DOCSLIB.ORG

CRSO Working Paper No. 203 LANCASHIRE CHARTISM AND

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
CRSO Working Paper No. 203 LANCASHIRE CHARTISM AND .................................................... LANCASHIRE CHARTISM AND THE MASS STRIKE OF 1842: THE POL ITI CAL ECONOMY OF WORK1 NG CLASS CONTENT l ON Brian R. Brown University of Michigan August 1979 A-. ' CRSO Working Paper No. 203 Copies available through: Center for Research on Social Organization University of Michigan 330 Packard Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 LANCASHIRE CIiARTISM AND THE MASS STRIKE OF 1842: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF WORKIEG CLASS CONTENTION LANCASHIRE CHARTISM AND THE MASS STRIKE OF 1842: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF WORKING CLASS CONTENTION The study which follows ic concerned with a predomin~ntly working class movement for democrntic rights. It analyzes the economic, social., and political chsrocter of the movement for the People's Charter as it evolveci in Lancashire, Eneland Auring 1842. The Charter embodied six baflic demandfi: (1 ) Universal manhood suffrage; (2) Payment of Members of Parliament; (3) Annual P~yliaments: (4) Vote by ballot; (5) Equal electoral die- nrian R. Rrown tricts; and (6) Abolition of property qualifications for candi- July, 1979 detes. In analyzing Chartism, we have attempted to maintuin a balance between theoretical issues in the study of rfldical col- lective contention and historic~lonea about the overall nature of Chertism. We have tried.to meintnin the ~ctive,historic~l voice of the participants through extensive quotation whjle * Mv intell~ctualdeht to ChuI'lefi Tilly will he ohvioufi throughout, hut I would nlso like to recognize my personal one as well. My friend Yousuef Coh~ntook time from his own dem~nding chores to help me out of some labyrinthine difficulties. Linda is qctually a coauthor and much, much more. Laot but not least, f'lepae Do Not Quote Without the Sociologv Depflrtment of The University of Michigan provided 'Nritten Permission of the Author , essential finnncinl support during the completion of thin study. Hopefully, the combination of dincourses reaults in an accurate and convinclna c~uaalexplanation of Chartism without, however, sacrificin~the more pernonal ~ndcontingent drnmas it involved. There mre three brosd movements in thia portion of the The nee of "Political Economv" in the title is not meant to ppper. The first uses the worka of Neil Smel~erand ~rl.sdrj.ch be fashionable. Rather, it sums up the two levels of socl~l Eneels to preaent two conerally advanced and conflictln~ phenomena th~tare most significant for both explaining and hiotorical interpretations of the nntlrre and dynnmice of understanding Lancashire Chartism. The over~llargument unfolds chartism.' The second develops the implicit theoreticnl per- by moving from structrlrnl economic factors through more immediate spectives contained in these interpretations. The finnl. one conjunctural ones to political processes and actions. Each revolves around. the auhst~ntiveevnl~iation of their re~pective movcment defines a critical and sirrnificnnt range of phenomena explanatory merits and the presentation of R more fully . for the explnn~tionof Chartism. They do so, however, in terms developed explan~tionof Lancashire Chartism. Ennentinlly, of an increasing level of explenetory adequacy with the political we move from the specifics of hi~toricalinterpret~tiona throuch dimension being the most informative. Structure defines the the theoreti.ca1 issues and prohlemntica embedded in them and, realm of si~nificnntnctors, conflict exeo, and modalities of finally, to the issue of their theoreticnl-hlstoricnl axplnna- contention. Conjunctur~lfactors operate primarily by creating tory adequacy. Our overall purpoae is to provide P comp?rative, specific conflicts and types of relations between those actors. historical-theoretic exnlanntion of bnncnahire Chnrtisrn in 1842. Finally, political circumst~ncesand actions influence levels Neil Smelser'a Social Change and the Induatrial Hevoli~tion of contention through their effect on mobiliz~tionand demohiliea- is a self-conscious attempt to expl.nin the dynamica of the tion. Yet, none of these levels or dimensions can be nccurately induetrial revolution within n ntructural-functional theory. understood or explained without the others. Stnictures, nitua- I am not concerned with the overall adequacy of hi^ nnnlysln. tions and self-conscious politicel actions wrre all parts of My interest i~ with his explanation of the "political turmoil" ~hflrtbtcontention in 1842 Lancaohire. he see8 Chartiam as representing. Smelser'a banic ergument in that urbanizntion and industrializetion led to the disruption of the traditionel, farnilin1 economy of the workine clae~. The disruption caused by theee baaic proceoaes of ~ocialchance "...underlay much of the turmoil nmong operative8 and others 2 between 1825 and 1P5C." Srnelser emphasizes hovr the trm~lsitionto modern, urban-industrial '&&land generated the workers employed in mnnuf~ctureare won for... resistance to capitnl and bour~eoiaie,and all are "strains and tensions" which were then expressed in radical united upon this point, that they, 8s working-men ..., form a separate class, with sep~rateinterests and collective "movements" such as Chartism: prlnciplrfl, with a separate way of look in^ at th nee in contrast with that of dl property-owners... .