Chartism

Cartistic riots.

Chartism (Chartism in English) was a radical popular movement that arose in the United Kingdom from 1838 to 1848 and that expressed the agitation of the working class, due to the changes derived from the Industrial Revolution, the economic situation and the laws enacted by Parliament. Like Luddism, Chartism was a movement typical of the first stage of the labor movement, but, unlike Luddism, it had an essentially political nature. It got its name from the People's Charter (People's Charter), a document written on June 7, 1837 at the British Coffee House in London, which was sent to the UK Parliament in 1838, noting the six petitions:

• Universal male suffrage (to men over 21 years of age and without criminal record).
• Secret vote.
• Annual release for deputies that enabled workers to exercise politics.
• Annual elections to parliament that, although it could generate instability, would avoid bribery.
• The participation of the workers in Parliament by abolishing the property requirement to assist it.
• Establishment of equal constituencies, ensuring the same representation to the same number of voters.

Although the movement was not able to impose all its demands and progressively lost strength, quite a few of them (the ten-hour law) were elevated to the category of laws and constitutes a first test of worker political organization.

The first protests took place with the enactment of the Electoral Reform Act of 1832 (Reform Bill). Complaints from this group grew in intensity with the subsequent passage of the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834. This act sought to abolish welfare and convert poorhouses into a kind of penitentiary. Radical deputies supported by workers started the movement. Their petitions were aimed at achieving a more democratic policy in the British Parliament; They thought that if the people entered Parliament, they would achieve a reduction in the number of working hours and an increase in wages.

Proposed flag for the "British Republic" used by Cartism.

In 1836, the London Working Men's Association was formed in London, under the presidency of William Lovett (1800-1877), a cabinet-maker, which allowed the movement to be promoted. The Association's statutes stated that its main objective was to obtain universal suffrage. For this, an agitation campaign was programmed and numerous associations were created throughout the country that were grouped in the National Union of the Working Classes (National Union of Working Classes).

The English Industrial Revolution is one of the most important processes in contemporary history and resulted in a gradual but profound series of changes at all levels. Technological innovations made possible the introduction of machinery -which replaced the human being- and gave rise to the appearance of the manufacturing world as well as the consolidation of industrial capitalism. Faced with such transformations, from the end of the 18th century the working masses began to become aware of their extremely poor situation and to reject it; first through trade unionism with labor demands, then with Luddism through the destruction of machines (with more moral and organizational burden than it might seem) and already in 1838 with Chartism, claiming political improvements in addition to labor. Despite the short duration of the Chartist adventure -a decade-, its historical significance as an innovative movement that knew how to reconcile the labor and the political is undeniable.

Simultaneously with the development of trade unions in Great Britain, workers turned to political struggle, with the aim of winning equal rights for all citizens. In this way, Chartism arose, a mass movement, whose peak occurred between 1838 and 1848, and which proposed to obtain political rights for workers.

In 1838, the London Workers' Association, led by William Lovett, drafted the People's Charter, which called for suffrage for all men over the age of twenty-one, secret ballot, annual parliamentary elections, the abolition of property requirements to be a member of Parliament, the allocation of a salary to parliamentarians and equitable electoral districts.

Chartism mobilized the majority of workers and the popular classes with a clear political objective: the democratization of the State. The first petition to Parliament to be made by the movement was filed in 1839, backed by over a million signatures. The British Parliament rejected the requests three times and the government harshly repressed the strikes and attempts at insurrection by the most radical sectors of Chartism.

The aforementioned petition was presented in the aforementioned and on several other occasions to Parliament, being rejected the same times it was presented. Although they did not achieve their initial objectives, the Chartists obtained several partial successes that were considered achievements as important as the petitions, among them the following stand out: reduction of the working day to 12 hours a day, later that value dropped to 10 and very especially they were good when it comes to raising workers' awareness in political terms.

