ED REPUBLICAN.

IT IS a commonplace to say that Chartism was 'dead' by 1850. And in a sense this is correct.

As a mass movement Chartism reached its peak with the great demonstration on Kennington Common, April 10, 1848. After that it declined steadily and by the end of the 1850s had virtually no organized following. • The reasons for its decline are not difficult to locate. As Trotsky wrote in 'Where is Britain Going?': 'Chartism was unsuccessful not because its methods were incorrect, but because it came too early.' The Charter, as many have noted, meant different things to different people.

The movement fighting for the Six Points was made up of individuals and groups from different levels and strata in society. Some, like the handloom weavers, for whom the future held no hope and for whom the Charter was indeed a "knife and fork' question; others, such as the skilled craftsman and artisan were already, at this early stage, tending to separate themselves out economically from the rest of the working class.

Although the Industrial Revolution gave an enormous impetus to the development of capitalism, this process was, of necessity an uneven one.

The survival right into the second half of the 19th century of domestic industry should not be overlooked; it was a factor which had considerable impact upon industrial life.

Concentrated

And even where domestic industry disappeared, much small-scale industry remained, concentrated in particular areas, such as Birmingham.

was from such areas, with their concentration of skilled craftsmen, that the 'moral force' wing of the movement retained its greatest hold.

It is also notable that towns like Leeds, a commercial centre, rather than of industrial production, saw little support for the 'physical force' wing of Chartism.

London was a similar case: here the Poor Law had little impact and Harney's support was confined largely to the poverty-striken silk weavers of the East End.

After 1850 this layer of artisans, as we shall see in subsequent articles, was to gain markedly compared with the majority of the working class as British capitalism entered its 'Golden Age'.

Quite different was the situation of the industrial workers concentrated in the northern towns. It was amongst these layers that the 'Northern Star' built up its considerable readership and the ideas of the "physical force' wing had their largest following.

But even amongst these groups the movement did not develop in a 'pure' manner. J. R. Stephens, Richard Oastler and other "Tory-Chartists' had a considerable following in the mill towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire: they had a vision of a pre-industrial society in which the rights of ordinary people had been guaranteed, I would about will by no means end y this day or tomorrow.

Thomas CHARTISM AND ITS LESSONS rights which industrialization had destroyed.

Their opposition to the Poor Law and their support of the limitation of factory hours were both therefore Utopian and backward - looking in character. • Where there existed, as there did in the 1840s, and particularly in the years 18391842, an explosive combination of heavy unemployment, a high cost of living, and the impact of the brutal Poor Law, as well as a widespread movement for factory reform, the Charter was able to pull together and unite all these elements of discontent and despair.

After 1842, with the exception of 1848, which saw the return of economic depression and also the impact of the European revolution, economic forces were at work which tended to undermine and destroy the unity and cohesion of the movement.

It required another period of capitalist development, stretching until the last quarter of the century, to produce a working class which assumed the homogeneous and independent character of a factory proletariat.

Collapsed

But if Chartism did collapse after 1850, in another real sense it not only survived but actually developed. Because out of the Chartist movement there emerged groups who realized that Chartism could only be understood as a class movement representing the working class, a class with interests ranged against the whole of society.

It is this division in the leadership of the movement: between those who began to see the role of the working class as a revolutionary force, as against those who went off in Utopian and ultimately reactionary directions, which is crucial to an appreciation of the significance of Chartism, rather than the division between the "physical' and "moral' force wings.

So on the one hand we like information Carlyle, point to Ernest Jones; a late arrival from the upper class to the cause of Chartism, he began during the difficult years after 1848 to search for an effective and durable basis for the continuation of the movement, a search which led him to socialism and a close collaboration with Marx and Engels.

On the other hand Fergus O'Connor's Land Scheme, introduced in 1847 (it collapsed in 1851), aimed at purchasing land through a co-operative scheme which would resettle workers as peasants on the land Evolution The evolution of Jones' ideas in the late 1840s and early 1850s, before his break from Marx and Engels, are therefore of considerable significance for understanding the real gains of Chartism for the British working class.