$ In the late 1830's and 184@'n,...the spinners' and other factory operatives' involvement in social Enrrela givre the distinct impression that it was "inte~rn- explosions was limited, particularly when compared with their activities in the early 1830's [i.e., tion" into the urban, industrial capitalist order th~tdetenninrd thelr transitional period end the excessive activities of other groups in 1837- 22. One important reason for levels of Chartist contention. Whereas Smeleer emph~sieea this 18 that the factory operatives were gr~dually approaching the completion of a sequence of differen- proletarianization (the workine class aide of induetrialieation) tiation whereby their family and community structure was entering the industrid era on a new basis. By as the social backrrround for Chartiam, Fhgels stresses Contrast.. .the weavers and related eroups (1. e., those in their tr sitional phanej were grasping for thejr proletarinnism. In faat, Man offers a direct challen~eto very life. B" Smelser's type of areument in Capital when he AayE that "As soon Once the transition~lstreins of urbanization and industrinliza- ss the workincc class, stunned ~t firnt by the noine and turmoil tion had passed and workers had been integrated into urban- of the new uystem'of production, had recovered its sensen to indufltri~lsociety, "vieorous political turmoil", even in "years some extent, it beean to offer reeietence.. .'I6 This argument of unevployment and distress" like 1842, was unlikely. 4 is the reverse of Smelser's. It sees the trenaition to indus- Engels painto a very different picture of the social basis trial employment me a period of relative quiet in terms of and dynamics of Chartist contention. He makes no mention of worker contention. urbanization or induatrinlization, of transitional strains or En~els'md Smelser's differences on the role of factory disruption^^. Instead, he points to the f~ctoryworkers of workers in Chartist contention are indicative of a more funda- industrial capitalism, their urban location, and the conseouent mental split. It involves the more general problem of the cl~ssconflicts of interest between 'them and their capitalist nature of society md collective contentionts relation to it. employern: Smelser's nrgl~mentaabout Ch~rti~mare most different from The factory operatives, and especially those of the cotton district, form the nucleus of the labor move- Enaels' in their emphasis on ~0cialchnnge as itfl hasic dster- ment. Lancaahire, and especially Mancheater, is the seat of the most powerful Unions, the central point minant. The emphasis on change is characteristic of u wide of Ch~rtism.... The more the factory system has taken possession of a branch of indastry, the more the ranae of "socl a1 mobilizntion" theorie~of radi~~lcollective working-men employed in it participate in the labor movement; the sh~rperthe opposition between working- contention. By briefly probinf: the theoretical asar~mptionn men and capitalists. the clenrer the proletarian conscio**snessin the working-men.. ., in eeneral, al.1 behind Smelser's ar~ument,we will be nble to situ~teour ..- analysis of Chnrtism in terms of a basic dispute about collec- . 1 t tive contention and the nature of society. Of course, evidence i one way or another about Lancashire Chartism in 1842 cannot The theoretical-historical perspective involved here la finally resolve the dispute, but it can indicate the direction essentially stnlcturd-typological. Urb~niZ~tionand indus- such a resolution is likelf to take. trialization are the transition~lprocesses linking rurnl, pre- If we take the slippery notion of "strains and tensionst1 industrial society to urban, industrial eociety. Societien to be the rou~hequivalent of the hardly less slippery one of m~kin~this transition are similar to groups c~ughtup in it. "social contradictiona~,then we will notice a sljeht conver- They are in a nonintegrated, contradictory state--part rurnl- gence between Smelser's structural-functional arguments about agrarian, p~rturben-industrial. They are in a transition~l radical contention and those of Marxists. Smelser, like most phase between two distinct St~cturdlord.era. Hence, the well.- Marxiste, does identify increases in radical contention with known arcument that trannitional eocietiee ere much more prone
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Open Court. a "WTEEKLTT JOUKNAL
