Any war, one way or another, brings big problems and numerous difficulties to society. This is the "natural decline" of the male population in the country that is waging this war, and certain hardships even for those who are not threatened by the front in any way - that is, women and children. Naturally, there are food shortages, governments introduce cards for a variety of consumer goods, which are no longer enough due to the fact that the entire industry of the country is working for the war. Naturally, in this situation, the government begins to appeal to its citizens to save on everything, since any saving "brings the common victory closer." That is, for his inability to solve the matter peacefully, the whole people should pay, but nothing can be done about it - what people are at the bottom of the social pyramid, such is their power at the top. But some authorities do better in these conditions, some worse. It is necessary to learn from the best, not from the bad.
British women at a military factory during the First World War.
So let's see, but what about the promotion of economy in such a prosperous country in all respects, what was England even during the First World War? What and how did the British government call on its British subjects, and what means of influence did it use? An attempt to cover a topic so urgent and for Britain's ally Russia was undertaken in 1916 by such a popular all-Russian magazine as Niva. In it one could then read the following about it:
To call for austerity in England is to imagine something even more tragic than the famous London fire of 1666, which destroyed nearly three-quarters of the city. How many human victims were there then? However, history has proven that the fire carried out an extremely massive disinfection work and cleared the country from a hotbed of various epidemics and diseases, including plague. Because at that time the English capital was a labyrinth of narrow, cramped and dark streets, filled with mud and centuries-old accumulation of all kinds of garbage. But in the end, this great calamity turned out to be a real boon. The same, however, (as it is written in "Niva"!) Could be said about the great wars. Well, the current war, they say, also deeply and to its very roots, to the last detail of domestic life, also shook the minds of the British masses and affected the whole life of England.
"Don't waste your bread!" British poster of the First World War.
"The Anglo-Saxon is not frugal by nature" - this is the conclusion made in the magazine. An ordinary Frenchman in his daily life is guided by this thought: "How much can I save?" The Englishman asks himself about something completely different: "How much can I spend?" For a quarter of a century, the proliferation of extravagance, expressed in ever-increasing luxury, even began to provoke protest among the prudent British minority; even various “friendly societies” and mutual assistance funds were created, but they did not have noticeable success among the population. Moreover, the war not only did not contribute to the sobering of British society, but, on the contrary, led it into some state of general intoxication, which grew into an insane waste of money. Again, for some reason, the working people who, with the outbreak of the war, began to grow richer literally by leaps and bounds, showed a special craving for extravagance. There were several reasons. For example, the number of industrial workers has been greatly reduced by being drafted into the army. Then, since the industry needed workers, and orders were received in huge quantities, there was a truly unprecedented rise in the price of any labor, which was further intensified by the competition between different factories. As a result, in the first six months since the start of the war, workers' wages increased by 30-60%. And then a real orgy of money followed: a rare family was not subject to this strange insanity: as if people wanted to forget. For example, one of the members of the British Parliament wrote: “Among my voters there is one worker who receives as much as 15 pounds a week (“150 rubles at the normal rate”- the“normal rate”is for Russia in 1914! - author's note), - that is, twice as much as he received in peacetime. And now half of this amount was credited to him in a tavern. I was sincerely surprised at such a great thirst; but it turned out that this worker himself drinks very little, and all this money went to … endless treats of his friends and neighbors! But he could have saved up a solid capital for himself, but instead, he was throwing money down the drain like an idiot: well, the person just went crazy, you can't say otherwise."
“Kitchen is the key to victory! Eat less bread!"
However, by no means all the money went to the tavern. Their wives and daughters did the same stupid things from the workers: they bought cheap clothes, new phonographs and pianos, a lot of cosmetics and other rubbish.
Again, there were people, although there were few of them (today we know for sure the percentage, these are 80 and 20 - author's note) who realized that the only way to dispel this strange social intoxication and make people look reality in the eye is to scare them.
"Women's War Loan".
And in England, a real crusade against such a pernicious human licentiousness began, and it began with a speech by Prime Minister Lloyd George, in which he said:
“All of us (Englishmen of all ranks) must remember not only that in this war and under present circumstances wastefulness is criminal, and frugality, reaching the point of pettiness, becomes the highest national virtue, but also that only from the activities of each individual at home, we can expect such an accumulation of national funds, with the help of which we and our allies could achieve the celebration we all expect."
We need more planes! Women help!"