At the time of his entry into Chartist politics, Ernest Jones was a radical. His elec•Na 21.-Toт. 1] SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1550. [PRICE ONE PENNY.

Two thinge appear on considering these facts. ments of the modert Bourgepisie. The discovery Otrinan Communism. I. The mling lowers of Europe acknowledee, of the Vew World, the circumnarigation of Africa the Communists to ley before the world an account new fielda of artion. « The colonisation of Americ:

COMMUNIST PARTY. manifesto of the Communist Party.

(Published in februnry, 1948)

Ine following Manifesto, which has since been adopted by all fractions of fierman BOURGEOIS AND PROLETARIANS. rayng. feudal form of Sogety. The vid feuda Oninmunists, was drawn up in the fiermat Irrubero the history of Society has been the way of managing the indostrial interest by moan language, in January 18÷8 hor Citizens history of the battles hetween the classes composing of said and monopolies was not found sufficien Charles Marr and Freteric Enacts. It was it. Freemen and Slaves, Patricians and 1hrin satis, for the incred demand caused brothe opening ul, mmediately printer in London, in the fier- Mobile and Serfs, Memkers of tilde and journey. ; of thee new mark to. It was replaned by the ma nan languago, published a few daya! men, —in a word, the oppress and the oppressed, nufacturing aratem. Guilds ranished before the refore tho nutbreak of the Norolution uf hare aimars stood in diet apportion to each indu-trial Midle-class, and the division of labou Zabruary. The turmoil consenuent upon nther. Tho battle hetmen than has sometimes thr divasion of Inbour between the workmen of one bat great ovent made it impossible to carry been open, sometimes emerall, but always cone 1 sat, at that time, the intention of translating Table ended, either in a roolutionary niteration of Bot the demand alwars increased, new markms. tinuous. A nerer-casing hattio, uhich hav invari- and the game great workshop. t into all the langunges of civilized Pumpe. the sal sp-tem. or in the common destrotion of came into play. The manufacturing system, in its | the hostile classes. turn, was found to he inalequate. * in manuseript, but under the present op- in the parlier historial cuchs we timd almost industrial Production was revolutionised by machi• resaire laws of France, the publication of every where a minutr drich on truly into nery and steam. The modern industrial system ther of them has heon found impracticsule. classes or ranks, a varity ni grades in setal pori- was dorcloped in all ite gigantic proportions; The English reador will he enabled, by the fion. In ancient Romese and l'atanans, bara:%, instrad of the mdastrial Middle-class we find indusollowing excellent trauslation of this import Plebeians, Sintra; moderal Emope, lendal trini anlionaires, chief of whole industrial armies at docament, to judge of the plans and Lords, Vasals, Burglers, ruracymes, tock; and the mindern Boargevin, or Muddle-class Capitalista rinciples of the most adrancod party of tho in each of these classre there we ag grades The doorery of America was the first step towards and distinetians. Modera Couriers Searty, pro- the forniation of a colorsal market, embracing the terman Revolutionists. creded from the ruins of the for at storet, bout the whole world: whereby an immense developerarat| It must not be forgotten, that the whole of Boargeois régime has not sloisshed the antagonism ins given to Commerco, and to the means of comehia Manifesto was written and printed beföre of classes. bo Resolution of February. A frightral hobgoblin stalks throughout Europe. forins and modes of carrying on the struggle, have of the Bourgeoisin, the increase of their Capital, No are haunted by a ghost, the ghost of Commit. been aubstituter for the til one%. hr charac-, the enperseding of ail elasses handed -down. 10 am. All the Powers of the Past have joiner in a or Dustrgeoisic, is that the struggle between the the deselopement of Production, Trade, and team; biy crusade to lay this ghost to rest,-the Pope ad the Czar, Metternich and Guirut, French ha- various Nocial (laram, has brea reluced to its: communication. We find, therefore, that the rodern Bourgeoiede louda and German police agents. Where is the simplest form. Society incessantly tends to be position whiel has not been accused of Cominu- divite into too freat camps, into two great are themelves thepresule of a long proceas of derema by ita enemies in Power? And where the hostile armies, the Luurgeoisie and the I'mletariat. i lopement, of a serice of revolutions in the modes of oution that has not hurled this blighting ace- The burgesses of the carly fommunce spraug Proaction and Exchaage. Each of the do t An at the leads of the more advanced opposi. from the serfs of the Middle Agea, and from this indestrial erolution, passed through, by the i tea well as at those of its official enemies? Mantipal class, were developed the primitive eie. Middle-class, tas accompanied, by a correspoo Julian Harney's Chartist paper 'Red and Engel's Communist Manifesto.

from the history working class ent I must put him right as to the principles of the Charter. They involve socialism no more than despotism they propound liberty and equality.

