Unemployed Workers Movement: Difference between revisions
Content deleted Content added
Garfieldhub (talk | contribs) No edit summary Tags: Visual edit Mobile edit Mobile web edit |
Garfieldhub (talk | contribs) No edit summary Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit |
||
| Line 18: | Line 18: | ||
}} |
}} |
||
The Unemployed Workers Movement |
The '''Unemployed Workers Movement (UWM)''' was a Socialist activist organisation operating in Australia during the [[Great Depression]]. It advocated for expanded [[Welfare]], and protections for the Unemployed and fought against [[eviction|evictions]] in working-class neighbourhoods and work for welfare schemes.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" /> In 1930 the UWM had an estimated 30,000 members.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=MacIntyre |first=Ian |date=2008 |title=Lock Out The Landlords: Australian Anti-Eviction Resistance 1929-1936 |url=https://archive.org/details/LockOutTheLandlords/page/n1/mode/2up |website=The Commons Social Change Library}}</ref> |
||
== History == |
== History == |
||
During the Great Depression in Australia, unemployment rose rapidly, reaching a height of 32 per cent in 1932. It is estimated that around 60,000 Australians depended on Government assistance.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Height of the Great Depression {{!}} Australia’s Defining Moments Digital Classroom {{!}} National Museum of Australia |url=https://digital-classroom.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/height-great-depression#:~:text=The%20Wall%20Street%20Crash%20of,deeply%20for%20decades%20to%20come. |access-date=2024-01-03 |website=digital-classroom.nma.gov.au}}</ref> Such assistance however was often inadequate or in the form of coupons<ref>{{Cite web |last=McIntyre |first=Iain |date=2020-08-31 |title=Jim Munro and the Unemployed Workers Movement in the 1920s and 1930s |url=https://commonslibrary.org/jim-munro-and-the-unemployed-workers-movement-in-the-1920s-and-1930s/ |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=The Commons Social Change Library |language=en-AU}}</ref> |
During the Great Depression in Australia, unemployment rose rapidly, reaching a height of 32 per cent in 1932. It is estimated that around 60,000 Australians depended on Government assistance.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Height of the Great Depression {{!}} Australia’s Defining Moments Digital Classroom {{!}} National Museum of Australia |url=https://digital-classroom.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/height-great-depression#:~:text=The%20Wall%20Street%20Crash%20of,deeply%20for%20decades%20to%20come. |access-date=2024-01-03 |website=digital-classroom.nma.gov.au}}</ref> Such assistance however was often inadequate or in the form of coupons which could not pay rent.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=McIntyre |first=Iain |date=2020-08-31 |title=Jim Munro and the Unemployed Workers Movement in the 1920s and 1930s |url=https://commonslibrary.org/jim-munro-and-the-unemployed-workers-movement-in-the-1920s-and-1930s/ |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=The Commons Social Change Library |language=en-AU}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> Additionally "Work for the dole" schemes prevented many from recieving support. |
||
The Unemployed Workers Movement was |
|||
== Activities == |
== Activities == |
||
| Line 27: | Line 29: | ||
After the UWM commitment to combat evictions, UWM branches created individual "Anti-Eviction Committees" through which they coordinated opposition. The Committees would investigate each case of eviction and decide if to lend their support.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Wheatley |first=Nadia |title=Sydney's anti-eviction movement: community or conspiracy? |date=2001 |publisher=University of Wollongong Press |isbn=0947127038 |pages=146-173}}</ref> |
After the UWM commitment to combat evictions, UWM branches created individual "Anti-Eviction Committees" through which they coordinated opposition. The Committees would investigate each case of eviction and decide if to lend their support.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Wheatley |first=Nadia |title=Sydney's anti-eviction movement: community or conspiracy? |date=2001 |publisher=University of Wollongong Press |isbn=0947127038 |pages=146-173}}</ref> |
||
If the UWM Branch decided to intervene, multiple methods were used to prevent eviction. UWM leaders would meet with property owners, alongside a protest held at the property, this sometimes included veiled threats of violence. If deputation failed, the UWM utilised [[picketing]] which according to Nadia Wheatley was "familiar to trade unionists, and it fitted the sociable nature of the unemployed movement."<ref name=":0" /> If picketing on the footpath failed, picketers would move into the house. |
If the UWM Branch decided to intervene, multiple methods were used to prevent eviction. UWM leaders would meet with property owners, alongside a protest held at the property, this sometimes included veiled threats of violence. If deputation failed, the UWM utilised [[picketing]] which according to Nadia Wheatley was "familiar to trade unionists, and it fitted the sociable nature of the unemployed movement."<ref name=":0" /> If picketing on the footpath failed, picketers would move into the house. In these activities the UWM were often assisted by members of the [[Workers Defence Corps]] and supporters of the [[Australian Labor Party]].<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> |
