Dissenters: From Luddism via Chartism to Trade Unionism

Dissenters. From Luddism, via Chartism to Trade Unionism He woke early on the Sunday morning. His wife prepared breakfast for the man whilst he fed and sorted the animals. The woman would not eat until later. She attended the early morning mass at the church. The man went to the chapel where ritual was less important. The woman shared her husband’s views but had a greater sense of her best interest. She knew that her husband was held in suspicion by many of the ruling clique and their hangers on. They could not fault him for his work, his behaviour or his treatment of other people. What they were afraid of was his willingness to stand up against the ruling clique especially when their treatment of people was unjust. He supported the weak and opposed the bullying of the rich and powerful. It was her hope that attendance at church would provide some kind of insurance policy so that if there was conflict in the village people would remember his good qualities and the valuable contribution he had made towards the life of the village. She did not have great hopes that they would see things in this way. It was just that she, like any other wife and mother, did all that she could in defence of her children. She was proud of her husband and did all that she could to support him. When she arrived back from church he left for the morning service at the Chapel. It was at the chapel that he had learnt to read. He had passed on his knowledge to his wife who in effect learnt with him. They were now teaching their children to read. The Chapel as well as being a place for worship was also a centre for culture and education. The mid weekly class meeting had a pattern of activities. One week the theme would have a religious flavour, the next educational, the third cultural followed by a social event. All aspects of life were covered. The aim was to develop a complete person. The Chapel also kept a library. They had such classics as they could get hold of, but, more importantly for many of the members was the collection of tracts and political books such as Tom Payne’s The Rights of Man. There were books on Philosophy, Mathematics and Science. It was because of the emphasis on knowledge that the Chapel members were feared by the establishment. It was bad enough for the common man to be led down a false path of religion, but to educate him and help him understand not only his religion but how the world operated was unforgivable. Knowledge was the preserve of the ruling clique and not something to be wasted on serfs, servants and mere workers. Our man was not a big drinker but he would meet up with others to share a glass of ale. It was an opportunity to keep up to date with what was happening and how people were reacting. For the same reason he attended the market and always went to the local fairs. Here he kept in touch with what was happening at a natio nal level. It was necessary to be well informed and to influence the decisions that were being made. There was a danger in those gatherings. There were always those who acted as spies and informers. The information they passed on was accepted and a yes upon.Grudges and old scores could be settled by those who acted as informers. There were many different groupings that vied fir support amongst the common folk. There were groups that were initiated by the middle classes such as groups calling for tariff reform and the anti corn law league. There were campaigns such as those of Corbett calling for an extension of the franchise. These groups were at least semi respectable being led as they were by the middle and upper classes. Both middle and upper class looked for support from the working class because that was the class with the energy and vitality to take action. There were other initiatives that came directly from the working class. These were not only frowned upon by the authorities but were subject to laws prohibiting them. They ranged from Luddism on the one hand, to trade unionism and to the Charter. There were also friendly societies and Sick and Divide Clubs. There was a level of paranoia amongst these working class groupings. This was to be expected because membership could lead to persecution. The groups had to safeguard themselves against soies and informers. Most such groupings had oaths and codes to safeguard members. To join one had to be prepared to take the oath of loyalty. Anyone who joined and then reneged could expect some form of rough treatment. Betrayal could not be accepted because many could suffer within the group and amongst their families. Whilst the men accepted the risk for themselves they were not prepared to have their families put at risk. The main obstacle put in the way of working class organisation was the law which prohibited men from assembling together. The informal gatherings around a glass of ale, in the village, at the market or fair, gave them the chance to discuss these issues. They had to be careful. They had to discuss issues in the abstract. No one could openly declare their support for Luddism. What they could and did do was to speculate on the motive that could drive people to take such action. They could dwell on the plight of the hand loom weavers who were being put out of work by the new factories and the mechanical looms. They could raise issues about the evils of the putting out system, of how workers were ripped off twice by those who supplied the yarn and those who sold the finished product. How others were getting rich on the work of the weavers. They noticed how work had changed. Once they had produced all the woven material, now the powered looms were taking over the easiest and most profitable work. The hand weavers were left with the most difficult work and were given the worst yarn. Yarn that could not be used in the powered looms. With competition from the powered looms, difficult work with inferior yarn requiring much harder and careful work, meaning their productivity was much reduced, hand loom weavers were working much harder for ever decreasing reward. Poverty stared them in the face, their families hungry and in danger of starvation. What