Summary
The 1830s and 1840s were a time of great industrial progress and growth in
Britain and France, but not everyone in the population shared in the new wealth.
In 1834, British Parliament made a concession to the workers, passing a Poor Law
that was aimed to protect workers from starvation in time of unemployment. Poor
houses represented the beginnings of a welfare society, since they provided
places for workers to go if they ran out of money and work. However, British
lawmakers were concerned that the workers would stop working and flock to the
poor houses, so they made the poor houses depressing and wretched. Instead of
encouraging workers to find work, the wretchedness of the poor houses only
further enraged workers against the "bourgeoisie" government. Though still
illegal, workers formed labor unions to negotiate for better wages and
conditions. Some started to seriously advocate the overthrow of the wage-labor
system, in order to replace it with Socialism.
In France, Socialism was spreading rapidly, and the working public became more
and more interested in the memory of highly radical leaders like
Robespierre. Writers like Louis Blanc began to
glorify the act of Revolution.
In Britain, where Revolutions were far more rare than France, the workers sought
reforms within the system, forming the Chartist Movement. A reform bill was
drafted in 1838, called the Charter. The Charter demanded six reforms:
1. Annual elections to the House of Commons
2. Universal suffrage for adult males
3. Secret ballots
4. An end to the Rotten Boroughs
5. Allowing poor workers to be elected to the House of Commons
6. Salaries for members of the House of Commons, so any workers elected to
that body could afford to serve as a member.
Although it did not pass, the unfazed Chartists started collecting signatures.
By 1839 they had a million signatures, but the House of Commons still would not
pass the Chartist bill. By 1842, the Chartists reached 3 million signatures, but
despite the millions of signatures and the possibility of violence, Parliament
continued to vote against the Chartist reforms. After the failure of Chartism,
the British labor union movement began to swell in numbers.
Commentary
The revolutions of 1830 and the Reform Movement of 1832 in Britain provided more
political and social power to the disenfranchised but wealthy bourgeoisie.
The liberal ideal of the time seemed to be that if you were wealthy, you
deserved to vote. In Britain, even after reforms, only an eighth of adult males
could vote. In France the percentage was even lower. However, in Britain, the
landed aristocrats, though losing power to the manufacturers, could at least
stop them from being totally dominant. In England, the workers were be able to
play the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie against each other. Thus, no violent
revolution was needed in Britain for change to occur. In contrast, France, under
Louis Philippe, was so utterly dominated by the bourgeoisie that the
laborers had little hope of improving their lot outside of violent rebellion.
In both countries, industry was growing rapidly by the 1830s, as capitalists
made more and more money, reinvested it, and continued the growth cycle. New
laws, particularly modern corporation laws, were powering industrial growth.
Previously, corporations had to be "chartered" to serve the government in some
way. Now, these new corporations helped businessmen structure their enterprises
and reduce risk and liability without having to get a specific charter from the
government. Manufactures were also changing in emphasis at this time, from
textile to iron production. Steamships services began to appear, further
accelerating trade.
As workers continued to live in terrible conditions while the rich got richer,
Laissez Faire economists argued that the world had to be this way,
because if the workers had easier lives and higher wages, they would simply
produce more children, glutting the labor market and driving wages down and
unemployment up. Workers, and the thinkers who championed the cause of
workers, found fault with this explanation of the system, and
suggested other ways of organizing society. The idea of a totally
disenfranchised, exploited proletariat class began to appear in the 1830s
and 1840s. Observing the plight of workers, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
wrote their influential works on Communism.
The Chartist Movement was very progressive, probably more forward-looking than
any other major movement at the time. In the late 1830s and early 1840s, British
political elites feared that if the uneducated "mob" was allowed to vote, they
might destroy democracy by making bad decisions. Although it failed in its own
time, the demands of the Chartist movement nearly all became law in Britain
eventually. While other acts would soon be passed to satisfy workers, Chartism
was simply too advanced for its time.
The battle between the "isms" was continuing, and slowly the balance was turning
towards more inclusive, equal societies. (At least in Western Europe) More and
more, a division between the Liberal West and the Reactionary East was
developing, as the Western bourgeoisie class increased in power. The workers,
who had only shared very little if at all in the vast economic growth of the
early 19th century, were now starting to enter the political fray.