    — / The Open Court. A "WTEEKLTT JOUKNAL DEVOTED TO THE RELIGION OF SCIENCE. One Dollar per Year. No. 417, (Vol. IX.— 34.) CHICAGO, AUGUST 22, 1895. J I Single Copies, 5 Cents. Copyright by The Open Court Publishing Co.—Reprints are permitted only on condition of giving full credit to Author and Publisher. early years, discerned instinctively her IN MEMORIAM.—ROBERT LEWINS, M. D. surpassing ge- nius, watched her career, directed her studies, ar- Born 28th August, 1817. Died 22nd July, 1895. ranged for her foreign travel, —cherished this opening flower which promised so highly, until her blossoming A SOMEWHAT striking figure in London literarj' life became so much bound up with his own, that her circles has passed away in the person of the above. untimely death affected him as deeply as if she had Dr. Lewins was known to the readers of Tke Mo- been his only daughter. I shall never forget his let- nist and Tlie Open Court as an occasional contributor. ters at that sad time. If ever there was a purely in- In the thought-world generally, he was known as the tellectual passion without baser alloy, it was that which excogitator, and unwearied advocate, of the philosophic existed between these two. He wrote to me after her faith commonly called Hylo-Idealisrn ; as the accom- death : "This world for me, now, has its Gethsemane, " plished friend and mentor of the late Miss Constance and its Golgotlia ! And what does she say to him, Naden, and also as the writer in 1873 of a recently re- in that pathetic last letter of hers? "The thought published essay, entitled Life and Mind on the Basis of that my illness gives V('« pain, is almost more than I Modern Medicine.
    [Show full text]
  • British Chartism and the “Luminous Political Example of America” by MICHAEL J
    1 British Chartism and the “luminous political example of America” By MICHAEL J. TURNER APPALACHIAN STATE UNIVERSITY Chartism was the most important popular reform mobilization in nineteenth-century Britain, and Chartists were generally well-disposed towards America. They admired its written constitution and guarantee of personal rights; its republican system and democratic suffrage; its religious toleration and the absence of an established church; its freedom from the weight of tradition, rank, class, and aristocracy; its well-developed local government and sense of active civic participation; its promise of liberty, opportunity, and progress. America seemed to represent what Britain could and should be. It offered Chartists a model and an inspiration. But Chartist attitudes towards America were not straightforward. They were nuanced, certainly self-serving, and in some respects dishonest. In order better to understand why, it is instructive to consider the statements of one of the foremost opinion-formers in Chartism, James Bronterre O’Brien, who made his name in the 1830s as a powerful writer for the unstamped press and was dubbed the Chartist movement’s “schoolmaster,” because he gave it an intellectual basis. Despite his fame, O’Brien remains an elusive figure. There exists only a small amount of scattered, unpublished personal material, which necessitates reliance on his publications, yet he completed few of his major writing projects, and important shorter pieces from the early part of his career were not revised or expanded later. There is only one modern biography of O’Brien, which appeared in 1971, but most of it was written in the 1920s and 1930s.
    [Show full text]
  • Popular Political Oratory and Itinerant Lecturing in Yorkshire and the North East in the Age of Chartism, 1837-60 Janette Lisa M
    Popular political oratory and itinerant lecturing in Yorkshire and the North East in the age of Chartism, 1837-60 Janette Lisa Martin This thesis is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of York Department of History January 2010 ABSTRACT Itinerant lecturers declaiming upon free trade, Chartism, temperance, or anti- slavery could be heard in market places and halls across the country during the years 1837- 60. The power of the spoken word was such that all major pressure groups employed lecturers and sent them on extensive tours. Print historians tend to overplay the importance of newspapers and tracts in disseminating political ideas and forming public opinion. This thesis demonstrates the importance of older, traditional forms of communication. Inert printed pages were no match for charismatic oratory. Combining personal magnetism, drama and immediacy, the itinerant lecturer was the most effective medium through which to reach those with limited access to books, newspapers or national political culture. Orators crucially united their dispersed audiences in national struggles for reform, fomenting discussion and coalescing political opinion, while railways, the telegraph and expanding press reportage allowed speakers and their arguments to circulate rapidly. Understanding of political oratory and public meetings has been skewed by over- emphasis upon the hustings and high-profile politicians. This has generated two misconceptions: that political meetings were generally rowdy and that a golden age of political oratory was secured only through Gladstone’s legendary stumping tours. However, this thesis argues that, far from being disorderly, public meetings were carefully regulated and controlled offering disenfranchised males a genuine democratic space for political discussion.
