet up in Hyde Park
Hyde Park, London
Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
in London. A petition containing a million signatures demanding the abolition of the means test
Means test
A means test is a determination of whether an individual or family is eligible for help from the government.- Canada :In Canada means tests are used for student finance , and "welfare" . They are not generally used for primary education and secondary education which are tax-funded...
and the 1931 Anomalies Act was intended to be presented to Parliament after a rally in the park.
The first contingent of marchers left Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
on 26 September, and the marchers were greeted by a crowd of about 100,000 upon their arrival at Hyde Park on 27 October 1932. The marchers had not received much in the way of media publicity on their way to London, but having reached the capital, "...they met an almost blanket condemnation as a threat to public order, verging upon the hysterical in the case of some of the more conservative press". Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, KG, PC was a British Conservative politician, who dominated the government in his country between the two world wars...
's government used force to stop the petition reaching parliament, with it being confiscated by the police. Fearing disorder, the police deployment was Britain's most extensive public order precaution since 1848 and Lord Trenchard
Hugh Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Hugh Montague Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard GCB OM GCVO DSO was a British officer who was instrumental in establishing the Royal Air Force...
, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner
Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis
The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis is the head of London's Metropolitan Police Service, classing the holder as a chief police officer...
mobilised a total police force of 70,000 against the marchers and their supporters. Serious violence erupted in and around the park, with mounted police being used to disperse the demonstrators, and across central London in the days to come with 75 people being badly injured. Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
Sir John Gilmour was questioned about the ongoing disturbances in the House of Commons.
Legacy
The march led directly to the formation of the National Council for Civil LibertiesLiberty (pressure group)
Liberty is a pressure group based in the United Kingdom. Its formal name is the National Council for Civil Liberties . Founded in 1934 by Ronald Kidd and Sylvia Crowther-Smith , the group campaigns to protect civil liberties and promote human rights...
. Its founder, Ronald Kidd
Ronald Kidd
Ronald Kidd was a civil rights campaigner.Born in London, England, the son of surgeon Leonard Joseph Kidd, grandson of doctor Joseph Kidd, and nephew of doctors Percy Kidd and Walter Aubrey Kidd, Ronald Hubert Kidd had a variety of jobs before finding his vocation as a campaigner against...
, set up the Council as he was concerned about the use of agent provocateurs
Agent provocateur
Traditionally, an agent provocateur is a person employed by the police or other entity to act undercover to entice or provoke another person to commit an illegal act...
by the police to incite violence during and after the 1932 marches.
The 1932 march was followed by another in 1934 and others, including the 1936 Jarrow March
Jarrow March
The Jarrow March , was an October 1936 protest march against unemployment and extreme poverty suffered in North East England. The 207 marchers travelled from the town of Jarrow to the Palace of Westminster in London, a distance of almost , to lobby Parliament...
.