"mass working-class movement making a determined bid for political power"
traditionally all working class, though deviated from this internalising select middle class
originally popular radical movement to achieve alteration to political theories -
recent research claims "rational agitation" - political reaction to political events
also frustrations living conds, envir pollution, trade cycle, intro machinery
many turned to chartism due to econ recession 1837-42 -- unemploym & hunger
most popular petition had 6 millions signatures
slogan - "peacefully if we can: forcibly if we must"
first political movement which is wholey working class
never totally separate from middle class, many local activists were bourgeoisie (middle class)
1838-39 northern industrial districts developed mass movement -- london became so after 1840
Friedrich Engels - German socialist, wrote communist manifesto with Marx in 1848
rooted from inequality of society - exploitation of working class
ideology that economic inequality derived from political inequality
tension middle & working class as middle supported govt - supression TU &
passed new Poor Law and helped distribute punishm to uprisings
Chartists divided over how best to achieve the passing of the 6 points of the People's Charter
however didn't have plan for when plans were rejected
When the Chartist movement was established in the late 1830s, only 18 per cent of the adult male population
of Britain could vote (before 1832 just 10 per cent could vote).
aim of London Working Men's Association - 'to seek by
every legal means to place all classes of society in
possession of their equal, political, and social rights'.
6 changes proposed: Universal suffrage • Abolition of property qualifications for members of parliament •
Annual parliamentary elections • Equal representation • Payment of members of Parliament • Vote by secret
ballot
spread the word through newspapers, meetings and speeches
opposed by almost all who had the vote, MPs & ruling classes
shot themselves in the foot by lack of unity and organisation