The Dirty Thirties and the Great Depression

THE DIRTY THIRTIES AND THE GREAT DEPRESSION

KEY TERMS:
Stock markets: when you buy for little but sell for more

Stick markets collapsed: on Black Tuesday (October 29, 1929), the stock market crashed in the USA
• as the values of stocks plummeted, investors scrambled to sell their stocks (as more people sold stocks, the prices of the stocks decreased further)

Buying credits:
• many people used their money borrowed on credit to buy items
• when items were repossessed, they were sold for less than the initial value
• when prices dropped, lenders demanded repayment of loans, causing many companies to go broke, causing many workers to be fired
• as workers were fired, they could not pay their debts, causing creditors to repossess cars, appliances, farms and homes

Dustbowl: an area of land where vegetation has been lost and soil reduced to dust and eroded, esp. as a consequence of drought or unsuitable farming practice.

Rust: a fungus that grows on plants which allow them to get destroyed

Relief: payment provided by the municipal government, criteria restricted eg.no phones, no liquor license and family men only

Untouchables: homeless men that left their farms and flooded to cities-people who didn't want anything to do with them

Jungles: untouchables (homeless) were forced to sleep in the outskirts of town (railways).

Riding the rods: people who owned farms and deal with depression, left on(local trains) to cities to find work

Soup kitchens: help for needy provided for unemployed relief, food provided

Relief camp workers union: Bennett and others were worried that unemployed men might commit crimes and mean a communist. Relief camps were run like military-style in remote areas of the country.
-couldn't come and go as please
-hard labour
-only 20 cents/day
-44hours a week
-no entertainment
-crammed bunks
-Poor food
-isolated from society

Arthur 'slim' Evans: Leader of the union rebellion .he was leader if the concentration camp workers to Ottawa.

New deal:• Bennett set aside millions of dollars in relief funds and increased tariffs on imported goods; however this did little to solve the crisis
• by 1933, the depression was at its worst—no politician could’ve solved the problem, but everyone blamed Bennett
• in the USA, president Roosevelt launched the “New Deal”—a series of radical social reforms aimed at providing relief and economic recovery
• in 1935, Bennett followed, and launched his own “New Deal”—promised unemployment insurance, and a minimum wage (put money into economy (Roosevelt spent it on infrastructure like the Golden Gate Bridge); Bennett didn’t put in enough money, and his plan failed
• for Bennett, it was too late—Canadians chose King who’s campaign platform was “King or Chaos”; King won the 1935 election with 173 seats (Conservative had 40)

King or chaos: when Kind returned to office, economy was dismal; he didn’t tackle unemployment but did invest money in public works projects and relief programs
• despite his return, there was 3 more years of ineffective government action before WWII sparked the economic boost in Canada, thus ending the Great Depression

Regional manifesto:• Bennett was determined to stop the On-to-Ottawa trek protestors
• on June14, he ordered the trains to be stopped at Regina, and invited the leaders to Ottawa hoping that in their absence, the protestors would disperse
• in Ottawa, talks ended after only an hour—the frustrated leaders returned to Regina
• the protestors gathered in Market Square in Regina on July 1, 1935 to plan new strategy
• Bennett ordered local police to arrest the protestors—many were injured and 1 un-uniformed officer dead
• reluctantly, many men returned back to their camps

Democratic socialism: Democratic socialism is a name given to trends of socialism that emphasizes democratic principles as inalienable from their political project.

'Red scare’: Red scare was the fear of communists. Or when the dictator of Russia started to kill of some of his Generals. One of those two.

Capitalism: an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.

William abreacts :( leader of social credit party of Alberta) he decided to give everyone 25$/month

Social dividend: Actions or behaviors that violate social norms. Norms are basically expectations people believe you should follow as guidelines in society.

SHORT ANSWERS:

1) Explain the business cycle in your own words.
A business cycle is the recurring and fluctuating levels of economic activity that an economy experiences over a long period of time.

2) How did the stock market crash of 39 oct 1929 serve as the immediate cause of the great depression?
-Easy credit: many companies went broke, they didn't have money to payback loan
-Lack of financial regulation: when prices dropped people rushed to receive their money but found out there was none because banks were gone BANKRUPT
-shrinking demand: these products started becoming worthless once the economy started to fall.
-Economic ties
-protective tariffs: exporting countries like Canada had fewer markets in which to sell their products

1) Explain how the following were impacted by the depression. Farmers in rural areas, mostly in western Canada: prairies farmers had ripple effect on their manufacturing sector. Companies selling their equipment had to cut back production which lead to layoff among workers .employees rose and fewer people had money to but other consumers

2) factory workers in urban areas, particularly Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver: economic downturn as the global demand for resources dried up .first nations and metis earned their lives by trapping and fishing this impacted their blemishing demand for resources. Newfoundland was an independent dominion of the British common wealth was hit hard by the declining of fish exports. Relief payments bankrupted the government and forced Britain to take control of the dominions economy.

-3) Schools?

-4) resource industries: economic downturn as the global demand for resources dried up .first nations and metis earned their lives by trapping and fishing this impacted their blemishing demand for resources. Newfoundland was an independent dominion of the British common wealth was hit hard by the declining of fish exports. Relief payments bankrupted the government and forced Britain to take control of the dominions economy.

-5) first nations: many people lost their traditional land and living off the land was no option. On the prairies it was legal to hunt and by losing land people lost their hunting and fishing skills.to save money the government cut funding to first nations reserves spread hunger.

-6)intuits: government began to program to relocate the Inuit of Baffin island to Devan island in 1934.the intuits had not option of returning to Baffin island if they were dissatisfied.

5) How did Prime Minister Bennett first respond to the depression after he was elected in 1930 were his solutions successful? Why or why not?
He said the cause was that we were sending all of our natural resources out of Canada to other countries. His solution was to increase tariffs that were a problem because it made the manufacturing goods more expensive.
He spends millions on relief assistance and public work programs and relief camps. Relief camps were a disaster because it wasn't the best place for people to go, therefore men got more aggressive.

6)Outline the complaints the relief camp workers in British Columbia:
-hard labour
-only 20 cents/day
-44hours a week
-no entertainment
-crammed bunks
-Poor food
-isolated from society

7)Describe the on-to-Ottawa trek in your view who one this shadow?

• the bleak life in camps left many men angry and frustrated
• in spring of 1935, thousands of camp workers in B.C. formed the Relief Camp Worker’s Union (RCWU); the leader was Arthur Evans (a communist labour organizer)
• the men went on strike, demanding better pay, food, clothing and shelter at the camps
• in April and May 1935, the strikers demonstrated in Vancouver
• in June 1935, they launched the on-to-Ottawa trek—over 1600men boarded freight trains bound for Ottawa to confront Bennett

8)Why did prime minister Bennett lose the election of 1935 to kings liberal ?
Well, because Bennett didn't really do as much to stop depression. All his solutions ended up either a problem or a failure.

9) Outline the solutions of the following alternatives parties.do you like these solutions to depression?

a) Co-operative commonwealth: woodswoths solutions were to act together, take ownership of the banks out of hands o private individuals and put it into hands of people. Own key industries in Canada such as railways, mines, telephones systems and hydro-electric companies, minimum wage for workers, old age pensions, health insurance and family allowance. I think these ideas are very nice and the worked very well.

b) Social credits party: William aberharts solution was to provide 25$/month which is very good for people but it would also be expensive