10 ‘Down with the concentration camps!’
-
John Field
Abstract
This chapter examines protest and resistance within the camps, as well as outside campaigns against their existence. Of the outside bodies, the most important was the National Unemployed Workers Movement, an offshoot of the Communist Party. While the NUWM made conditions in the camps a public issue, and also influenced the Ministry of Labour and other government departments responsible for policy, its campaigns also reflect Communist Party priorities. In particular, it campaigned most strenuously against Labour-led municipal labour colonies, and then against the training provisions of the 1934 Unemployment Insurance Act, for reasons of Soviet statecraft. Within the camps, protests are poorly recorded, but were evidently not rare, and included organised activities including strikes and demonstrations. Unlike the NUWM, the trainees’ concerns were largely material, rather than political.
Abstract
This chapter examines protest and resistance within the camps, as well as outside campaigns against their existence. Of the outside bodies, the most important was the National Unemployed Workers Movement, an offshoot of the Communist Party. While the NUWM made conditions in the camps a public issue, and also influenced the Ministry of Labour and other government departments responsible for policy, its campaigns also reflect Communist Party priorities. In particular, it campaigned most strenuously against Labour-led municipal labour colonies, and then against the training provisions of the 1934 Unemployment Insurance Act, for reasons of Soviet statecraft. Within the camps, protests are poorly recorded, but were evidently not rare, and included organised activities including strikes and demonstrations. Unlike the NUWM, the trainees’ concerns were largely material, rather than political.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- Abbreviations ix
- Acknowledgements xi
- Introduction 1
- 1 Colonising the land 9
- 2 ‘We work amongst the lowest stratum of life’ 32
- 3 Labour colonies and public health 57
- 4 Alternative living in the English countryside 77
- 5 ‘The landless man to the manless land’ 99
- 6 Transference and the Labour government, 1929–31 125
- 7 Incremental growth 148
- 8 ‘Light green uniforms, white aprons and caps’ 173
- 9 Camps as social service and social movement 195
- 10 ‘Down with the concentration camps!’ 222
- Conclusion – Understanding work camps 245
- Select bibliography 264
- Index 271
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- Abbreviations ix
- Acknowledgements xi
- Introduction 1
- 1 Colonising the land 9
- 2 ‘We work amongst the lowest stratum of life’ 32
- 3 Labour colonies and public health 57
- 4 Alternative living in the English countryside 77
- 5 ‘The landless man to the manless land’ 99
- 6 Transference and the Labour government, 1929–31 125
- 7 Incremental growth 148
- 8 ‘Light green uniforms, white aprons and caps’ 173
- 9 Camps as social service and social movement 195
- 10 ‘Down with the concentration camps!’ 222
- Conclusion – Understanding work camps 245
- Select bibliography 264
- Index 271
