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Working Class Movements |
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| TRADE UNIONS | CHARTISTS | |
| When we studied the
early factories we saw the very first working class movement- The Luddites.
These people went around and smashed up machines. They would even attack
the inventors. This was not because they did not want progress as many
people have said, but it was because they were scared and thought their livelihoods
would be lost. They had no way of protesting other than such attacks.
They had not got the vote so they couldn't see their MP, they were not
organised.
This was to change. The first Unions began between 1700 and 1750. What were they? Trade Unions are organisations or clubs that bring people that work doing the same thing. So you will get unions for Firemen, Teachers, Engineers, etc. The idea is that one person alone is not very strong but one person who speaks to their boss on behalf of all the others will get better conditions and pay. The early unions were banned in 1799, when Britain was at war with France. But they carried on in secret. By 1824 they were legalised again. One of the big divisions about trade Unions was who should be in them? One idea was there should be one or at most just a few huge unions to represent all. Another view was that this made them weak and unions should represent special groups, such as crafts and particular jobs. This second type were called the New Unions and took over from the big unions. They became strong in the 1840s and 1850s. It was not long before they became involved in things other than just work and wages. They started to become interested in politics and getting the vote. By 1892 an independent labour MP was elected to Parliament. In 1906 the Labour party began to represent ordinary people. CLICK HERE FOR SOME TRADE UNION PICTURES.
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The 1832 Reform Act had
promised to give people a say. It had not gone far enough for many
people. They said that as towns grew and working people were paying
taxes and helping to make the Empire grow, they should have a say. The
movement that grew out of this was called the CHARTISTS. They got their
name from the Charter, or list of demands they had.
1) A vote for every man over 21. 2) The Ballot. A secret vote to protect people from being bullied into voting the way others may want. 3) No limits on voting for the poor. Even people with no land should get the vote. 4) MPs to represent equal areas (so one Mp would represent the same number of people as another. 5) MPs to be paid. This way it was not just the rich who could do the job. 6) Elections every year. The Chartist campaigned, collected signatures and held mass meetings. They didn't win but nearly all of their demands are now with us today! The government were scared by them and did everything to make them look silly. When one of the Charters was given to Parliament in 1848 they claimed it had over 5.5 million signatures. It really had just over 1 million and there were thousands of silly names and made up people. This allowed the government to treat the Chartist as a joke. The late 1840s became hard for people. Jobs were hard to get and in such times many people struggle to eat and can't be bothered with things like the vote. The Chartist slipped away. |
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