To dismiss the Chartist movement as mere hunger politics is to underestimate the depth of its political support'. Discuss

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To dismiss the Chartist movement as mere hunger politics is to underestimate the depth of its political support’.  Discuss

Hunger politics evidence:  

  • Chartism product of industrialisation.  Problem was boom and slump nature of economy and temporary unemployment.  This was one of issues that angered w/class about Poor Law Amendment Act 1834.  In Manchester alone in 1837 there were estimated to have been 50,000 unemployed at some point and there were constant protests in Yorkshire re, this inconsistency of opportunity.
  • The man in charge of controlling the Midlands and North from a military sense had sympathy with the Chartists and reported to the government ‘everywhere people are starving in the manufacturing districts.
  • Industrialisation brought with it the problem for many of mechanisation.  Britain contained a rich heritage of craftsmanship and it was craftsmen that were badly hit.  These including handloom weavers and more locally Black Country nail makers.  Also hit badly were the workers in declining areas such as Wales and there can be little doubt that many of these were shocked by their loss of earnings after a lifetime of relative prosperity.  
  • There is evidence that after the 1842 rejection, food shops were looted primarily and again this coincided with a virtual standstill in production in the north in several industries.  Tellingly, trade and output revived massively by 1843 and Chartism membership declined quickly.
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Depth of political support

  • The aims are said to be the six points and this is possibly good evidence of a political agenda i.e. none of the points said ‘we want regular bread supplies’.  Chartism is surmised well by Marjorie Bloy who wrote ‘it represented the fundamental belief that economic exploitation and political subservience could be righted by parliamentary means’.  Hence, how can political depth and hunger politics be untangled?  Some variations on the six points existed and these again demonstrate a desire for other things than ‘bread’:  these included the Poor Law abolition, no tax on newspapers ...

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