'Liberty! but not licencé;

equality! of political and religious rights-but not of Let every man by his industry earn as much as he can —but the lazy man shall not live upon the industrious one.

That is what your system does, not ours, sir!' In the 1850s, particularly after his release from jail, Jones was to move away from this position. Most important, he began to realize the social implication of the Chartist movement.

It was in his 'Notes to the People', , a paper to which Marx contributed regularly, that these ideas were developed. Thus in September 1851:

"Therefore the capitalists of all kinds will be our foes as long as they exist, and carry on against us a war to the very knife. Therefore they must BE PUT DOWN. Therefore, we MUST have class against class that is all the oppressed on one side, and all the oppressors on the other. An amalgamation of classes is impossible where an amalgamation of interests is impossible also ... CLASS AGAINST CLASS-all other proceedings are mere moonshine.' And in the first issue of Harney's 'Red Republican' (June 1850) the paper in which the first English translation of the 'Communist Manifesto' was to be published, a similar idea was expressed:

EQUALITY, LIBERTY, FRATERVITY.

EDITED BE & BEEN EASTST.

Communiem to be alen a Power. Il. It is time for Martels CHATTER I. Nee classos, ner conditions of oppresion, new apon the swinerial systom, and the derelopment Republican' Chartist prisoners after 'CHARTISM in 1850 is a different thing from Chartism in 1840. The leaders of the English Proletarians have proved that they are true Democrats, and no shams, by going ahead so rapidly in the last few years. They have progressed from the idea of simple political reform to the idea of a Social Revolution.' Forceful And in the same year, the same author, Howard Morton, could write along the same lines, but in even more forceful language:

'Chartism under the red flag is a vindication of the claims of labour; it is the enunciation of the "Gospel of Work"; the assertion, that the fustian jacket and the paper caps are infinitely more honourable emblems than the ermine robe and the coronet. ... Yes, our cause, ''Chartism in 1850"—is the cause of the Veritable People of England; it is the cause of the producers and the battle of this ane enslaved class is the battle we fight, but it must be fought under the Red flag, for that is the symbol of the new Epoch, "the banner of the Future". The task given us at present, is to rally our brother Proletarians en masse round this flag, by means of a Democratic and Social Propaganda;

an agitation for the Charter and something more' Alongside this realization of the implications of a fight for the Charter went a growing understanding on Jones' part that only a powerful organizRhea, aud molitics generail, and of the means of exchang • garr an impeta, hitherto unknon, to Cominero Shipping, and Manufactures; and aided the rapi : prolation nt the rerolationars cloment in the ol munication by era and land. This again reacted Nation, based on the working class could reach its goal. Soon after his release from jail in 1850 he writes in the 'Northern Star': "Two years ago, and more, I went to prison for speaking three words. Those wards These books and articles were found useful in preparing this series of articles. It is by no means exhaustive, but should provide a good starting point for anybody wishing to undertake some further study of the matters raised in the series.

Marx and Engels 'On Britain'.

Lenin, 'On Britain'.

Both these items are indispensable. They provide a selection of the more important articles, speeches and letters by the founders of Marxism on the problems of the British working class in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Trotsky, 'Where is Britain Going?':* A classical study of the traditions in the British labour movement, written on the eve of the General Strike, but retaining all its freshness and relevance. Brlan Pearce 'Some Past Rank-and-Flle Movements: * A very useful study of the lessons of past rank and file movements. M. Woodhouse 'Marxism and Stalinism In Britain 1920-1926': * A series of articles appearing in 'Fourth International', theoretical organ of the International Committee of the Fourth International, dealing with this crucial period in the history of the British working class. The Ali.

