Chartist Movement Essay Example

Lovett’s autobiography about Chartism and saying how the working class had no political influences.

The reasons for the formation of Chartism were because of the failure of the Reform Act of 1832. It just didn't go far enough and had led 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 saw this as the final process in creating a clear divide between a propertied middle class and the disenfranchised working class.

The reasons why Chartism was formed was because the economy was in a bad way and also for the Chartist’s to have had a focus, they would all have to have had the same issues, and all held equal support for all six parts of the people’s charter. This was not the case; in many instances the people would only support something when it suited them, a knife and fork issue also known as bread and cheese issue. Which meant that the people only wanted what was good for them such as clothes on their back, food on the table and a comfortable abode in which to shelter themselves. This was the cause for the collapse in the movement. Charter means meat and drink and clothing, good house and good beds, and good furniture for every man and woman and child who will do a fair day’s work” (From a speech by Chartist Bronterre O’ Brien). It also failed to gather the support

of the middle classes although it was a working class movement a few middle classes were involved. In the long haul the demands of Chartism were just too radical for them and seemed too much out of their comfort zone. The violence and destruction of the French revolution was still fresh in the minds of many of the people of authority.

The government of Victorian England reacted in fear at the possibility of a violent overthrow of society and even their own government just like the one in France. So because of the French revolution the government were going to quash any working class movement in fear of an overthrow of the system. Also leading to its failure were the plug plot riots of 1842, as it is still called in Lancashire, began in reductions of wages by the Anti-Corn Law manufacturers, who did not conceal their purpose of driving the people to desperation, in order to paralyse the Government.

The people advanced at last, to a wild general strike, and drew the plugs so as to stop the works at the mills, and thus render labour impossible. http://www. historyhome. co. uk/peel/chartism/plugplot. htm It was a success in the long term even though the chartists failed to achieve their aims directly, their influence persisted and reformers continued to campaign for the electoral reforms advocated by the People’s Charter. There is no doubt that the movement's campaign for electoral reform played an important role in the development of democracy in the UK. ttp://www. bl. uk/learning/histcitizen/21cc/struggle/chartists1/introduction/h istoryofchartism. html The plug plot led to trade union strikes and it had significant influence on the start of other trade unions forming.

The six main points of the people's charter was (1) a vote for all men (over 21); (2) a secret ballot; (3) electoral districts of equal size; (4) no property qualification to become an MP; (5) payment for MPs; and (6) annual elections for Parliament http://www. bl. uk/onlinegallery/takingliberties/staritems/159peoplescharter. tml. This annoyed the more extreme Chartists led by former Irish MP Feargus O'Connor. He caused a division between those who favoured "physical force" and those, like William Lovett, who preferred "moral 'force". They did not win the right for all working men to vote during the lifetime of the Chartist movement. All except one of the six points of the Charter is now law – the one exception being the call for annual parliaments. Chartism also helped create a long-term political culture in which later left-wing ideas flourished.

In that sense, they did not fail, but success took rather longer than the Chartists might have hoped. Still no women were allowed to vote. It failed mostly due to it being too ambitious and way too early for its time. There was an obvious difference in the styles of leadership, Feargus O' Connor used physical force as he felt that only violent campaign would achieve the vote. On the other hand William Lovett used moral force wanting to achieve reform through peaceful protest.

This meant that there was a big split in the camp and this weakened the movement. Yes it was mainly a working class movement but it did have some middle classes they followed William. The draconian New Poor Law of 1834 amounted to an attack on the working class, and helped this new movement of protest

to gain massive support in the north of England. There were other injustices, including the treatment of trade unionists, to fuel the fires that turned people into Chartists. http://www. bbc. co. uk/history/british/victorians/chartist_01. shtml