At was the nature of Chartism? Why did it achieve so little?

A further political cause of Chartism was the disappointment that Whig reforms subsequent to 1832 entailed. For example the 1833 Factory Act regulated child labour but not adult hours. There was also a great deal of anger at the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act which never adequately looked at the causes of poverty and treated it as a crime. It was the poor themselves who were blamed, due to "laziness". The stopping of poor relief to certain groups caused much hardship, and many people went hungry. Also, there was intentional exploitation of workhouses in order to keep the poor out which made the situation even worse. Workhouses were hated and were known as "poor law bastilles" because of the terrible conditions. It can therefore be seen that many of these people would be attracted to Chartism in order to enhance working class rights. Marx theorised

There were also important economic issues that explain why Chartism came into being. Firstly industrial and agricultural workers disliked the new conditions of nineteenth century factory discipline, low wages, periodic unemployment and high prices and blamed these problems on the Whigs for not improving things. It was the 1815 Corn Laws that kept food prices high and therefore depressed domestic markets for manufactures, thus raising unemployment. To make things even worse a series of bad harvests occurred. Taxation is a further explanation of why the working classes were attracted to Chartism as taxation fell mainly on the working classes in indirect tax. At least 16% of real wages were consumed by taxes

At the time of these economic crises the Whigs were in power and they produced no economic legislation but chose instead to carry out institutional reforms to please their new electorate, the middle class, which only angered the working classes even more.

Whilst Chartism clearly failed in achieving is six points there were some achievements made that are often overlooked. Essentially, Chartism was at an end by 1848, after the third petition had been rejected by Parliament. Although a few supporters remained it would never have the same number of supporters as it once did.

The reasons behind this failure have been much debated by many historians and there are various theories as to why the Chartists didn't succeed in getting their reforms passed, especially when one contrasts the Chartists with the success of other groups such as the Anti Corn Law League. Most historians do agree however that the main reason for failure was simply because their demands were never going to be accepted by the Parliament of the time and were far too drastic. This was because after 1832 parliament was still dominated by the aristocracy and they certainly did not want to accept reforms that would result in themselves losing power or letting the lower classes gain power and become a threat.

A further explanation of the failure of Chartism is the fact that the middle classes either ignored or shunned Chartism. Whilst many were in favour of reform and agreed with much of what the Chartists were fighting for, they were put off by the Chartists' violence, so they would never come out in open support for them and opted to support the Anti Corn Law League instead. This use of violence also caused much argument among the Chartists and they failed to agree on the right approach needed to succeed.

Division and disagreement between Chartists caused problems and meant they were at an immediate disadvantage. There was disagreement from the outset. All the Chartist groups agreed to the aims, but some didn't think they went far enough. In addition to the six demands many also wanted the repeal of the new Poor Law Act, an eight-hour working day, cheaper bread and the repealing of the Corn Laws. However, on the other hand, not all of these other demands were commonly held and many chartist groups changed these demands over time as circumstances and priorities changed. There was also a large geographical spread of Chartist groups across the country and it can be seen that it was difficult to bring them altogether. Many Chartist groups had different priorities and argued over which of the six points were most important. It can therefore be seen that the Chartists were not unified enough and that without the needed effective centralised control, Chartism could never work.

Many historians believe that the Chartists aims were far too complicated and so this could have been a cause for failure. It can be seen that they wanted too much at once and so they would never get enough people to support all of their aims. The public were confused, as they could never be sure as to what they were fighting for from one minute to the next. It has been argued that they would have seen more success if they had concentrated on one reform proposal at a time. Evidence of this is through the success of the Anti Corn Law League who only had one aim to focus on

The fact that the government handled the Chartist movement firmly and calmly is a further reason for failure. The government controlled the Chartist movement by the use of the army and police at mass meetings. Also, the government began to use spies in order to keep informed of Chartists' movements and to be prepared for any potential threat.

As previously stated there were some achievements made by the Chartists and there is important Chartist significance to look at. It would be fairly short-sighted to draw the conclusion that because the Chartists did not get their reforms passed that Chartism was a failure. It can be argued that the Chartists were in fact 'ahead of their time' and were looking to the future as five out of their six demands has now been passed by parliament. The abolition of the property qualification for MPs was passed 1858, the secret ballot introduced in 1872, payment of MPs began in 1911. The demands for universal male suffrage and equal constituencies took several acts before they were achieved. These demands mainly came into being by the Reform Acts of 1867 and 1884. It was the 1918 Representation of the People Act, which also gave the vote to women over 30. The only demand that has not been passed is for annual general elections. Marx

Additionally, it can be seen that the Chartists were a success as many of the Chartists beliefs have been passed onto other groups, that perhaps follow on from the fight that the Chartists began. The Chartists showed the public that one could stand up to the government. Also, it could be argued that the Chartists showed other groups what not to do. For example, the Anti Corn League learned from the Chartists' mistakes and as a result were perhaps more successful.

Also it can be seen that it was the pressure by the Chartists that brought about certain reforms such as the 1842 Mines Act and the 1844 Factory Act, thus showing that Chartism did have some elements of success.

In conclusion it can be seen that ultimately the Chartist movement was a failure in the short term as none of the six demands were achieved. There were almost as many types of Chartism as there were Chartists and this was a factor against its immediate success although the movement was significant in terms of the development of working class movements.