Faces of Unemployment - Outport and City

During the Depression, people in all kinds and sizes of communities were in desperate need. But there were differences between life in the outports and the city. One thing that was different was how unemployment looked.

In the outports, most people had some land of their own. They could grow crops and keep animals. All of this takes a great deal of work. People could keep busy and help to feed themselves, unless they became too hungry or sick to work.

In St. John's, things were different. The unemployed were more visible. St. John's at the time was only what we now think of as downtown—a place of narrow streets and lanes and tiny yards. Most people had little or no land, so they could not grow crops or raise animals. Many would not have known how to do these things.

With no work and no land, the unemployed of St. John's had little to do. Many hung out at the wharves and piers along the harbour, around warehouses and on street corners. These were places where they had found work in the past. Perhaps they felt they might find work there again; perhaps they simply had nowhere else to go.

Other people who lived in the city had to notice all these unemployed men. Perhaps some people felt sorry for them. Others might have thought they were lazy; sometimes, we hear people described as "lazy" today, if they are standing around and not working. Some other people might have seen the unemployed as a threat. Desperate people sometimes do desperate things. Could these unemployed men be a danger to others?

This idea of danger took on a real face in the riots and outbreaks of 1932. The image of danger became even stronger in 1934 and 1935, as the Unemployed Committee in St. John's struggled to become a voice for all those who had no work. This committee tried to make links with other groups outside St. John's. It wanted the unemployed to have a say in their own lives. The group organized many protests against the dole. In 1934, this group gained a strong new voice. Pierce Power was a young, unemployed labourer.¹⁰ He was a fine speaker.