Defenders of Chartism thought that when the workers achieved political power, they could adapt the laws to their class interests. The duration of this movement spanned a decade, between 1838 and 1848, although the meetings of the movement continued until 1852. It manifested itself in three waves: 1838, 1842 and 1848.

The name it would take, Chartism or Chartism, came from the People's Charter or The People's Charter, which was a document that was sent to the British Parliament in 1838 and which included six basic and inalienable requests that the mentioned movement claimed: universal suffrage for men over 21 years of age who were of sound mind and did not have a criminal record, secret ballot, annual salary for those deputies who make it possible for workers to exercise politics, annual meeting of Parliament to prevent bribery, worker participation in Parliament, abolition of the property requirement to attend Parliament and the establishment of equal constituencies that guarantee equal representation to the same number of voters.

Although Chartism as a movement did not achieve its claims, it was not a failure either. It was an important experience for the working class that from this moment would begin to demand better conditions, aware of the prominent role they occupied within society, and that would begin to rely on the middle classes, since after this experience they they realized that they could not achieve the political reforms necessary to democratize the English system without their support. In time, five of the Chartist claims were incorporated into British political life, except for the annual elections to Parliament which continued until 1848.

Background

Economically, there was a complicated situation: many crops were ruined by the potato plague, which led to a period of famine, and there was also a crisis in the manufacturing industry. In England, the labor movement was stronger than in other countries, because although labor associations were not allowed, they were not prohibited either (the Combination Acts were repealed in 1824). The Trade Unions, associations of workers according to their trade, had significant importance since the creation of the General Labor Union in 1838. In addition, there were several precedents for the Chartist movement in the agrarian context:

• Captain Swing Movement. It is born in Kent and spreads through England in 1830, and consists basically of the destruction of agricultural machines that, according to the followers of the fictitious captain, removed the work from the laborers. They also took other measures, such as targeting the king or the destruction of crops. The movement ended with a harsh repression. It is also necessary to take into account the ludita movement, although this was of an urban nature.
• A society was formed in Dorset County in the early 1830s, consisting essentially of hired laborers. They formed a friendly society of agricultural workers whose members swore to keep the secret. Their leaders, the Tolpuddle Martyrs, were arrested for conspiracy and sentenced to exile to Australia.

As for the laws that gave rise to the movement, the following stand out:

• The 1715 Septenial Act. It stated that elections to parliament would be held every seven years.
• The Law Reform of 1832. They tried to redistribute the seats to eliminate the rotten donkeys and increase the number of voters, so that they could reach the middle bourgeois classes. In practice it was a disappointment because it did not expand the number of voters.
• The Workers ' Acts of 1833, which limited child labour and forced entrepreneurs to set up religious schools alongside mines. Their compliance was not very strict.
• The Poor Laws (Poor Laws) of 1834. They are a series of rules that formed a system of legal aid for the tax-funded English poor. They provided help to the poor but prohibited them from begging outside their parishes of origin. The law is not well received by producers or by workers, because it limited the labour movement.

The biggest impetus for Chartism was the London Working Men's Association (ATL), created in 1836 by Henry Hetherington, William Lovett and James Watson. Chartism also received support from some radical members of Parliament, such as Tobias Perry, who in November 1837 created The Northern Star newspaper in Leeds. This newspaper was very important because it had a large circulation and reached a lot of people; Those who knew how to read read it to those who couldn't.

Development

First Wave

Along with Luddism (a labor movement contemporary to Chartism, whose focus of attack were the machines with which the workers worked), Chartism is considered a movement typical of the first stage of the labor movement, although, unlike Luddism its essence was eminently political.

Defenders of Chartism thought that when the workers achieved political power, they could adapt the laws to their class interests. On February 28, 1837 William Lovett (who claimed the right to universal suffrage in 1831, based on the fact that if the workers produced the country's wealth they had the right to participate in political life), writes the 6 points of the People& #39;s Charter, on behalf of the London Workers' Association. Thomas Attwood's Birmingham Political Union has a political presence again. This organization sought the extension of the right to vote and the redistribution of the vote (for the rotten boroughs). So, Chartism was neither a success nor a failure, we could say that it was an important experience for the working class that from this moment would begin to demand better conditions, aware of the prominent role they played within society.

