Political movements of the Victorian Age.

6.2.1. At first most textile factories were comparatively small, employing fewer than 100 workers. They were efficient and initially allowed families to remain together, husbands weaving, wives spinning, and children fetching and carrying. Ultimately, however, factories disrupted family life. Women and children easily operated the power-driven machines, and they worked the same 12-hour days as men. Since factory owners could pay women and children lower wages, men were driven out of the industry. In some communities, displaced workers attacked factories and factory owners. In others, rioters known as Luddites attacked the machines themselves. Luddites attempted to defend their communities and their way of life, but they were unable to stop the development of new factories.

6.2.2. Since 1824 workers began joining together to struggle against employers for their rights and better wages. The first workers' unions were small and weak. The introduction of a cheap postage sys­tem greatly helped the unions to organize themselves across the country: for one penny a letter could be sent to anyone, anywhere in Britain. In 1838 the workers' unions worked out a document called a People's Charter. The Charter demanded rights that are now accepted by everyone: the vote for adults, the right for a man without property to be an MP, secret voting, and payment for MPs. The House of Commons re­fused to meet these demands. As result, there was a wave of riots and political meetings.

6.2.3. When Parliament again rejected the charter, the Chartists planned direct action in the form of a general strike. Thus, a political reform movement, Chartism, began. As the strike failed, but an insurrection broke out in 1839, and many Chartist leaders were arrested and imprisoned. Chartism was in a period of decline until 1848, when another petition was sent to Parliament. Despite a large public demonstration, the charter was again rejected. The Chartist movement gradually disintegrated thereafter, but most of its program, except the demand for annual parliamentary elections, eventually became law.

6.2.4. Another prominent feature of British political scene is the woman-suffrage movement. The great pioneer figure of British feminism was the writer Mary Wollstonecraft. During the 1830s and ‘40s British suffragism received notable aid and encouragement from the Chartists, who fought unsuccessfully for a sweeping program of human rights. In subsequent years the woman-suffrage issue was kept before the British public by a succession of liberal legislators, among them the statesmen and social philosophers In 1903 the dissident and more militant faction, led by the feminist Emmeline Pankhurst, established the Women’s Social and Political Union. Pankhurst’s suffragists soon won a reputation for boldness and militancy. Tactics employed by the organization included boycotting, bombing, window breaking, picketing, and harassment of anti-suffragist legislators.

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