MARTYRS AND CHARTISTS

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: october 2014 :: RMTnews 24 In the early part of the 19th century less than three per cent of the population had the vote, and cities like Leeds and Manchester did not have a single MP. Whereas rotten boroughs like Dunwich with a population of just 32 were sending two members of parliament to Westminster. It was not until the early twentieth century that Britain achieved universal suffrage after women had fought valiantly for the right to vote .Economic rights to the right to join a trade union were denied to the working class for most of the nineteenth century, it was not until 1867 that trade unions were made fully legal by the then prime minister Lord Derby. The century’s first major conflict came in 1819 on August 16 at St Peters Field in Manchester, where a peaceful crowd of about 80,000 were gathered to protest against the Corn Laws, growing poverty and the lack of political and economic rights. When the cavalry charged, fifteen people were killed, either cut down by sabres or trampled to death by horses. Several hundred were injured in what became known as the Peterloo Massacre, prompting a national outcry that led to the strengthening of the resolve of the people. In other campaigns there were many reformers who were concerned of the plight of child labour, especially in the textile mills. Children were employed as scavengers whose job it was to pick up loose cotton from beneath machinery. Some children lost fingers and other limbs, and on occasion some were killed. Employers employed child labour because they were easier to discipline and cheaper to employ. However with further legislation in 1883 to make it illegal to employ children under the age of nine paved the way for mostly seeing an end to child labour. At the other end of the age scale many workers were doomed for the workhouse (or as some referred it to the human knackers’ yard). In those days the majority you worked until you dropped dead. There were no pensions in those days. Perhaps one of the most famous incidents in the nineteenth century was centred round a group of agricultural workers from Dorset known as the Tolpuddle Martyrs, who in 1834 were charged with swearing an illegal oath and were transported to Australia after being found guilty. This caused an uproar and they became popular heroes. Over 80,000 people signed a petition for their release which eventually came about in 1836. In the late 1830s there was a strong demand for political reform and the Chartist movement was in the forefront. It had strongholds of support in South Wales, the Midlands and the North of England. The Peoples Charter called for six reforms: 1 A vote for every man over the age of twenty one 2 A secret ballot to stop voter intimidation (which was rife in Tory rotten boroughs) 3 No property qualifications for members of Parliament 4 Payment to members enabling working men to serve their constituency 5 Equal constituencies, representing the same number of electors MARTYRS AND CHARTISTS Retired RMT member Jim Nugent explains how trade unions gave us democracy