Introduction to Chartism

1. Introduction to Chartism www.educationforum.co.uk

2. Key Questions • What caused working people to protest so vigorously and so consistently for political change 1838-48? • How important was disappointment with the Whigs in causing Chartism? • What did Chartists believe in? • Was Chartist a political movement or just a movement of economically depressed workers? • Was Chartist a national movement? • Can Chartist be seen as expression of working class solidarity? • Was Chartism a failure and if so what caused this?

3. Key Ideas • Ideas for Chartist not new- Paine "Rights of Man", 1815-20, mass platform and post war radicalism, Henry Hunt. • Chartism's strength fluctuated- peaks 1838-9, 1841-2, and 1848. • Genuinely national movement- although stronger in some areas than others. • Chartist alarmed authorities- government's response measured- avoided creating martyrs. • Number of plans made for general uprising- for some Chartist revolutionary. • Chartist capable of uniting large numbers of working people in support of democracy

4. 6 Points of the Charter • Vote for all adult males- over 21. • Payment for M.P's. • Each constituency- same size • Secret ballot • No property qualifications- M.P's should be required to have property. • General elections once a year

5. The Peoples Charter • Written by London Working Men's Association- May 1838- William Lovett worked with Francis Place and Joseph Roebuck • Historian Eric Evans- "It was a highly political document: none of its terms had to do with wages, conditions of work or the economy." • Reflected priorities of informed and literate artisan (i.e. skilled working men) radicals who had been parliamentary reformers for at least a generation. . • Aimed to increase influence of "productive classes" and reduce "non productive classes" (non productive seen as landlords). • Many supporters of Chartism believed that the conditions of their lives (working and living) would improve ONLY when working men got the vote.

6. The Origins of Chartism 1834 • February Formation of the Grand National Consolidated Trades Union [GNCTU] • March Sentence of seven years' transportation passed on six agricultural labourers from Tolpuddle, near Dorchester, for administering an illegal oath whilst forming a local branch of the GNCTU. • July Poor Law Amendment Act passed – seen as an attack on the poor • August GNCTU dissolved 1835 • September Municipal Corporations Act passed – police in many districts 1836 • March Newspaper Act passed, reducing stamp duty on newspapers to 1d per issue – spread of radical ideas • June Formation of London Working Men's Association [LWMU] • August Formation of National Radical Association of Scotland

7. Long Term Causes • 1) Radical tradition and ideas • Thomas Paine- Rights of Man- ideas of the French RevolutionSet agenda for radical discussion- corresponding societies discussed issues. • Henry Hunt and the Radicals -The methods and messages of Hunt's campaign from 1815-19 are closely linked to the Chartists. He raises certain issues that became ingrained within the psyche of British radicals, most namely the link between Old Corruption and the existing franchise. • William Cobbett’s-Political Register- popular radical publication • The radical tradition in Britain from the French Revolution onwards pushed the idea that your social condition was linked to voting- this marked a significant change in British History and provided the main focus of the Chartist campaign.

8. Long Term Causes 2 • 2) Changing nature of British Society • Franchise out of date • Britain ruled by aristocrats and large landowners- did they represent lives of people over whom they ruled? • Major changes in society- industrial revolution- key towns had no MP's • Restriction of vote • Industrial Revolution • E.g.- Handloom weavers- literate and highly informed politically- skills no longer needed with mechanisationEvans- "Handloom weavers looked to Chartist to defend an entire political and social culture." • Free trade attacked old work practises- removal of apprenticeship regulators • Chartist can be seen as re-asserting ancient rights • Industrial Revolution created dreadful living and working conditions – a breeding ground for radical politics

9. Short Term Causes • 1) The betrayal of 1832 - the reform bill had lead to disappointment within many sections of the working class. Many radicals had believed this would be a great reform. However it was increasingly recognised that the reform bill had never intended to help the plight of the working classes. The middle class now had the vote and historians such as EP Thompson see this as the final process in creating a clear divide between a propertied middle class and the disenfranchised working class. • 2) War of the unstamped Radical papers and pamphlets had been vital in spreading the radical message throughout post war radicalism (1815-19) The Whigs brought in a legislation that tightened up the stamp duty charged on publications. They reduced the stamp duties but ensured that this policy was enacted across the country. The working class radicals saw this as a tax on knowledge. This policy played a vital role in politicising many of the later Chartists e.g. George Julian Harney sold papers illegally in the war of the unstamped. • 3) Factory Reform - the conditions in the factories were appalling. Ten Hour movement popular in Yorkshire- campaigned for shorter hours. 1833 Factory Act left hours unaltered. Richard Brown- "The frustrated factory reformers swelled the rising Chartist tide and many of the northern delegates of the Chartist Convention in 1839 had initially entered politics through the ten hour movement." • 4) New Poor Law - Arguably least popular of the Whig policies. 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act- reduced cost of relief by introducing stringent workhouse test.The poor could no longer receive outdoor relief in their own homes- they had to move to the workhouse.Widespread protest in rural and industrial north- the workhouse became symbol of Whig cruelty.Late 1836- began to introduce Poor Law north of Trent- bitter opposition.Leaders- Richard Oastler, Fergus O'Connor, Joseph Raynor Stephens, and Henry HetheringtonPoor Law introduced at time of economic decline- stories spread of savage workhouses. • 5) Trade Union activity • Trade unionists at end of 1830's began to attribute problems to single cause- unreformed parliament. see R.Brown p15-16Conclusiona) Many people were members of all the campaigns- you could be involved in the war of the unstamped, factory campaign and Trade Union movement- they were not mutually exclusive.b) Economic depression at the end of the 1830's provided the fuel for this discontent. This triggered an anti Whig sentiment and a demand for an improvement. The problems though had a political dimension- they appeared to be linked to the unreformed parliament.c) These economic problems linked into the wider tradition of English radicalism.