How far did relations between Britons and immigrants to Britain change 1918-79?
1918-31 Discrimination
- Britain’s black and Asian communities grew by the end of WW1 - Wage rates in favour of white workers – e.g. in 1919,
– over 1/3 of Britain’s manpower was made up of black and Asian chefs were paid £5 per month whereas white chefs
Asian colonial troops and labourers were paid £20 per month
- Post-WW1 – increase in white racist violence in an attempt to
stop ethnic minorities taking British jobs The Communist Party of Great Britain
- Played a significant role in the fight against racism in the
Working rights 1920s
- Unions, law makers and the police considered minority ethnic - Defended the rights of Arab seamen in 1930
groups as non-British and not entitled to equal rights o NUS tried to force Arab and Somali seamen out of
- POC excluded from certain types of employment, denied their jobs
access to healthcare and education, and refused service in o The CPGB organised regional strikes against the racist
theatres, hotels and restaurants policy
o White workers in South Shields, Liverpool and
‘Alien workers’ Stepney struck against the NUS
- Widespread discrimination in 1918-39, indicating white people o Showed some white workers were prepared to
viewed ethnic minorities as alien, inferior and non-British support antiracist campaigns
- Unions fought for the right of white workers to take the jobs of o Demonstrated the extent to which immigrants were
coloured workers – e.g. the National Union of Seamen prepared to fight for their rights
demanded the jobs of non-white sailors should be given to o Action was unsuccessful
white seamen and their campaigns led to two laws which
placed all ethnic minorities under the threat of deportation The International African Service Bureau
- Established the newspaper, ‘International African
The Alien Orders Act, 1920 Opinion’, encouraging readers to lobby their MPs for black
- Required all migrant workers to register with the police before rights
seeking employment - Lobbied for POC to have equal access to healthcare and
- Failure to comply could result in deportation shopping facilities
Special Restrictions Act, 1925 1931-39
- Forced coloured seamen to prove their British citizenship to - Black people were more likely to be unemployed – e.g.
immigration authorities or face deportation 1934-45, 80% of black and Asian men had been
- Assumed coloured seamen were non-British unless they could unemployed for a prolonged period vs 30% of white men
prove their status as citizens
League of Coloured People 1931
- Wanted to expose the colour bar and end white ignorance
, How far did relations between Britons and immigrants to Britain change 1918-79?
- Racist action in economically depressed areas – e.g. Cardiff of the extent of discrimination
race riot 1935, white violence led to 3 deaths and £3,000 worth - Started campaigns to ensure equal access to facilities for
of property damage as police collaborated with whites to all black and Asian people across Britain
prevent black sailors working on ships - Campaigned to gain equal access to healthcare
- Racist attitudes in education and health – e.g. only 150 New Commonwealth immigration
Caribbean’s studied in top universities and were not expected - Old Commonwealth – predominantly white population
to stay in the UK once they graduated (Australia, New Zealand and Canada)
- New Commonwealth – predominantly black or Asian
1945-64 population (Jamaica, Ghana and India)
- 1945-58 – change in patterns of migration as British policy - Serious labour shortage after the war, giving an
makers used the Empire for resources and manpower opportunity for migrants across the Empire
- However, successive governments rejected migration as a - Government policy made it easy for migrants to gain
solution to the problems of reconstruction post-war entry to Britain – e.g. British Nationality Act, 1948 – new
- Mass migration fundamentally changed British culture legal right for all people in British colonies to enter the UK
- POC expected to be in menial, low-paid and low-status jobs
regardless of their education and skills as TUs, employers and The impact of mass migration, 1948-58
police excluded the new migrants from well-paid jobs - In 1939, there were 8,600 Caribbean’s which increased to
173,000 in 1959
The impact of WW2 - Lucrative opportunities in the entertainment industry –
- Government acknowledged migrants were essential to the war e.g. Count Suckle DJed in clubs such as the Roaring
effort – e.g. 500,000 black African men joined the RAF Twenties in the West End in the 1950s, playing Jamaican
- Education and training offered to all ex-service men after the ska and reggae
war - NHS recruited 3,000 nurses from the Caribbean between
- Refused to outlaw discrimination, but publicly rejected it 1948-54
- Constantine’s legal victory against the Imperial Hotel was - Neither Labour nor Conservatives welcomed the new
welcomed by government officials immigration as they actively tried to discourage
- Government propaganda encouraged white men from Australia immigration from the ‘new Commonwealth’ by pressuring
and New Zealand to help, but discouraged men from the governments in the Caribbean, Asia and Africa to restrict
Caribbean – e.g. in the mid-1940s, they rejected an offer from a the availability of passports
Caribbean shipping company to pay for 2,000 Jamaican - All considered policies such as limits on ‘coloured’
workers to carry out British care work immigrations, but were rejected in fear of damaging
- Black and Asian soldiers rarely received promotions Britain’s international reputation
- Britain tried to enforce segregation seen in the US Army in
1942 as black and white soldiers lived in different Racist reactions
accommodation, and fought in different battalions which some - Whites objected to black and Asian people buying houses,
British businesses used as an excuse to enforce a colour bar – claiming benefits, getting jobs and behaving in ways that
