The Jarrow Crusade (March-October 1936)

Introduction

After WWI Palmers shipyard suffered.
Problems were worsened by the Great Depression.
In 1931, the steelworks in jarrow closed down. 3,000 people lost their jobs.
The town now depended on palmers shipyard.
The yard was taken over by the National Shipbuilders Security Ltd.
The National Shipbuilders Security Ltd was set up to reduce the capacity of the industry by buying shipyards and closing them down allowing the work to go to the shipyards in other areas, e.g. London.
In 1934 the National Shipbuilders Security Ltd closed down and sold off Palmers, 5,000 people lost their jobs.
The site was dismantled and no shipbuilding could be carried on in the land for 40 years. This was a deliberate policy against the north.
Unemployment leaped from 41% in 1922 to 72% in 1932.
Only 100 out of the 8,000 skilled workers were employed in Jarrow.
Unemployment added to the existing problems of a depressed area; poverty, over-crowding, poor housing and high mortality.
A proposal to build a new steelworks in Jarrow was blocked by the British Iron and Steele Federation.
Walter Runciman, the president of the Board of Trade told the people of Jarrow that they must "Work out its own salvation"
Jarrow would petition the government.

On the 20th July 1936, Jarrow Borough Council decided to organize a march to petition the government.
Considerable planning was needed so a March Committee was set up to plan the route.
Stops along the 300 mile journey were decided.
200 men were selected for the march, 11000 volunteered.
The council raised £1,500 to fund the march, including pocket money for the men and their train fare back from London.
The crusade was supported by The Labour party and The Conservative party.
The council did not want the march to be associated with the Communist hunger marches so it was named a crusade.
It was also named a crusade to reflect the religious background of the area.

11,000 Jarrow people and 68,000 Tyneside signed the petitions.
Marches set off from the town hall led by the mayor, local councillors and Ellen Wilkinson (Labour member of Parliament for Jarrow).
They began marching at 08:45 each day and marched an average of 13 miles per day.
They were usually warmly welcomed and fed in the towns where they stopped.
The leaders presented the case of Jarrow at public meetings in the towns.
Many people praised the organization of the march and the conduct pf the men.
The leaders' speeches followed consistent themes: The causes of Jarrow's unemployment problems and a call on the government to provide jobs for the town.

The men arrived to London on Saturday, 31st of October, led into the city by Ellen Wilkinson, The Mayor, 11 councillors and Paddy, the mascot dog..
The crusade made little immediate impact.
the marchers held a demonstration at Hyde Park on November 1st.
Stanley Baldwin (Prime Minister) refused to meet a delegation of marchers.
The men were disappointed.
The Assistance Board reduced their unemployment benefit.

The Jarrow March or Crusade achieved its first aim of presenting a petition to Parliament.
In contrast to other similar marches, it didn't alienate the general public.
It achieved a certain fame through its organized and orderly manner.
The March failed in its main aim of getting the government to provide jobs for the area. Jarrow's economy improved in the next few years but this had little to do with the crusade.
Instead private industry, driven by rearmament as the Second World War approached, gradually filled the gap for the unemployed of Jarrow.
In 1938, a ship-breaking yard and engineering works were set up, and a year later a steelworks.
Along with the other hunger marches, it sparked the conscience of the middle classes.
Symbolized despair of unemployed men and depressed areas.
'The Jarrow march is, indeed, a symbol of the feeling of neglect and unmerited poverty and dependence which pervades the distressed areas.'
The effect of mass unemployment in the 1920s and 1930s contributed to the setting up of the Welfare State in Britain after the Second World War.
During the Second World War, the British government published the Beveridge Report.
It recommended a minimum standard of living, social welfare and education.