In May 1838 the National Petition is presented in Birmingham and in Glasgow there is a rally of Chartists to get people to join the movement. There will be more rallies around England. In January 1839, the ATL presented the Charter and in February the First Chartist Convention took place in London and later in Birmingham. Its leaders tried on numerous occasions to have their requests met. In July 1839, Thomas Attwood, MP for Birmingham, presented a petition with 1,200,000 signatures to Parliament which was not accepted (by a vote of 235 to 46).

Then a division arose among the leaders of the movement:

• Moderate: W. Lovett and Robert Owen, who were more moderate, had more economic pretensions and defended the organization of production cooperatives and the suppression of intermediaries. They seek understanding with middle classes.
• Radical: Bronterre O'Brien and Feargus O'Connor leaned more for the political struggle, the rallies and the strike, seeking social revolution. The Irishman O'Connor is one of his most fervent defenders, although in 1842 he retired from the original Charter and pursued a utopian concept of agricultural social reform.

After many discussions, it was concluded that a general strike was necessary, a proposal that was not finally carried out, although there were sporadic outbreaks of violence, such as the one that occurred in Newport in 1839, in the 3,000 people came out to demonstrate. The government took the soldiers out into the streets and there were at least 20 dead and several wounded. John Frost and other leaders of the uprising were accused of high treason and sentenced to be hanged but ultimately only deported. In '41, Thomas Slingsby Duncombe apologizes to those involved in the Newport rising. O'Connor is sentenced to 18 months in prison for publishing slanderous documents. Within Chartism, he distinguished himself by defending that Chartists present their own candidates in parliamentary elections or that candidates who assume the points of the Charter should be supported. The British authorities always considered our protagonist a very dangerous leader, going so far as to enter prison in 1840 for eighteen months for sedition. Initially, he had been an advocate of the use of violence, but later toned down that defense and refused to participate in the demonstration of April 1848. With Fergus O'Connor, one of the main Chartist leaders, he had intense polemics. There was always a bad relationship between the two leaders, especially through the newspapers, with a high tone, on the other hand.

Second wave

The Second Letter is encouraged by the economic crisis of these years, the reduction in salaries and the problems with the prices of basic foods, especially bread. This is due to British protectionist laws, which protect the owners of large latufundios through the Wheat Laws (or Corn Laws), which establish very high tariffs on wheat imports.

The second petition coincides with a large mobilization between miners in Wales, which could be considered a precedent for a general strike, and the Manchester League. The Manchester League is an association of merchants, petty bourgeois and manufacturers against protectionism and in favor of free trade. It is the moment in which the interests of Chartism and the League of Manchester coincide to repeal the tariffs on grain. Chartism becomes an interclass movement. In 1842 the Chartist mobilization contains the six points mentioned above and some requests for social order, among which is the petition against grain tariffs, and a mining law.

William Lovett is currently founding a new movement called the National Association of the United Kingdom for Promoting the Political and Social Improvement of the People. La gente).

On July 20, 1840, the National Charter Association (NCA) was founded in Manchester to bring together local organizations. In August 1841, with the rise to power of the Tories of Robert Peel, the NCA began to prepare the second petition to see what the attitude of the new government. In 1842 a new Chartist Convention was convened in London and on May 4 the Second Charter, backed by more than three million signatures, was presented to Parliament. The House of Commons rejects it by a vote of 287 to 47.

This causes a General Strike (Plug Plot riots) to be organized in Lancashire, Staffordshire and other areas in the north of England and Scotland, especially organized by the textile sector. In addition, there were other small riots over grain prices. Many of the Chartist leaders were arrested and 79 Chartists were banished to Australia.

