The decade of the 1930s began in the gloom of the Great Depression and ended with the opening of the Second World War in 1939. In between, were years of enormous technical advance and social change.
International politics of the 1930s were dominated by the working through of the consequences of the Treaty of Versailles (1919) and the political impacts of the Great Depression. The rise of authoritarianism in Germany (the National Socialists under Adolf Hitler) was mirrored in Italy under Mussolini and in Spain with bloody victory of facist forces under Franco in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia (19xx) and in the later part of the decade Germany’s occupations of the Rhineland (19xx), and Czechoslovakia (1938) set the scene for the Second World War.
In the United Kingdom, the Great Depression was felt through rising unemployment, business failure and the devaluation of the pound. A national (coalition) government was formed (1931) which, under various Prime Ministers, would continue until 1945. The second half of the decade was dominated by preparation for the inevitable war with Germany. The Munich Agreement and Neville Chamberlain’s declaration of ‘Peace in our time’ (1938) proved a false hope and Britain declared war on 3rd September 1939 following Germany’s invasion of Poland.
Culture in the 1930s was dominated by the Art Deco style in architecture, furniture, interior design and decoration. It was also Hollywood’s ‘Golden Decade’, notable films include ‘Gone with the Wind (193x), Cleopatra (1939), Dracula (1931) and ‘King Kong’ (1933). Writers Ernest Hemmingway, John Steinbeck and William Falkner were at the height of their powers.
The UK pottery industry was badly affected by the Great Depression, the export trade so important to the industry collapsed leading to reductions in wages, short time working, and widespread unemployment. The collapse of the Cauldon Potteries empire in 1932 shook the Staffordshire pottery industry to its foundations. Economic conditions gradually improved from 1932 and the ‘art deco’ styled ceramics produced in the 1930s make the products of the decade some of the most interesting and collectible in the history of UK pottery industry. The crude, but colourful art deco-styled ceramics of Clarice Cliff (Newport Pottery Ltd) were widely emulated by other mass-market manufacturers. At the top of the market manufacturers such as Doulton & Co. produced more sophisticated tablewares (for example ‘Tango’) more in keeping with the original, opulent art deco style.