Shortly after the opening of hostilities the majority of the workers swung into line behind the government in support of the war, despite the fact that the organized British labor movement had earlier subscribed to a resolution of the international socialist congress that labor’s duty after the outbreak of any war was “to intervene to bring it promptly to a close.”
Indignation at the invasion of Belgium was apparently one of the determining factors in the change of attitude. The Labour party did not oppose the government war measures. It joined in the parliamentary recruiting campaign, and in the “political truce,” by which it was agreed that any vacancies occurring in the House of Commons should be filled by the party previously in possession without a contest. On August 24, 1914, the joint board of three of the four important national labor bodies, namely the Trades Union Congress, the General Federation of Trade Unions and the Labour Party, declared an “industrial truce,” moving for the termination of all existing disputes, and for an effort to settle all questions arising during the war by peaceful methods, before resorting to strikes and lockouts. The principal women’s labor organizations fell in with what may be called the official labor attitude toward the war, and the Independent Labour party stood almost alone in continuing to advocate an early peace.
In July, 1914, just before the war, British business had been in a reasonably prosperous condition. There was somewhat of a decline from the boom of 1913, and a considerable depression in the cotton industry, but on the whole the state of trade was good.
The first effect on industry of the outbreak of war in August was an abrupt and considerable curtailment of production. Orders both in home and foreign trade were withheld or canceled, large numbers of factories went on short time, and in a number of cases employes were provisionally given notice of discharge.[12]
The Unemployment Crisis
That the crisis of unemployment would be but a passing phase, soon followed by unprecedented industrial activity, seems not to have been anticipated. “If the war is prolonged, it will tax all the powers of our administrators to avert the most widespread distress,” said the Fabian Society.[13] A “Central Committee for the Prevention and Relief of Distress,” headed by the president of the local government board was organized as early as August 4; local authorities were asked to form similar local representative committees, and the Prince of Wales sent out an appeal for a “National Relief Fund.” Plans were made for starting special public work, additional government subsidies to trade unions paying unemployment benefits were granted, and the War Office broke precedent and permitted the sub-letting of government contracts as a relief measure in districts where there was much unemployment.
In the industrial depression women were affected far more severely than men and for a considerably longer time. The trades which were hardest hit were for the most part those in which large numbers of women were employed.
Those trades which for want of a better name are sometimes called “luxury trades”—dressmaking, millinery, blouse making, women’s fancy and children’s boot and shoe making, the silk and linen trades, cigar and cigarette making, the umbrella trade, confectionery and preserve making, cycle and carriage making, the jewelry trade, furniture making and French polishing, the china and glass trades, book and stationery making, as well as printing—these were the trades which at the beginning of the war suffered a very severe slump. In some trades a shortage of raw material or the loss of enemy markets only added to the general dislocation.... Thus the shortage of sugar caused very considerable unemployment in jam preserving and confectionery. The chemical trade was affected by the complete cessation of certain commodities from Germany. The practical closing of the North Sea to fishers absolutely brought to a close the occupation of those thousands of women on the English coast who follow the herring round. The closing of the Baltic cut off the supplies of flax from Russia upon which our linen trade largely depends.... The cotton trade was especially hit, before the war a period of decline had set in, and Lancashire suffered in addition from all the disadvantages incidental to an export trade in time of naval warfare. Casual houseworkers such as charwomen and office cleaners and even skilled domestic servants, such as cooks, found themselves out of employment owing to the economies which the public was making. The unemployment of good cooks, however, did not last many weeks.[14]
Nearly half the total number of women in industry (44.4 per cent or 1,100,000) were unemployed or on short time in September, 1914, while among men workers the corresponding figure was only 27.4 per cent. The provision of public work helped men rather than women, and the rush of enlistments was another important factor which helped relieve the situation for working men. Among the women, on the contrary, many relatives of men who had gone to the front were obliged to apply for work for a time, since separation allowances were not immediately available.
In October, 1914, when enlistments were taken into account, the net decrease in the number of male industrial workers was only 6,500, but that of females was 155,000. By December, when 77,000 fewer women were employed than in July, and girls in dressmaking, machine made lace, silk and felt hat making, potteries, printing and fish curing had not yet found steady work,[15] there was a net increase in the employment of men and boys, and a shortage of skilled men. Even in February, 1915, 37,500 women were reported unemployed,[16] and in the latter part of March and the first half of April there were twice as many women applicants for work at the employment exchanges as there were openings available. However, the tide turned in the latter month, and the total number of women workers increased 44,000 over the number employed in July, 1914, though owing to imperfect adjustment a number of women were still unemployed in the middle of 1915, nearly a year after the outbreak of the war.[17]