But two tendencies will emerge in the Chartist movement, on the one hand the moderate one, with Lovett and Owen at the head and who were in favor of organizing production cooperatives, eliminating intermediaries, reaching an understanding with the middle classes, etc... basically make some changes that would affect the economic and labor field; against the radicals, with O'Brien and O'Connor as visible heads, who proposed much more violent actions and aggressive general strikes. What was achieved with the second petition was the limitation of the Poor Laws of 1834. These were very unpopular and David Ricardo, Malthus y Senior, a parliamentarian who chairs the commission in which the reform is discussed, demonstrated against this reform. His reasons were that the existence of these after-work benefits for poor workers interfered with the natural law of "supply and demand" labor force, causing wages not to increase. In fact, the biggest detractors of these laws were the owners of urban industries.

A brief improvement in economic conditions, with a slight increase in worker wages and a greater sale of products, causes the activity of the Chartist movement to disappear until the "third wave".

The liberal political revolutions abolished the feudal burdens to which the peasants were subjected and the union regulations of the artisans. In addition, liberalism established free contracting and the prohibition of the existence of organizations that grouped workers. Contracts and labor relations had to be established individually between the employer and the worker, according to the laws of the labor supply and demand market. As labor was very abundant, due to the rural exodus of peasants in search of work in the cities and the departure of artisans from the abolished guilds, businessmen made low-wage contracts. But, in addition, the new industrial economy was characterized by periodic crises that made unemployment grow. Thus, new and constant sources of social conflict arose.

The concentration of a large number of workers in factories and working-class neighborhoods facilitated the mobilization of the proletariat and the creation of organizations to defend their rights.

The workers began to destroy machines, considering that they were the cause of unemployment, but very soon the social conflict turned towards the fight for the recognition of the right of association, that is, the right to be able to create stable organizations or unions to defend their rights. The fight was oriented, later, towards the improvement of working conditions: reduction of working hours and increase in wages. In addition, the workers understood that their demands could be achieved if they obtained recognition of their political rights: to vote and be voted for and, thus, be able to influence legislation and the government.

The movement was reorganized by creating the National Charter Association in June 1840 in the city of Manchester to bring together local Chartist organizations. Its main objectives were to obtain the release of the prisoners and the approval of the letter. It was established that the only way to achieve their purposes were the peaceful ones and those who remained within the constitutional order. This association spread throughout the country, counting shortly after its formation with 400 local associations. In 1842 it already had 50,000 members, who paid a weekly fee of one penny.

During 1841, freedom was obtained for the Chartist prisoners. 3,300,000 signatures were gathered, which were presented together with the Second National Petition which was rejected in Parliament in May 1842 by a vote of 287 to 49.

This rejection causes a General Strike (Plug Plot riots) to be organized in Lancashire, Staffordshire and other areas in the north of England and Scotland, especially organized by the textile sector. In addition, there were other small riots over grain prices. Many of the Chartist leaders were arrested and 79 Chartists were banished to Australia.

Friedrich Engels in his famous work The situation of the working class in England (1845) made the following assessment of Chartism, linking it to the labor movement:

That is also the difference between Cartist democracy and all forms of bourgeois political democracy that have been given to this day. Cartism is essentially of a social nature. The "six points", which for the radical bourgeois represented everything, and which should lead to some other reform of the constitution, for the proletariat are but a means. "Political power is our means, social well-being our end"; this is now the electoral motto clearly expressed by the Cartists.

Third Wave

The Great Cartistic March at Kennington Common.

In 1846 they managed to have the Corn Laws rejected. The Irishman James Bronterre O'Brien (1804 or 1805-1864) was a prominent workerist leader, within Chartism, as well as a follower of the ideas of Neo-Babouvism, since he was an admirer of Babeuf, as well as Robespierre.