    [Show full text]
  • CHARTIST POLITICAL CULTURE in BRITAIN and COLONIAL AUSTRALIA, C
    CHARTIST POLITICAL CULTURE IN BRITAIN AND COLONIAL AUSTRALIA, c. 1835-1860 Andrew Charles Messner B.A. (Hons.) University of New England A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of New England, April 2000 ii Table of Contents Candidate's Certification iii Acknowledgments iv List of Illustrations v Introduction: Historians, Chartism and Australia 1 SECTION I: CHARTIST POLITICAL CULTURE 1 Approaches to Chartist Political Culture 27 2 The Rhetorical Inheritance 50 3 Oratory, Print and Political Agency 95 4 The Theatre of Collective Action 133 5 The Romance of the 'Whig Dungeon' 172 SECTION II: THE COLONIAL REALM 209 6 The Place of Australia in Chartist rhetoric 210 7 Imagining Chartism From Afar: Edward 242 Hawksley and the People's Advocate 8 Rethinking 'Red-Ribbon' Protest: Bendigo, 1853 283 9 The Consolidated Legacy: Land and Reform, 1857-8 324 Conclusion: New Horizons for the 'New Political History'? 367 Bibliography 374 iv Acknowledgments I must thank my supervisors, Alan Atkinson and David Kent, for their guidance and encouragement over the years. David was the first to suggest that I look more closely at the colonial ramifications of Chartism, and I hope that something of his tremendous enthusiasm for teaching and research echoes in this project. Alan has also invested considerable effort in bringing the argument to fruition, and his advice has proven particularly useful in imparting a coherent narrative structure upon two large and quite distinct bodies of historiography. Staff at the Dixson Library and the School of Classics, History and Religion at the University of New England were always obliging in helping to obtain research materials.
    [Show full text]
  • The Making of Australian Federation: an Analysis of the Australasian Convention Debates, 1891, 1897-1898
    The Making of Australian Federation: An Analysis of The Australasian Convention Debates, 1891, 1897-1898 By Eli Kem Senior Seminar: Hst 499 Professor Bau-Hwa Hsieh June 15, 2007 Readers Professor Narasignha Sil Professor David Doellinger Copyright Eli Kem 2007 I The English constitution played a pivotal role in the shaping of the Australian constitution. This paper seeks to demonstrate the validity of this claim through an analysis of the debates in the Australian colonies of 1891-1898 and through emphasizing inter alia the role payed by one of the delegates Alfred Deakin. The 1890 Australasian Conference, held in Melbourne, had been instigated by a conference in England in 1887 where all the colonies of Britain met. The 1890 conference represented the British colonies in the region of Southeast Asia. Seven delegates from each of the seven colonies in the region met, and forced the question of unification of the colonies. Independence from Britain was not on their mind, only uniting to have one common voice and an equal stake within the Commonwealth of the United Kingdom. At the conference, the delegates initiated a discussion for the path to unification that would continue until 1901. The colonies had written a constitution in 1891, and debates took place in 1891, 1897, and 1898 with the lapse in debate due to an economic depression. By 1901 the colonies had agreed on a constitution and it was ratified by an act of Parliament in Britain, which allowed the five colonies on Australia and Tasmania to unify. Essentially, the debate centered on the distribution and balance of power among the states.
    [Show full text]
  • William Cobbett, His Children and Chartism
    This is a repository copy of William Cobbett, his children and Chartism. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/82896/ Version: Accepted Version Book Section: Chase, MS (2015) William Cobbett, his children and Chartism. In: Grande, J and Stevenson, J, (eds.) William Cobbett, Romanticism and the Enlightenment: Contexts and Legacy. The Enlightenment World, 31 . Pickering & Chatto . ISBN 9781848935426 Reuse Unless indicated otherwise, fulltext items are protected by copyright with all rights reserved. The copyright exception in section 29 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 allows the making of a single copy solely for the purpose of non-commercial research or private study within the limits of fair dealing. The publisher or other rights-holder may allow further reproduction and re-use of this version - refer to the White Rose Research Online record for this item. Where records identify the publisher as the copyright holder, users can verify any specific terms of use on the publisher’s website. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ 1 COBBETT, HIS CHILDREN AND CHARTISM Malcolm Chase William Cobbett was part of the ‘mental furniture’ of the Chartists, contrary to one biographer’s claim that they had ‘little in common’ with him.1 James Watson, one of London’s leading radical publishers remembered his mother ‘being in the habit of reading Cobbett’s Register’.2 Growing up in a Chartist home, W.