Fergus O'Connor were: "Organize - OrganizeOrganize", and now, after two years, and more, of incarceration, I come forward azain to raise that talismatic watchword of salvation and this day again I say "Organize!

Organize! Organizel"' In future the Chartist movement had to be that organization which could embrace and unite all the separate struggles of the working class:

"The Chartist body should ... stand forward as the protector of the oppressed-each suffering class should see in it the redresser of its several wrongs-it ought to be the connecting link, that draws together on one common ground, the now isolated bodies of the working classes, self-interest being the tie best able to bind them to each other.' Collaboration Jones' ideas had matured largely as a result of his contact and collaboration with Marx and Engels. In fact the course they were advocating for the movement was the one which Jones and those few leaders who had understood the significance of the fight for the Charter in the 1840s were working towards. As Engels noted in his letter to Marx (March 18, 1852):

'From all I see, the Chartists are so completely disorganized and scattered, and "at the same time so short of useful people, that they must either fall completely to pieces and degenerate into cliques •.. or they must be reconstituted on an entirely new basis by a fellow who knows his business. Jones is quite on the right lines for this, and we may well say that he would not have got on to the right lines without our reaching, for he would never have discovered how the only basis on which the Chartist party can be reconstituted, namely the instinctive hatred of the workers for the industrial bourgeoisie, can not only be preserved but endarged, developed and based upon enightening propaganda, whilst on the other hand one must still be progressive in opposing reactionary desires and prejudices amongst the workers.' Harney, with whom Marx and Engels were to collaborate during periods in the 1840s and 1850s, had anticipated the development of Jones' thought over a decade earlier.

Harney will be remembered as the leading and most vociferous advocate of 'physical force', but he too also saw the implications of the struggle for the Charter. This can be seen through a study of the 'Democrat', one of Harney's many papers.

earlier period. and speeches.

England'.

The most interesting idea expressed by Harney in the 'Democrat' was an elementary conception of the class struggle in history, tar removed from O'Connor's nostalgic and Utopian vision of some golden age which had been superseded.

Harney described the past as a long process of exploitation, 'one never-ending conspiracy' against the masses in which priests, kings and aristocrats had tinally been replaced by the 'profit mongers.' In all ages, in all countries, with but rare and momentary exceptions, the many have been the slaves of the few.

The lesson was clear: the working class would only end its slavery by overthrowing the middie class, the capitalists.

Direct armed mass-action was the policy continually advocated by Harney amongst the depressed silk weavers in the East End.

It was this development of consciousness and understanding, even though it was confined to a tiny handful of individuals, most of whom were to break with Marx and Engels by the end of the 1850s (as did both Jones and Harney), which was the real gain for Chartism..

Circles The small circles of workers who kept the ideas of Chartism alive over the next 30 years -a period which. saw great changes in the working Class and the labour movement—were to play, along with Engels, a significant part in the 1880s during the revival of socialism' which occurred at that time.

A real, living continuity was preserved between Chartism, the original national tradition of the British Labour Movement' and the later struggles for Marxism which took place at the end of the century.

This is why every worker must study Chartism.

It has far greater interest and importance than as a mere historical episode which came to an end 120 years ago. As Trotsky pointed out in his brief note-in 'Where is Britain Going?': contained in Chartism was the whole gamut of proletarian struggle: from petitions to parliament to armed insurrection and the duswers to all the problems which such a movement poses were answered not only theoretically but also in practice.

The coming period, in which the working class will be driven to settle accounts with the bureaucracy which has dominated the movement for so long, will revive all that is best in the tradition of Chartism, only this time on a far higher theoretical and practical basis.

subjects discussed in these articles.

all other studies must still start.

A. Briggs (ed) 'Chartist Studies': A series articles dealing with the regional background Chartism. Useful material on the relationship Chartism to the Anti-Corn Law League.

A. R. Schoyen, 'The Chartist Challenge': A lively study of George Julian Harney, one prominent 'physical force' Chartists. some of the distortions of Stalinist historians.

High Street, London, SW4.