Transcript Michelle
Myth of Unity? Food Rationing and the British Class System in Grantham and London during the Second World War. There’ll Always be An England Red, white and blue; what does it mean to you? Surely you're proud, shout it aloud, "Britons, awake!" The Empire too, we can depend on you. Freedom remains. These are the chains Nothing can break. There'll always be an England, And England shall be free Myth vs. Reality • Did the ware create social unity? • Did the war bridge the classes and shake-up other pre-war divisions? • Could the black market have been a popularized myth? • Was “fair shares for all” simply propaganda? Case Study (1)-Grantham • A market-town in Lincolnshire. • War years: – influx of munitions workers and service personnel. • Center for armament production. • Headquarters of the No. 5 group of Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command Case Study (2)- East End London • The “dodgy” area. • Home of London's docks. • Large contributor to London’s industrial output. • Continuous target during the blitz. Recent Opinions • Clive Ponting: 1940: Myth and Reality – Darkest hour instead of its finest hour. – “Spirit of Dunkirk” and the blitz are shrouded in political propaganda. • Ina Zweiniger-Bargielowska: Austerity in Britain: Rationing, Controls, and Consumption – dispels the myth of the home front based on clashing party politics – mechanics of rationing, its effects on moral, health and welfare • Angus Calder: The People’s War: Britain 1939-1945 – Intensifies the lack of social unity and consensus – irony in the governments propaganda Rationing – Unofficially, ration began in 1936 with the establishment of the Food (Defence Plans) Department – Ration books – At the height of war (1 week’s ration) 1d 2 d of meat, 4 oz bacon or ham, 3 pints of milk, 2 oz butter, 2 oz jam, 3 oz sugar, 1 oz cheese, plus 16 points per month for tinned or dried foods. Kinks in the System • Subsidies (Special ration cards) • Inequalities of distribution – Restaurants – Flat-Rate System • Government Response – governmentsubsidized institutions • British Restaurants • Work Canteens • School Dinners Black Market • all breaches of the emergency legislation including sale above the maximum price, • imposing a condition of sale, sale of ration goods without coupons • trade in coupons and supply of controlled good in breach of the regulations, • false declaration, and illicit slaughter of animals or supply of agricultural produce. Ina Zweiniger-Bargielowska (151-152) Responses to Black Market • Preventative fines and new legislation • “The Black Market was a bit like “free love” in the 1960s—everyone had heard of it but it was often nowhere to be found.” -- Mike Brown and Carol Harris (93) • Spirit of “we are in this together.” – “most people, 99.9 percent, of people were honest and abided by rules.” –Fred Barnes – “my mother never bought food on the black market and was scornful of those who did.” –Rose Bakker • Gallup Poll: January 1942 Conclusions • prior to rationing instances of buying in bulk from wealthier people existed to excess – “There was no immediate rationing of food stuffs but many better-off customers started buying huge amounts of groceries, especially canned foods such as corned beef and other means, peas …You name it, they bought it” (O’Neill, 121) • Wartime Social Survey – “Attitudes to food rationing, 1942-1943,” • Community fighting – “On several occasions, my father brought a strange soldier or sailor into our home… Mum would share what food we had with them and send them off … so they could go and look for their family.” (O’Neill, 218)