The Roaring 2020’s By Daisy Edwards

During the Covid Crisis, there has been no shortage of comparisons to war rhetoric, we saw people treating the first lockdown like the Blitz and the government telling people to ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’. However, it seems to be easier to compare our 2020’s era to another, and that is the 1920’s. The ‘Roaring 1920’s’ were characterised by recovery from the ‘Great War’ (1914-1918) as well as the fallout from a previous deadly pandemic, The Spanish Flu, in 1918. Often, the ‘Roaring 20’s’ call to mind the glitz and glamour of high society, the Gatsby lifestyle, full of champagne parties and women in flapper dresses. However, historian Alexander Watson describes this as only the case for the elite: “This idea of the ‘roaring twenties’ comes from the US, it only came into the war in 1917 and it doesn’t suffer the massive casualties that Europeans suffer.” The reality of life post-war and post-Spanish flu for most European countries was societal anger, economic depression and general poverty. “They had to eat potato skins because they couldn’t afford much else.” Watson acknowledged that he was painting a rather grim picture of the 1920’s but mentioned that “culturally, this was an amazing period for all sorts of new waves of expression that people couldn’t do before.” Apart from the most blatantly obvious parallel, both being periods of social, cultural and economic recovery from a pandemic, where do the lesser comparisons begin? One can’t forget the empty shelves that littered supermarkets when the first lockdown began, driving a wedge between the haves and the have-nots, those who were able to afford to stock up. Class divisions also characterised the 1920’s as well, general strikes and mass unemployment led to rowdy protests in the streets. We have seen many protests during lockdown, most well-known is that of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests and while race relations were an issue in the 1920’s, the issue of class is mentioned again and again by Watson. Watson describes the 1920’s in a way that suggests a cultural reset. Soldiers being able to see the world meant that “there was a questioning of imperialism” and women gained the right to vote in the UK. This was a huge step in dissolving inequality between genders. We saw a direct reaction to imperialism in June 2020, when a statue of 17th Century slave trader Edward Colson was toppled into the River Avon. Global catastrophe clearly inspires revolution, especially in young people. Young people began defying their parents: skirts shortened, and a party scene emerged, much like one we can expect at the end of coronavirus restrictions. There was a huge economic crisis globally in 1920, ending the decade with the Wall Street Crash. Governments were massively indebted, just as they are now. One can only hope that the Governments of today handle the economy far better than the governments of the 1920’s. Watson says: “You can interpret ‘roaring’ in two ways: after the war there’s going to be euphoria and people will be going on holidays and clubs will open, then everyone will suddenly realise they’re skint and a roaring of a different kind will begin.” Economic instability fuels social instability in a huge way and while both are valid, it wouldn’t be unfounded to predict the foundations of our morals to be shaken by Covid. “A roaring of a different type will begin” Some smaller comparisons can be made, hospitals were overwhelmed, holidays were had at home and divisions between generations were highlighted by employment levels. Every life was touched by either the war or the pandemic, in the same way every life has been touched by the current pandemic we find ourselves still tackling. Luckily, we are gifted by hindsight, and we have the opportunity to learn from the mistakes that our predecessors a century before us made. “In 1920, there was an element of utopianism, of hope, that after all that horror, things will get better and are going to be different.” We can only hope that while we are recovering from the devastation of Covid-19 that this same mentality will compel us to make fundamental changes in our culture towards a better future where a global catastrophe unites us rather than highlighting class, race, gender and age divides. We can hope that we won’t find ourselves in a cycle of chaos every 100 years when an international cataclysm occurs. Watson believes that “There is stuff that does fundamentally change in the 1920’s, for good and for ill and that will happen now, I believe it.” Ultimately, as Watson puts it: “catastrophe inspires utopias” and I, for one cannot wait to see what comes of the pandemic socially, artistically and culturally. This could all happen again in 100 years or we could form a new, more accepting and lenient world, who knows? Nobody can predict the future. “Catastrophe inspires utopias” Written By: Daisy Edwards