    [Show full text]
  • Rights, Responsibilities and Emancipation
    Gale Primary Sources Start at the source. Rights, Responsibilities and Emancipation Siân Pooley University of Cambridge Various source media, British Library Newpapers EMPOWER™ RESEARCH To talk of the natural rights of all men, in a state of key role in promoting the activities of associations such artificial society like ours, we take to be sheer as the Anti-Slavery Society, and took great pride in their nonsense.....no man should be admitted to the rights success. The Examiner of 10 January 1808 declared: of a citizen who does not show, by the possession of at least the lower branches of knowledge, that he is something more than a mere animal machine. I cannot help repeating what I have observed elsewhere that "it will be more glory to England to have abolished the Slave Trade than if she had conquered the universe." If Napoleon establishes his renown on the enslavement of one continent, posterity will erect to us a Universal and equal human rights are taken for granted nobler immortality for the freedom we have bestowed on another. in twenty-first-century British society. As the opening extract (from the first edition of The Era of 30 September 1838) suggests, in the nineteenth century This sense of moral superiority was one to which people understood rights and responsibilities in very campaigners consistently returned. Other nations were different ways. How and why then were some rights condemned for failing to imitate what was perceived to granted to certain groups in society, but repeatedly be an imperial and Christian moral mission. Middle- denied to others? Here we will focus on four key class women were particularly active in organising emancipationist campaigns, which suggest the anti-slavery societies, using their consumer power to changing and complex ways in which newspapers boycott West Indian sugar and cotton, and publicising played a role in shaping ideas of citizenship.
    [Show full text]
  • Lesson Plan 3: Chartism
    Lesson Plan 3: Chartism Resources Lesson three articles, the chronology and the glossary Additional information: Political Reform topic introduction Key questions: What was Chartism? How radical were the Six Points in the 1830s? How did the Chartists wish to achieve their aim? Stage 1 In small groups ask the pupils to read the resource on Political Reform, the glossary information on Poor Laws, Feargus O’Connor (MP biography) and the information on the constituency of Monmouth. Ask them to list the issues that seemed to affect the lives of the working classes. When this is done ask the pupils to explore what options there are to change things? Stage 2 Now ask pupils to read the information on Thomas Attwood (MP biography) and Glasgow constituency. From that information can the pupils answer the following questions: Why were the Chartists formed? What were the Six Points? Return to the exercise at the start of the lesson how could the Six Points solve or make better some of the issues affecting working class people in the 1820s, 1830s and 1840s. For each of the points describe how it might help people and their lives at the time. Stage 3 A number of those involved with the Chartists cause used newspapers as a way to either promote or undermine Chartism. Created by Paula Kitching Using the information in this section split the class into two, ask one half to write a short article in favour of Chartism and how its members are trying to achieve their aim and one half to write articles against it and how it should be stopped.
    [Show full text]
  • Chartists Jason M. Kelly
    Chartists Jason M. Kelly Sections Background Birth of Chartism National Charter Association and the Decline of Chartism References and Suggested Readings Chartism was a massive, working-class political movement that became a prominent feature of British politics between 1837 and 1848. The name Chartist was a derivation from their petitioning activities, which culminated in the presentation of three People's Charters to parliament in 1838, 1842, and 1848. While unsuccessful in achieving their immediate goals, the group became a potent symbol of early working-class political agitation, for radicals and conservatives alike. Background To understand the significance of Chartism to early Victorian politics, it is necessary to understand the political and social milieu from which the coalition emerged. The late 1820s and early 1830s were heady years for British reformers. The Whig party, with the aid of Daniel O'Connell's massive support in Ireland, had outmaneuvered the Tories, forcing them to submit to the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts in 1828 and to Catholic emancipation in 1829. The death of George IV brought with it hope that the new regime would bring the reform of “old corruption” – the end to sinecures, preferments, rotten boroughs, and more. A poor harvest in 1829 sparked higher bread prices and the increased politicization of the working classes. In the south and east of the country, agricultural laborers expressed their anger at high prices and low wages in the so-called Swing Riots. In the wake of the repeal of the Combination Acts (1824), trade union activity was on an upswing, and in April 1831 a variety of London-based radical groups combined their resources into the National Union of the Working Classes.
