South Wales in the 1930s :: Papers

South Wales in the 1930s 1. Sources 1 and 2 give many reasons for poverty in South Wales in the 1930s, Unemployment however being the most significant as it was the cause of almost all the poverty in South Wales at this time there were a number of causes for unemployment listed in source 1 such as:- Ã…Â ¸ The collapse of the post-war economic boom Ã…Â ¸ Increased competition from abroad Ã…Â ¸ The General strike Ã…Â ¸ The decline in the mining and steel industries Ã…Â ¸ The great depression All of these factors caused mass unemployment in South Wales in the 1930s almost to the point where nearly three quarters of the population in South Wales were unemployed. Source 2 indicates that all hope had left the unemployed and their want to find work may have almost deteriorated from constant rejection causing possibly their want to keep a decent standard of living to slowly decline into poverty. 2. Poverty affected the people of Wales in many different ways, Source three indicates that it had a dramatic change in peoples political views, it depicts a miners hunger march to Bristol in 1931, the marchers are shown to be carrying a banner bearing the communist hammer and sickle with the words "struggle or starve" written on in this is also an acronym for sos. Although the miners are on a hunger march to show the poverty in south Wales we notice they are well dressed this is because the miners were a proud people, they did not want to beg the government they just wanted to show that they were starving and that they needed work and help to get back on their feet for themselves. There is almost a sort of irony in this picture as these miners are photographed marching past food signs, perhaps the photographer was trying to depict the ignorance of the rest of the country to the miners predicament. Source four describes the anger over the "Means Test" and a protest about this privacy invasion.