Unemployed Day Mass Demonstration 1931

State Committee Unemployed Workers Movement, Melbourne

Registration number

1728153

Artist/maker

State Committee Unemployed Workers Movement, Melbourne

Title

Unemployed Day Mass Demonstration

Production date

1931

Medium

ink on paper

Dimensions (H x W x D)

39.5 x 22 cm

Inscriptions

UNEMPLOYED DAY / This FRIDAY, Mar. 6, 1931 / Mass Demonstration / ON / STREETS OF MELBOURNE / Unemployed from all Suburbs Demonstrate for : / Work and Full Wages or Sustenance on the following scale : [extensive text]

Credit line

Purchased, 2018
City of Melbourne Art and Heritage Collection

Keywords

unemployment, 1931, Melbourne streets, protest, mass demonstration

Summary

Unemployed Day was an international campaign of marches and demonstrations, with hundreds of thousands of people in major cities around the world taking to the streets to protest mass unemployment associated with the Great Depression. The Communist Party of Australia played a lead role in coordinating the Melbourne event, reflecting the adoption of communist beliefs by many long-term unemployed men and women throughout this bleak period.