One of the most significant historical events of the mid-19th century in the UK was the so-called Chartist movement. It was a kind of first consolidation of the efforts of workers in the country to assert their rights. The scope of this political action of the proletarians did not know before analogues in the history of Britain. Let's find out the reasons for the emergence of Chartism, follow its course, and also establish why the Chartist movement failed.
Background
Until the second quarter of the 19th century, the bourgeoisie remained the main revolutionary force in Great Britain. In the end, having achieved parliamentary reform in 1832, which led to a significant expansion of its representation in the House of Commons, the bourgeoisie actually became one of the ruling classes. The workers also welcomed the reform, as it was partly in their interests, but, as it turned out, far from fulfilling the hopes of the proletarians.
Gradually the proletariat became the main revolutionary and reformist force in Great Britain.
Motion reasons
As can be understood from the above, the reasons for the Chartist movement lay in the dissatisfaction of the workers with their political situation in the country, in limiting their right to elect representatives to parliament. The economic crises of 1825 and 1836 added fuel to the fire, especially the latter, which was a kind of trigger for starting the movement. The consequence of these crises was a decline in living standards and mass unemployment among the proletariat. Especially the plight was in the western county of England, Lancashire. All this could not but cause displeasure for workers who wanted to have more instruments of influence through the parliament on the country's economy.
In addition, in 1834, the Parliament passed the so-called Law on the Poor, which tightened the position of workers. Formally, the beginning of the Chartist movement was associated with protests against this law. However, later more fundamental goals came to the fore.
Thus, the reasons for the Chartist movement were complex, combining political and economic factors.
Chartist movement begins
The beginning of the Chartist movement, as mentioned above, most historians date back to 1836, although an exact date cannot be determined. In connection with the beginning of the next economic crisis, mass rallies and protests of workers began, sometimes numbering hundreds of thousands of people. The emergence of the Chartist movement was, initially, more likely to be spontaneous and based on the protest mood of the representatives, and was not organized by a single force, clearly setting a common goal. As mentioned above, initially the activists of the movement put forward demands to repeal the law on the poor, so after each rally a huge number of petitions were submitted to parliament to repeal this legislative act.
Meanwhile, disparate groups of protesters began to unite among themselves and enlarge. For example, in 1836, the London Workers Association appeared in London, which brought together a number of smaller organizations of the proletariat. It was this association that in the future became the main political force of the Chartist movement in Great Britain. It was the first to develop its own program of requirements for parliament, consisting of six points.
Chartist currents
I must say that almost from the very beginning of the protests in the movement there were two main wings: the right and left. The right wing advocated an alliance with the bourgeoisie and adhered mainly to political methods of struggle. The left wing was more radical. It sharply negatively reacted to a possible alliance with the bourgeoisie, and also held the opinion that the goals set could only be achieved by force.
As you can see, the methods of struggle of the Chartist movement were quite different, depending on its specific course. This in the future was one of the reasons for the defeat.
Right wing leaders
The Chartist movement was marked by the presence of a number of bright leaders. The right wing was led by William Lovett and Thomas Attwood.
William Lovett was born in 1800 in the vicinity of London. Even in his youth he moved to the capital. At first he was a simple carpenter, then he became president of the Society of Joiners. He was strongly influenced by the ideas of Robert Owen, a Utopian socialist in the first half of the 19th century. Since 1831, Lovett began to participate in various protest labor movements. In 1836, he was one of the founders of the London Workers' Association, which became the main backbone of the Chartist movement. As a representative of the so-called labor aristocracy, William Lovett advocated an alliance with the bourgeoisie and a political solution to the question of guaranteeing the rights of workers.
Thomas Attwood was born in 1783. Well-known banker and economist. From a young age, he actively participated in the political life of the city of Birmingham. In 1830, Birmingham Political Union was at the origins of the party, which was supposed to represent the interests of the population of this city. Attwood was one of the most active supporters of the 1932 political reform. After she was elected to Parliament in the House of Commons, where he was considered one of the most radical deputies. He sympathized with the moderate wing of the Chartists and even took an active part in the movement, but then moved away from him.
Left wing leaders
Among the leaders of the left wing of the Chartists, Fergus O'Connor, James O'Brien, and also the priest Stephens enjoyed special authority.