On March 22, 1848, the People's Charter Union was founded by James Watson, Henry Hetherington, and Richard Moore, in opposition to the National Charter Association. The Chartists meet in April and on the 10th of the same month present the Third Petition to Parliament after a meeting in Kennington. Chartists say there are more than 5.5 million signatures, but members of Parliament count only 1,975,496, including several forgeries. Riots and uprisings spread in London (also in Ireland). Many of the protesters who will be exiled are arrested. The Chartists get the reduction of the working day to 10 hours in the manufacturing industries.

The rejection of the Charter of 1848 and the failure of the April revolt mean that the movement ceases to have the importance it had in previous years, it loses its strength as a massive convocation and is affected by the deaths of several leaders. The movement makes an attempt to reach out to the middle classes, through the creation of the Moderate National Charter League, but it is no longer as powerful a current as in years past. The National Land Company (created to help the working classes satisfy the property requirement for access to Parliament) is dissolved and the Chartist convention moves closer to Marxist positions. In 1851 The Northern Star newspaper closed and in 1858 the last Chartist convention was held.

He was born near Dublin. Although he came into the world in the bosom of a family that was initially wealthy, since his father was engaged in the wine business, it failed and the young man had to try to escape poverty by devoting himself to study. In 1825 he graduated from Trinity College, to study law at the King's Inn in Dublin. There he finished his studies in 1829, to move to London where he completed his degree. But his great passion would not be law, although it served him well for his theories and his commitment, but journalism.

Chartism or Chartism, in its original name in English, was a movement part of the Social Reform that developed in the United Kingdom during the first half of the century XIX; approximately lasted a little more than a decade, from the year 1838 to 1852.

The liberal revolutions of 1848 in France and other European countries caused the monarchies (elective or not) of Europe to fall, and during these years an atmosphere of revolution was going to develop. The people want to have political powers, they are asking for universal male suffrage and social rights (freedom of association, of demonstration...). It is in this year when Marx publishes his Communist Manifesto, although it will not be important for a few years. Meanwhile, in England, the 1847 elections are won by Russell's Whigs and O'Connor is elected Member of Parliament for Nottingham.

The People's Charter Union is founded on March 22 by James Watson, Henry Hetherington and Richard Moore, in opposition to the NCA. The Chartists meet in April and on the 10th April present the Third Petition to Parliament after a meeting in Kennington. Chartists say there are more than 5.5 million signatures, but members of Parliament only count 1,975,496, including several forgeries. Riots and uprisings spread in London (also in Ireland). Many of the protesters who will be exiled are arrested. The chartists get the reduction of the working day to 10 hours, only in the manufacturing industries, although its obligation was highly questionable. It is a precedent of state intervention in the world of work.

“The People's Charter” to the British Parliament, in which they claim not only universal suffrage, but the participation of workers in that institution by abolishing the need to have a property title; seeking social change through the participation of workers in politics, which would allow them to create and annul laws based on their class interests.

The name it would take, Chartism or Chartism, came from the People's Charter or The People's Charter, which was a document that was sent to the British Parliament in 1838 and which included six basic and inalienable requests that the mentioned movement claimed: universal suffrage for men over 21 years of age who were of sound mind and did not have a criminal record, secret ballot, annual salary for those deputies who make it possible for workers to exercise politics, annual meeting of Parliament to prevent bribery, worker participation in Parliament, abolition of the property requirement to attend Parliament and the establishment of equal constituencies that guarantee equal representation to the same number of voters.

Workers' associations were formed very early; in fact, some were transformations of the old guilds to the new industrial situation, but all organizations were prohibited, as they were considered to go against the freedom of business and contract. In England there were the Combination Acts of 1799 and 1800, which explicitly prohibited workers' organizations. In France, the famous Le Chapelier Law was approved, by the name of its author, in 1789, which established the end of guilds and the freedom to exercise any job or trade and the freedom of enterprise. It also prohibited the creation of organizations or associations of businessmen, artisans or workers.