were they to do? Those that could get jobs working the powered looms had done so,. These looms needed far fewer men to operate them and they were unable to employ their wives and children as assistants. Because of the need for people to find jobs, those that were employed were in a weak position. They could easily be dismissed and replaced by others. Combinations, in which men joined together to defend their interests, were banned by law. Common folk had no representation in Parliament. Either they could suffer quietly, accept starvation and low quality of life, death rates particularly of infants were already rising, or they could find ways of resisting, of course it was not the most destitute who were among the ones to seek means of remedy. The poorest and most suffering were not in a position to rebel. The lead was taken by those who were able to see what was happening to others and what could happen to them and their family. It was the sense of injustice that led these brave men to oppose the system. They saw working men and women suffering whilst others who had no fellow feeling, often served as spies and informers, toadying up to the rich clique, acting as go between in the putting out system, growing rich at the expense of others. These brave men knew that the machines were not the real enemy. They were a symbol of that enemy. The fundamental fact was that man should not have to sell himself to another in order to live. As serfs they were owned by the master but within that they had a degree of freedom. Under the new capitalist system they appeared to have greater freedom. They could now come and go as they pleased. They no longer had to spend part of their lives working for a master. They were free to marry as and when they wished. However, along with these benefits, there were losses. Communities were breaking up. Men were having to move into the towns to gain work, They were torn from the land and become completely reliant on their wages to buy all that they needed. They had in fact swapped one form of slavery, body and life slavery, for another, wage slavery. In the short term what was misery to many was the powered loom. The answer was clear to many who had not the time or inclination to look into these deeper issues. The answer was to destroy the powered looms. Most just felt this way, but a small group under the leadership of Captain Luddism set about doing just this. They had successes but the danger of being caught was great and the result of being caught was severe. Though many were caught a d punished they never revealed the names of their associates. Ned Luddism was never found. The Luddites were not just a mindless mob standing in the way of progress. They were skilled workers who were aware of what was happening. The knitters were caught all ways round. Their work was being taken from them by the factory owners who were using mechanised frames to do the work. Those who moved into the factories and gave up their hand looms found that they were joined by others who had no experience at all of knitting. These they had to train in the techniques of the job. Because of this dilution of skilled workers they found that their wages were falling. Whether they worked at home or in the factory they fo7nd that they were struggling to make ends meet. Not only were they faced with low pay, in the factory they no longer had control,over their product. On their hand loom they could make their own clothes. As a factory hand they were forced to buy the factory product. The pride of the framework knitter was such that the product was good. Now they found that they were forced to work with inferior yarn and were restricted to the most difficult type of knitting. For this they received less income. The product of the factories was inferior. Often they would produce ‘cut goods’ rather than the whole garment as produced on hand looms. This was shoddy work compared to that produced by the individual framework knitter. The working class were now working for lower wages, faced with buying shoddy goods at increased prices. Faced with these attacks join their living standards, the knitters looked fir ways to respond. As individuals they had no power at all to defend their living standards. The Combination Act meant they could not join together even to negotiate with the factory owners. Nor did they have any representation in Parliament that could fight their cause for them. They had to find alternative forms of action. Luddism was an organised form of action. It had to be a secret organisation, controlled by oaths and dire threats against anyone who broke the codes. Though strong, the organisation was never as strong as the authorities imagined. The breaking of frames and looms was a drastic action taken by men who were in extreme conditions. It served first as a defence, it meant the change from hand loom to factory was slowed down. It was also meant as a protest against shoddy goods. It was aimed at the factory owners seeking to force them into concessions as regards entry into the work, the conditions of work, the pay and the final product. To break into the factory and destroy equipment was extremely hazardous. It required a group,of men to carry out the operation. It was very dangerous fir the men to act against the place where they worked. To avoid being seen entering or leaving, or being caught in the act, they would often work with groups from outside the area. The outsiders would a Tüllgardine carry out the attack. Those fir whose benefit the attack took place would either reciprocate by taking action on behalf of the outsiders or find some other way of rewarding those who had come to their support. The men argued long and hard over the activities of the Luddites. They could see the problem. They saw it every day in their own lives and the lives of their fellows. The fact of property had been instilled in them from the time of their infancy. Priests and such teachers as they had had, instructed them in its power and of their need to be obedient. Parents had taught them to respect other people and of the dangers of taking things no matter how small,or insignificant from those who owned them. They