Did Chartism fail because lower class unrest was basically a knife and fork question?

In 1839 The chartist presented to parliament a petition that was followed in 1842 with yet another petition, these were both rejected. Under the direction of Fergus O'Connor, Chartism excelled in its representation and expression of working class frustration; and with the failure f the two previous petitions a third was realized but as with the two prior it was rejected. Such petitions scared the government.

This would have had some standing in the failure of the Chartists this combined with the stubbiness of the government. It also seems that the government weren’t even prepared to listen to them, as they had their own reform ideas, felt they didn’t need the Chartist movement to help them which showed further levels of lacking co-operation.

Another contributing factor is the lack of unified leadership and with o sense of direction the chartist are left proceeding in an unknown direction. The next idea can be tied in with this as it is the lack of unified ideas.

The Chartists was a compromised mix of both working and middle classes and ideas. This in turn created two very different Chartist movements one of moral concept and one of physical belief they also had contrasting ideas on tactics and the route which would offer the greatest success. The moral side of Chartism believed that situations could be solved peacefully through the use of education and petitions fro example. However the physical side thought that the Chartism couldn’t denounced through the use of violence e.g. With such little agreement within the movement there was a resultant lack of progress. With no clear sense of direction and little understanding within the movement its little wonder that their progress was tainted.

There was also a distinct lack of working class support. An increase in the successfulness also allowed the development of the New Model Trade unions (variety of trade unions). The government deployed troops and the police force to defeat the movement and told the leader of the troops to “put down Chartist rioters.” Most workers had no intention to fight to the death for the petitions, and there was little need for bloodshed and indeed there wasn't during the Chartist agitation. In one case during the Newport rising, a number of Chartists were killed and a number of leaders deported and a further 60 Chartists were deported to Australia after an armed rising in 1842.

This was due to a distinct lack of the lower class’s support and if there had been of more backing of the movement then there may have been some success witness in the passing of some of the acts.  Resultantly many were halfhearted in their efforts and dedication to the party which showed a lack of commitment to the movement which is why the government failed to also support it. It is clear that many factors were connected to the decimation of the chartist movement with the inclusion of the lack of support from the working class combined with other factors. The kay reason for failure within the movement was that the movement was joined together with one belief which parallels can be drawn to other factors such as the leaders not being unified and varying right through to the lack of support. If the act had been less divided in its views they may have held the key to greater success and received more signatures on the petitions thus gaining more support from a variety of people which would have given the Chartism a more positive outlook. In turn it failed to o so and resultantly died on its feet through a lack of unification.