||
On multiple occasions, UWM protests turned into brawls with police attempting to fulfil eviction orders. Such 'battles' took place in Redfern, Leichhardt, Bankstown and Newtown. With UWM members armed with rocks, metal bars, bricks and bottles.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Moore |first=Andrew |date=2005 |title=The New Guard and the Labour Movement, 1931-35 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27516075 |journal=[[Labour History (journal)|Labour History]] |issue=89 |pages=55–72 |doi=10.2307/27516075 |jstor=27516075 |issn=0023-6942 |access-date=2023-07-27 |archive-date=2023-10-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231020121430/https://www.jstor.org/stable/27516075 |url-status=live }}</ref> |
On multiple occasions, UWM protests turned into brawls with police attempting to fulfil eviction orders. Such 'battles' took place in Redfern, Leichhardt, Bankstown and Newtown. With UWM members armed with rocks, metal bars, bricks and bottles.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Moore |first=Andrew |date=2005 |title=The New Guard and the Labour Movement, 1931-35 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27516075 |journal=[[Labour History (journal)|Labour History]] |issue=89 |pages=55–72 |doi=10.2307/27516075 |jstor=27516075 |issn=0023-6942 |access-date=2023-07-27 |archive-date=2023-10-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231020121430/https://www.jstor.org/stable/27516075 |url-status=live }}</ref> |
||
The UWM tactics were extremely successful, winning every eviction case they supported in Sydney in the first five months of 1931<ref name=":0" />, and continuing to have an extremely high success rate<ref name=":0" /> |
The UWM tactics were extremely successful, winning every eviction case they supported in Sydney in the first five months of 1931<ref name=":0" />, and continuing to have an extremely high success rate<ref name=":0" /> |
||
Revision as of 02:04, 3 January 2024
| Abbreviation | UWM |
|---|---|
| Founded at | Melbourne, Australia |
| Purpose | Socialism Anti-Eviction |
Region | Australia |
National Secretary | Jack Sylvester |
Main organ | Communist Party of Australia |
The Unemployed Workers Movement (UWM) was a Socialist activist organisation operating in Australia during the Great Depression. It advocated for expanded Welfare, and protections for the Unemployed and fought against evictions in working-class neighbourhoods and work for welfare schemes.[1][2][3] In 1930 the UWM had an estimated 30,000 members.[1]
History
During the Great Depression in Australia, unemployment rose rapidly, reaching a height of 32 per cent in 1932. It is estimated that around 60,000 Australians depended on Government assistance.[4] Such assistance however was often inadequate or in the form of coupons which could not pay rent.[2][1] Additionally "Work for the dole" schemes prevented many from recieving support.
The Unemployed Workers Movement was
Activities
After the UWM commitment to combat evictions, UWM branches created individual "Anti-Eviction Committees" through which they coordinated opposition. The Committees would investigate each case of eviction and decide if to lend their support.[3]
If the UWM Branch decided to intervene, multiple methods were used to prevent eviction. UWM leaders would meet with property owners, alongside a protest held at the property, this sometimes included veiled threats of violence. If deputation failed, the UWM utilised picketing which according to Nadia Wheatley was "familiar to trade unionists, and it fitted the sociable nature of the unemployed movement."[3] If picketing on the footpath failed, picketers would move into the house. In these activities the UWM were often assisted by members of the Workers Defence Corps and supporters of the Australian Labor Party.[5][3][1]
On multiple occasions, UWM protests turned into brawls with police attempting to fulfil eviction orders. Such 'battles' took place in Redfern, Leichhardt, Bankstown and Newtown. With UWM members armed with rocks, metal bars, bricks and bottles.[3][5]
The UWM tactics were extremely successful, winning every eviction case they supported in Sydney in the first five months of 1931[3], and continuing to have an extremely high success rate[3]
- ^ a b c d MacIntyre, Ian (2008). "Lock Out The Landlords: Australian Anti-Eviction Resistance 1929-1936". The Commons Social Change Library.
- ^ a b McIntyre, Iain (2020-08-31). "Jim Munro and the Unemployed Workers Movement in the 1920s and 1930s". The Commons Social Change Library. Retrieved 2023-02-28.
- ^ a b c d e f g Wheatley, Nadia (2001). Sydney's anti-eviction movement: community or conspiracy?. University of Wollongong Press. pp. 146–173. ISBN 0947127038.
- ^ "Height of the Great Depression | Australia's Defining Moments Digital Classroom | National Museum of Australia". digital-classroom.nma.gov.au. Retrieved 2024-01-03.
- ^ a b Moore, Andrew (2005). "The New Guard and the Labour Movement, 1931-35". Labour History (89): 55–72. doi:10.2307/27516075. ISSN 0023-6942. JSTOR 27516075. Archived from the original on 2023-10-20. Retrieved 2023-07-27.