grew up to understand that for the ruling clique their possessions were of far more value than any of the common folk. Property mattered, people didn’t. However, the common people also grew up to see the injustice of all of this. Were they not born equal? Did God value the rich more than the poor? Did it matter to God that the rich were often unscrupulous and that the poor lived unblemished lives? Was not God a just God? These were the thoughts and ideas that led men to rebel, first in heart and mind, and then in action. They saw in Luddism a means of holding back the new ruling clique.The more deeply thoughtful realised that this was only a short term policy. Only a few people were actually involved. Of necessity it had to be secretive. Only a few people could know who was involved or what they planned to do. Part of the aim of the Luddites was to demonstrate to the common folk that they had a means of fighting back. They were not completely powerless. However, the Luddite leaders knew this was also a short term measure. The destroying of a few looms and factories would not bring a great advance for the common folk, only a destruction of class society would achieve lasting progress. For this they knew other types of action would be needed that involved more people. Eventually they would have to organise openly in society at large. This was not possible under present conditions. They had to work quietly to build up support and gain confidence amongst the common folk. There were those who condemned the Luddites out of hand. They complained that their activities made things worse for the common folk. They argued that as a result of Luddite activity the common folk were more closely watched, soldiers tramped through their villages and took innocent men and even women. They were prevented from carrying out their legal pursuits. Far better , they said, to jo8n forces with the ruling clique in such campaigns as Free Trade and the Anti Corn Law League. It was obvious to them that if the leaders of society saw the common folk as their loyal supporters they would be able to trust them and all would benefit. The response to such arguments was sometimes somewhat rude, but always negative, Time and again the common folk had been betrayed after giving their support to some or other enterprise of the ruling clique. But said others, quoting from the latest pamphlet from Cobbett or other of the middle class campaigners, here is someone who is genuinely on our side. These people are campaigning for the same things as we are. They too are excluded from involvement in the nation's affairs, they want the vote so that they can make decisions and improve their lives. It sounded very plausible and many went along with this line but in truth the middle class needed the support of the working class to gain advantage over the ruling class, just as many of the common folk supported the aristocracy. On e the middle class had achieved their aims, the common folk would once again be forgotten. It was the Charter that excited most people and gained most support. When the time came for the great march on London all those who were able to do so set off on the great march. As they marched along they joined up with thousands already on the march. As they marched they sang their songs of victory. They marched along, their numbers growing by the hour until they reached the outskirts of London. Every day and during the day they would stop and be addressed by the Chartist leaders. They would remind them of the difficulties of their lives and how this would all be changed once the Charter was adopted. As the crowds grew, so did the numbers of soldiers watching them grow. As they came closer to London the tension increased. Finally they reached the field outside London where they gathered; an expectant throng. They felt their strength, they knew that at last their time had come. No one could withhold them now. Their leaders went off to negotiate. They waited. Rumours began to circulate. The mission was heading for failure. They heard no direct news but saw people dispersing. Some dismayed, others were angry. Some wanted to go ahead and take it by force. They saw the troops moving into position. They knew that the end had been reached. Once again a desire to cooperate and negotiate, to set out on a campaign with a well reasoned a d thoughtful case had been thwarted. They returned to their villages. The wiser heads were not surprised. They had not expected their Chartist leaders to carry the campaign through to the end. They knew that the demands were too great for the ruling clique to accept. To have won the day they would have had to march on London and seize control. For people who had opposed the mild violence involved in Luddism such violence. as would have followed from such a course of action, was far too great. Their choice, to fight or capitulate, left them with no choice.The task of these wise leaders was now to rebuild confidence and trust of their fellows so that they could face the next challenge. The main aim now was to build the trade unions. This was a difficult and dangerous task. Men were being transported to Van Diemen's Land for organising in this way. Hence the need for secret societies and oaths of obedience. It was slow work, requiring them to take risks in trying to gain the confidence of workers. s factories began to employ more men the very organisation of the factories helped them in their task. They found that their knowledge was often weak. They had to do more studying seeking to gain the knowledge they needed. They also realised that economic activity through trade unions was not enough so they had to turn to political ideas. Moore study, more reading, more difficult ideas to grasp. They had to link up with other people. This meant they had to write and correspond with similar minded people. They had to find ways of getting their letters safely to the intended recipient. As they learnt more so they became more effective. A working class leadership was slowly being built. Meanwhile the class remained alienated, the fruits of their labour being stolen from them. A long hard road lay ahead of them. SCRIBAR