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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Depression
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The slump throughout the capitalist world in the early 1930s, the worst in the series of recurring recessions which have been a feature of capitalist history. The international trigger was the US stock market crash; Black Thursday, the worst single day, was 24 October 1929. Britain was already weak after the *General Strike of 1926. The number of unemployed rose to more than two million, bringing an unprecedented level of *national insurance payments. In 1931 the mounting government debt provoked an international loss of confidence in sterling, and the crisis caused the coalition *national government to be in power until World War II. There was little economic improvement during the 1930s, as witnessed by the series of hunger marches of which *Jarrow was only one example.
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