1920

Britain entrenched in economic recession

1921

Ireland partitioned by the Government of Ireland Act

1924

Britain's first Labour government elected

King George IV invites Ramsey McDonald to form the first Labour government

André Breton's First Surrealist Manifesto published

Sergei Eisenstein's Strike refused certification by the British Board of Film Censors (BBFC)

1925

John Logie Baird creates the first television transmitter

Film Society formed, enabling banned films to be screened publicly to members

William Coldstream meets W.H. Auden

1926

Trade Union Congress calls a General Strike in response to changes to miners' wages and working hours

John Grierson first uses the term 'documentary' to describe film

Alberto Cavalcanti directs the film Rien que les heures

1927

Trades Disputes Act passed, restricting workers' right to strike

The filmmaker John Grierson returns to England from the USA, is instrumental in establishing the Empire Marketing Board's film unit in 1928

Walther Ruttman directs Berlin: Symphony of a City

1929

Labour Party establish Masses Stage and Film Guild

Wall Street Crash leads to a sustained period of depression and mass unemployment in Europe and USA

John Grierson's Drifters premieres alongside Eisenstein’s banned The Battleship Potemkin at the Film Society

The communist Federation of Workers Film Societies formed