The press immediately zealously began to propagandize his words, however, without due success. And then people, looking a little further than their noses, decided to reach every hearth and reach out to every consciousness. The most suitable means for this was the "parliamentary recruiting committee", whose representatives were in all English cities, towns and villages, pasted over them with posters of patriotic content and, without much coercion, recruited as many as three million volunteer soldiers. And this same committee with its branches has now directed its activities to attract subscribers to a huge war loan, for which all its funds were directed to the propaganda of nationwide frugality. As it was before with military posters, so now the committee began to distribute brochures, flying leaflets, posters, etc. everywhere. They began to preach frugality from the pulpits of churches, at meetings of local village councils (it turns out that at that time in England there was already a "local Soviet village government" - author's note) and even at street rallies. So now in England slogans hang everywhere: “Save for the sake of your homeland, for your own good! By this you will reduce the import and save the country's gold reserves ", and each such admonition ended with the suggestion:" You should not neglect anything - every little thing counts! " As a result, they managed to find three million subscribers for the loan, and half of these people before the war had never in their entire life held a single valuable interest-bearing paper in their hands.
Grazing by women in the park.
Then a wave of frugality swept over to those who were at the front. It all started with a major Scotsman, who had previously been a bank teller. At his suggestion, the soldiers started their own savings bank. At the beginning, out of 220 soldiers, his company 89 invested in the cashier 5 pounds sterling, and someone and more, 7 people from 3 to 5, and 10 - the amount is very small. And this despite the fact that the English soldier is paid a little more than one shilling a day (30 million rubles for the entire army at the normal rate, that is, normal for Russia in 1916 - author's note).
But those who preached frugality in England decided to turn also towards everyday household items and, first of all, kitchen and table. The reason was the rise in prices for food, the prices of which have risen since the beginning of the war from 20 to 50%. But there was also another, more important circumstance to tackle the change in the nutrition of the people of the country.
Everyone knows that England imports most of the food by sea. The fall of this export caused a cry thrown to the masses: "Down with import!" The people were taught that by saving food, it was possible to reduce the hardships of wartime that took place.
Plowing in a tie is, of course, a little unusual. But if you consider that in England this was not known at all, then yes … it says a lot.
Since every generally useful movement in the country must begin with the family, the committee began to publish popular proclamations of the following content:
“Each of us, whether it be a man, woman or child, who wants to serve the state and help it win the war, can do this by seriously engaging in food conservation. Since food comes to us mainly from foreign countries, we pay tribute for this with ships, people and money. Every piece that wasted for nothing means a loss to the nation in ships, people and money. If all the food now disappearing could be saved and used wisely, it would give more money, more people, more ships for national defense."
Recruiting poster for the "Women's Land Army", 1918
It was even necessary to teach the people how to buy food correctly. Saving in nutrition doesn't hurt our health, but it can give us both a healthier and more productive Britain.
Workers of the "Women's Land Army" in the felling.
Meanwhile, it turned out that the extravagance in food in England reached truly terrifying proportions. Another worker, having become rich quite suddenly, and very far from any culture, began to demand meat for himself three times a day, although quite recently he was glad to receive it only three times a week! As a result, his wife threw away more food than was consumed. And it is clear that in rich families everything was the same, only the scope of squandering was even greater. It was not at all easy to help this trouble. But fortunately, there was a ready-to-use tool at hand, namely: the National Nutrition Committee, founded at the very beginning of the war with the aim of feeding the hungry Belgians (remember Hercule Poirot in Agatha Christie's The Mysterious Incident in Styles), and who had ready-made premises, experienced personnel, and very significant funds - that is, everything necessary for this.
Women load boxes of gas masks.
The upbringing campaign began, as it should, with the representatives of the beautiful half of humanity. The whole country literally covered up posters: "To the British hostesses and everyone who is responsible for the purchase and preparation of food." The essence of this appeal was contained in the following articles of the following content:
"Eat less meat products"
"Be thrifty with bread"
“Products should not be wasted. To waste food is like wasting cartridges and shells for nothing."
"Be thrifty with everything that is imported into the country, with tobacco, kerosene, rubber, etc."
"Eat homemade foods wherever possible, but handle them with care."
"Before you buy something, think, do you need it and can you do without it?"
"Try to grow your own vegetables wherever possible."
The following book was prepared and published: "Saving in food", in which housewives were told how, for example, to use different stoves in such a way as to save fuel and keep all the heat received from them.
The groom woman.
Millions of flying leaflets teach British inhabitants: “How to light a fire correctly”, “How to prepare a kindling for the stove at home”, “How to economically keep the fire in the stove”, “How to break coal without losing it at all”.
