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1 - Artisans

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 November 2009

Iorwerth Prothero
Affiliation:
University of Manchester
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Summary

We are on the eve of great changes. The present system is worn out, and must give way. Every reasoning man admits this. Ask any one whose station or experience gives him the means of knowing what is going on in society, and he will tell you, that the present order of things cannot continue.

Radicalism at the start of our period was characterised both by the confidence aroused by two epoch-making events, the July Revolution in France in 1830 and the Reform Crisis in Britain in 1831–2, and by bitter disappointment at the outcome, when the looked-for reforms had not occurred, and the people, whose action had made the changes possible, had been betrayed. Self-seeking politicians had used them to gain power and then turned against them.

I saw a man pretend to be

The advocate of Liberty –

I see him, in his power elate,

Uphold the evils of the State.

Both the National Union of the Working Classes and Others in London (1831–5) and the Society of the Rights of Man in Paris (1832–4), fully expressed these feelings, and announced the appearance of labour, of the working classes, in politics and society. The sense of combining political action and popular grievances was conveyed at an early meeting of the National Union of the Working Classes by the respected veteran radical and trade union organiser, the shipwright John Gast:

Adverting to the destitute and hopeless condition of the working classes, he enquired, how it could be otherwise, seeing they were in no way represented in Parliament?

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1997

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  • Artisans
  • Iorwerth Prothero, University of Manchester
  • Book: Radical Artisans in England and France, 1830–1870
  • Online publication: 24 November 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511582141.002
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  • Artisans
  • Iorwerth Prothero, University of Manchester
  • Book: Radical Artisans in England and France, 1830–1870
  • Online publication: 24 November 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511582141.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Artisans
  • Iorwerth Prothero, University of Manchester
  • Book: Radical Artisans in England and France, 1830–1870
  • Online publication: 24 November 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511582141.002
Available formats
×