Chartism Flashcards
Friedrich Engels
‘In Chartism it is the whole working class which rises up against the Bourgeois’
Malcolm Chase
Chartism was Britain’s Civil Rights Movement
Why is Chartism different?
National Movement- helped by the media
Industrial Workers
Petitioning- used at a massive level
Political campaigning- the crucial difference, highly organised, try to use new franchised members for change
The People’s Charter 1838
- Universal Manhood Suffrage
- Secret Ballot
- Annual Parliaments
- Constituencies
- Payment of MPs
- Abolish Poverty Qualification for MPs
Who was a Chartist?
You didn’t have to be a member, you could just be involved in a petition
National Charter Association formed in 1840 and had around 50,000 people
BUT people had different aims and difficult to form a very clear movement
Methods
Petitions Canvassing Speeches Mass Meetings Local Politics
Moral Force and Physical Force
Moral Force- public meetings, petitions, education
Physical Force- direct action, advocated violence
1839 Petition
1.2 million signatures National Chartism Association Divided Wales: uprising by ironworkers Birmingham: BullRing riots 100s of chartist leaders arrested
1842 Petition
3.3 million signatures Rejected in House of Commons Mass Unrest -wave of strikes- Midlands, Yorkshire, Cheshire -Chartist Leaders Imprisoned
1848 Petition
Revolutions across Europe
10 April 1848- Chartist Convention
6 mill signatures- many fake
A Cultural and Social Movement
Printed Press
Poetry
Chartist Sunday School
Chartist Co-Operative Stores
Chartist Newspapers
The Northern Star Newspaper- 1839 50,000 circulation, by 1851 weekly circulation fell to 1,200
The ‘Chartist Circular Newspaper’- weekly circulation- 22,500, closed 1842
Success?
Didn’t meet its 6 aims
Movement officially ended in 1858 but probably ended in 1848
They gained MPs
Currently, the only aims that haven’t been met is annual parliaments
First National Movement