    [Show full text]
  • Jay Jeong Normanhurst Boys High School
    National winner Have a voice in our democracy Jay Jeong Normanhurst Boys High School The Secret Australia Shared with the World ABSTRACT This essay explores how the introduction of the secret ballot eliminated the flaws of the prior open voting system. Upon adopting this new successful voting procedure, Australia ‘exported’ it to the world and it became a major turning point in the history of democracy. THE SECRET AUSTRALIA SHARED WITH THE WORLD Australia’s Secret Ballot Reform as a Turning Point in the History of Democracy The introduction of the secret ballot in Australia was not only a major turning point for Australia, but it also changed the entire world. It continues to shape our democratic system and has become the international standard for elections. Prior to its introduction in the late 19th century elections were held in public and involved openly declaring one’s intentions leading to problems like bribery, voter coercion and violence. This changed when the Colony of Victoria introduced the first secret ballot. This essay will first track the international factors such as Chartism that were turning points in Australia’s adoption of the secret ballot. It will then analyse local factors such as unionism and the gold rush. Next it will track the adoption of the secret ballot in Australia before finally turning to the international acceptance it received in the United States of America and the United Kingdom. First it is important to appreciate the turning points overseas that facilitated Australia’s introduction of the secret ballot. The original turning point was the early 19th century British working class movement called Chartism.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter One Approaches to Chartist Political Culture
    Chapter One Approaches to Chartist Political Culture The subject of 'political culture' now has a wide currency in many academic disciplines.' It would be impossible to go over all the understandings that have evolved in various fields, but it is necessary to consider some of the different approaches that have been used in Chartist and other pertinent scholarship. Whilst the `social' and 'political' character of the movement has been much debated of late, little reflection has been given to changing perceptions of 'Chartist culture' over the past twenty-five years or so. Historians have certainly recognised the importance of the `movement culture' created under the auspices of the National Charter Association, the first independent working-class political party.' This understanding of culture as a range of independent or oppositional social, religious, educational, temperance and co-operative activities, however, sits rather uneasily with the basic precept of the linguistic turn — that culture is essentially synonymous with the entire range of ways political meanings were made. This chapter thus critically examines some of the quite divergent ways Chartist historians have deployed concepts of 'culture' and 'political culture' in their research. In various discussions of Chartist historiography, much has been made of the commonsensical materialism sometimes apparent in earlier interpretations.' One the 1 For an overview of some approaches see J. Street, 'Political culture — from civic culture to mass culture', British Journal of Political Science, 4 (1994), pp. 95-113 and (more generally) J.B. Thompson, Ideology and modern culture (Cambridge, 1990), particularly ch. 3. Compare Jones, Chartism and the Chartists, ch. 1; J.
    [Show full text]
  • Feargus O'connor and the Northern Star*
    J. A. EPSTEIN FEARGUS O'CONNOR AND THE NORTHERN STAR* The first edition of the Northern Star and Leeds General Advertiser was published on November 18th, 1837, with Feargus O'Connor as pro- prietor, Joshua Hobson as printer and publisher, and the Rev. William Hill as editor. Its price was 4-Jd.1 Together with the platform the Northern Star provided the essential medium of national communica- tion and organization for the Chartist movement. The Star was the most important agency for the integration and transformation of disparate local radical agitation and organization into the national Chartist movement. Throughout the Chartist period the Star gave local working-class protest a national focus. It brought national perspective to the localities and gave local radicalism national coverage.2 For O'Connor the establishment of the Star marked the all-important convergence of the powers of the press with those of the platform. Already acclaimed Hunt's successor, Feargus now assumed the mantle of William Cobbett. He understood the crucial interdependence between the platform and the press.3 Early in his career O'Connor had * I am indebted to Mrs Dorothy Thompson for her advice, encouragement and the many references which she has passed on from her own research, and to Mr Edward Thompson and Dr Ann Epstein for having read and commented on an earlier draft of this article. 1 Only a fragment exists of the first edition of the Northern Star, in the Place Newspaper Collection, Set 56 (1836 - June 1838), f. 155, British Museum. Of the first seven editions only Nos 3 and 5, December 2 and 16, 1837, have been located, in the files of the Public Record Office, HO 73/52.
    [Show full text]