Concept of Chartism

The London Workers' Association was the most supportive of Chartism. Except for the annual parliamentary elections, the rest of the requests were achieved, but much later (end of the XIX century and beginning of the XX) that the time that this revolutionary movement lasted, which hatched into three waves: that of 1838, that of 1842, the date on which it was organized as a true workers' party, and that of 1848. The laws that were approved were not very effective in practice, since, for example, the one that set limits to child labor remained a dead letter. Other laws did achieve success, such as the one that reduced the working day to ten hours.

Thus, the right of association and assembly was one of the first demands of the workers, especially the British. In 1824, this right was recognized in Great Britain. In the heat of this law the first workers' associations were formed.

The first organizations were the Mutual Aid Societies, whose objective was to help their associates in the face of physical risks of illness, accident or death with funds that came from contributions from the associates. Often, they also had resistance funds to support their members in times of strike.

When the letter of 1948 is rejected and the April revolt fails, the movement ceases to have the importance it had in previous years, loses its force of massive convocation and is affected by the death of several leaders (Henry Hetherington). So, the movement tries to get closer to the middle classes, through the creation of the Moderate National Charter League, but it is no longer as powerful a current as in past years. The National Land Company (created to help the working classes satisfy the property requirement for access to Parliament) is dissolved and the Chartist convention moves towards more socialist positions. The movement ended up weakening without achieving its objectives, but, in the long term, it can be considered a success, since it caused the British state to undertake a long process of labor reforms, such as the enactment of a more favorable association law and the application of legislation limiting the working day for women and children, as well as political changes, since throughout the XIX century the right to vote it was expanded through periodic electoral reforms.

But the importance of Chartism resides, especially, in that it anticipated the great political and social struggles of the workers in the last decades of the century XIX, when socialist political parties are promoted and founded. In addition, Chartism demonstrated the workers' ability to organize around common goals: improving their conditions through political struggle.

In 1851, the newspaper The Northern Star closed and in 1858 the last Chartist convention was held.

Consequences

The movement failed due to internal dissensions between the moderate and radical tendencies, due to the lack of contact with the middle classes and the economic resurgence that occurred during the decade 1850-1860, which declined the political and radicalized action of the movements workers and led to the revival of unions. The repression of the British government, which militarized the areas where the agitation became more active, aborted the movement. This was irreversibly split until its disappearance, which would occur due to the frustration of the revolutions of 1848, which dealt the final blow to Chartist aspirations. Henceforth the political struggle would be abandoned by the English workers, who greatly moderated their demands to concentrate on the union struggle. Political action was confined to the continent, most significantly to France.

Chartism was a labor movement, born from the founding of the Working Men's Association in 1836, which derived its name from a document the "People's Charter", written in a London cafe on June 7 of the year 1837, which contained a series of popular requests to achieve a representative and moderate democracy (direct, secret and universal suffrage for men over 21 years of age, to vote by districts, to distribute electoral districts with greater equity, parliamentary elections with elimination of the requirement to be owners, annual salary and immunity to the deputies) that a year later was delivered in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, in the midst of a crisis that affected the industries, and with the desire that the workers They will reach Parliament to achieve laws suitable for their class.

Chartism was not a resounding failure, for

• It was an important experience for the working class in its attempt to improve living conditions, as it was the first test of workers' political organization.
• His action forced the British government to articulate legislation, which had a high social content, an example of which was the “Ten Hours Act” (reduction of the working day).
• Cartism meant the contact of the masses of workers with political action, which had until then concentrated their commitment to the conquest of improvements of a compulsory and labor character.
• It helped to create the class consciousness of workers and to fight to increase their representation in Parliament.

A difficulty that Chartism did not overcome was the objective of uniting all the provincial currents under the command of a national directive. All local sections of Chartism always maintained their independence.

Although the movement was not able to impose all their demands, their struggle served to approve, in addition to the ten-hour laws, the law on mines (1842) and the law on factories (1844), which improved the working conditions of the workers.