The Housewives' Guide was published, which included, for example, the following chapters: "How to spend less, but at the same time eat better", "Different food for different times of the year", "How to reduce your expenses for doctors and at the pharmacy." It was said about bread like this: "There are two ways at once" of how to preserve bread: one is to carefully observe so that not a single crust, not a single crumb of bread is wasted; the other is to use bread that has become somewhat stale, since such bread is more satisfying, and less is consumed."
Milkmaid woman. For Britain, 1916 is an amazing thing. In addition, she may not be a farmer, but … "a girl from society."
It was persistently repeated: “You should not drink tea four or five times a day; two times is enough, and it's better for health. After all, no European people drink tea in such quantity as the English; that is why everyone appreciated the seriousness of this proposal. Moreover, this advice was taken into account and began to be largely implemented, although this was a true military deprivation for the majority of the British. It was calculated that if the country had returned to tea consumption as it was only 10 years ago, its annual budget would have increased by £ 28 million!
Women have replaced men everywhere!
In both England and America, the evil of buying groceries over the phone has spread. At the same time, traders often sold all kinds of heap to buyers. It was explained that giving the servants to buy food was also not profitable. "Buy it yourself!" everyone: they themselves, the state, the army and the entire people as a whole.
Home science courses were organized for girls and young women. Both in the squalid hut and in the richly equipped kitchen of the manor house, they graphically teach what the leaflets are calling for at the same time. Public "lectures" are also held in some public hall, in a simple rural school, and even in a barn that has been turned into a show kitchen. It clearly shows how you can cook both meat and vegetables economically and at the same time deliciously. It explains why potatoes should be cooked only in husks, because it is scientifically proven that when you peel it out of five or six measures of potatoes, no matter how hard you try, one will necessarily disappear, and this waste is unacceptable during the war years.
Under the influence of such propaganda, many luxurious restaurants have closed or turned into very modest establishments, where their former wealthy clients still continue to come for lunch from the offices, but where they only refresh themselves with a glass of milk, or some completely unpretentious "home" dish, to great benefits for your stomach and health.
Recruiting poster for the "Women's Royal Naval Service".
The call to “produce as many different food products as possible at home” soon changed the face of the country. Before that, the British looked at their land mainly from an aesthetic point of view. Most likely like a large public park! Lloyd George was able to ensure that many plots of land began to be cultivated again. Under the leadership of the Earl of Selborne, the Minister of Agriculture, a struggle began against the stupid conservatism of English farmers. And here's the result: over the past summer (meaning 1915 - author's note) home harvests increased by 20%, and this is with a shortage of labor caused by recruitment into the army. Even the British aristocracy and the upper bourgeoisie began to turn beautifully trimmed front lawns into potato fields and vegetable gardens; and in their old and luxurious parks … wheat was rippling.
English children from the middle and even lower classes responded to this patriotic appeal. Here the famous British social activist Lady Henry got down to business. Under her leadership, children from poor neighborhoods in East London, encouraged by very small cash prizes, organized a competition among themselves, clearing many courtyards and backyards of workers' districts from garbage and turning them into flourishing and useful vegetable gardens.
All over the place there has been a reduction in unnecessary spending on all kinds of luxury. "Can we do without it now?" - the British began to ask themselves every now and then and learned how to calmly do without a lot of things.
Celebrations and high society receptions were canceled. If relatives or close friends want to invite them to a family lunch or dinner, then an extra meal is not added to it - everything goes the same as always.
Niva writes about such excesses as champagne and other expensive wines and imported liqueurs, no one else in England remembers; whiskey served with soda water and sherry. Extreme simplicity reigns in clothes, tailcoats and white waistcoats are completely banished, and ladies dress in dark, simple cut dresses. They began to do as much as possible without servants. Nobody uses cars for personal purposes - it is unpatriotic, but donated them to public and charitable organizations.
Many girls have lost their jobs in fashionable ladies' workshops, but now they replace men in offices or even go to work in factories that produce items of military equipment. In large department stores, all the most recent luxury goods departments are closed because no one buys them.
"British women say: GO!" - a very good poster from the point of view of psychology. There is an imperative, and at the same time it seems to be not. A moral choice is yours!
Thus, the magazine writes, it is very difficult to measure the beneficial effect that such a harsh upheaval in public life had on the morals of the British nation, and if after the end of the war it does not forget the lessons taught to it in moderation and simplicity, then this alone will fully pay for everything. casualties suffered by the British.
And it should be noted that the frugality introduced by such harsh measures, abruptly mixed with traditional British patriotism, bore fruit again 20 years later, when, under the threat of a German invasion of the British Isles, history repeated itself. Today we have 7 billion people on Earth, and soon there will be all 10 … What such growth will lead in the end is hardly necessary to explain, so it may already be time to gradually adopt this British experience?