Fergus O'Connor was born in 1796 in Ireland. He was educated as a lawyer, actively practiced. O'Connor was one of the active participants in the national liberation movement in Ireland, which unfolded in the 20s of the XIX century. But then he was forced to move to England, where he began publishing the newspaper Severnaya Zvezda. As soon as the Chartist movement began, he became the leader of his left wing. Fergus O'Connor was committed to revolutionary methods of struggle.
James O'Brien was also a native of Ireland, he was born in 1805. He became a famous journalist using the pseudonym Bronter. He acted as an editor in a number of publications that supported the chartists. James O'Brien in his articles tried to give the movement an ideological justification. Initially defended revolutionary methods of struggle, but later became a supporter of peaceful reforms.
Thus, the leaders of the Chartist movement did not have a common position on the methods of struggle for the rights of workers.
Petition
In 1838, a protest general petition was developed, which was called the Peoples charter. Hence the name of the movement that supported this charter - Chartism. The main provisions of the petition were enshrined in six points:
- granting suffrage to all men over 21 years of age;
- the abolition of property qualifications for the right to be elected to parliament;
- secrecy of voting;
- identical constituencies;
- material remuneration to parliamentarians for performing legislative functions;
- one year election term.
As we see, in the petition, far from all the main tasks of the Chartist movement were designated, but only those related to elections to the House of Commons.
In July 1839, the petition was submitted to Parliament with more than 1.2 million signatures.
Further movement
In parliament, the charter was rejected by an overwhelming number of votes.
Three days later, a rally in support of the petition was organized in Birmingham, which ended in a clash with the police. The clashes resulted in many casualties on both sides, as well as a massive fire in the city. The Chartist movement began to assume a violent character.
Armed clashes began in other cities in England, such as Newport. The movement was dispersed at the end of 1839, many of its leaders received prison sentences, and Chartism itself fell silent for a while.
But this was only a temporary phenomenon, since the very root causes of Chartism were not eliminated, and the results of the Chartist movement at this stage did not suit the proletariat.
Already in the summer of 1840, the Central Organization of Chartists was founded in Manchester. The moderate wing of the movement won. It was decided to achieve their goals using exclusively peaceful methods. But soon, the radical wing again began to regain its former position, since constitutional methods did not give the desired result.
Next Charter
In 1842, a new charter was submitted to parliament. In fact, the requirements in it did not change, but were presented in a much more harsh form. This time, the collected signatures were more than two and a half times more - 3.3 million. And again, the results of the Chartist movement could not please its participants, since this new petition was rejected by a large majority of MPs. After that, like last time, a wave of violence swept, but on a smaller scale. Arrests followed again, but due to a violation of the procedure, almost all the detainees were released.
After a significant break, in 1848, a new wave of the Chartist movement arose, triggered by another industrial crisis. For the third time, a petition was submitted to parliament, this time totaling 5 million signatures. True, this fact raises great doubts, because among the signatories there were rather well-known personalities who simply could not sign this petition, for example, Queen Victoria and the Apostle Paul. After it opened, the charter was not even accepted by parliament for consideration.
Causes of Motion Damage
Subsequently, Chartism never again resumed. That was his defeat. But why did the Chartist movement fail? This was primarily due to the fact that its representatives did not clearly understand their ultimate goal. In addition, the Chartist leaders saw different methods of struggle: some called for using only political methods, while others believed that the goal of the Chartist movement could be achieved only in a revolutionary way.
A significant role in the damping of the movement was also played by the fact that after 1848 the UK economy began to stabilize, and the standard of living of the population grew, which in turn lowered the bar of social tension in society.
Effects
At the same time, it cannot be said that the results of the Chartist movement were absolutely negative. There were also significant progressive points, which can be considered as concessions of the parliament to charisma.
So, in 1842, an income tax was introduced. Now, citizens are taxed according to their income, and therefore their capabilities.
In 1846, grain duties were abolished, which made bread much more expensive. Their removal allowed to reduce the price of bakery products, and accordingly, reduce the costs of the poor.
The main achievement of the movement is the legislative reduction in 1847 of the working day for women and children to ten hours a day.
After this, the labor movement froze for a long time, but again revived in the late 60s of the XIX century in the form of trade unions (trade union movement).