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Can the People's Assembly revive the Chartist spirit? Can the People's Assembly revive the Chartist spirit?
(6 months later)
Given the Victorian outlook of the present British government, it's fitting, if in many ways frustrating, that the British left also seems to be taking a trip back in time. The welcome and laudable anti-austerity aims of the People's Assembly, which held its first press conference today ahead of a mass meeting on 22 June, have a familiar ring. In January 1792 the founding members of the London Corresponding Society, holding their first meeting in a tavern off the Strand, resolved to campaign for parliamentary reform and popular democracy in response to "the hardness of the times and the dearness of all the necessaries of life".Given the Victorian outlook of the present British government, it's fitting, if in many ways frustrating, that the British left also seems to be taking a trip back in time. The welcome and laudable anti-austerity aims of the People's Assembly, which held its first press conference today ahead of a mass meeting on 22 June, have a familiar ring. In January 1792 the founding members of the London Corresponding Society, holding their first meeting in a tavern off the Strand, resolved to campaign for parliamentary reform and popular democracy in response to "the hardness of the times and the dearness of all the necessaries of life".
The LCS grew rapidly, held mass public meetings aimed at asserting opposition to the government's "late rapid advances of despotism" and in favour of "a fair free and full representation of the People", and called a national convention of disparate radical societies. The Pitt administration, already panicked by the proliferation and militancy of popular radicalism, feared that this particular people's assembly would usurp its own authority and moved forcefully against it, with society members arrested, imprisoned and transported, habeas corpus suspended to allow the detention of prisoners without trial, and gatherings in support of parliamentary reform banned under the 1795 Seditious Meetings Act. (One can only speculate on whether the People's Assembly will constitute enough of a threat for the coalition to take a similar approach.)The LCS grew rapidly, held mass public meetings aimed at asserting opposition to the government's "late rapid advances of despotism" and in favour of "a fair free and full representation of the People", and called a national convention of disparate radical societies. The Pitt administration, already panicked by the proliferation and militancy of popular radicalism, feared that this particular people's assembly would usurp its own authority and moved forcefully against it, with society members arrested, imprisoned and transported, habeas corpus suspended to allow the detention of prisoners without trial, and gatherings in support of parliamentary reform banned under the 1795 Seditious Meetings Act. (One can only speculate on whether the People's Assembly will constitute enough of a threat for the coalition to take a similar approach.)
Following the squashing of the LCS, the cause of working-class representation in parliament was sporadically taken up by British radicals, most visibly between 1838 and 1848 in the form of Chartism, a network of local associations responding to further hard times by demanding democratic reforms, including a secret ballot and the abolition of the requirement for an MP to own a certain amount of property or land. Again, Chartism was met by Britain's political elite with alarmed hostility. Parliament refused to negotiate with the movement's representatives or to accept a Chartist petition containing over three million signatures.Following the squashing of the LCS, the cause of working-class representation in parliament was sporadically taken up by British radicals, most visibly between 1838 and 1848 in the form of Chartism, a network of local associations responding to further hard times by demanding democratic reforms, including a secret ballot and the abolition of the requirement for an MP to own a certain amount of property or land. Again, Chartism was met by Britain's political elite with alarmed hostility. Parliament refused to negotiate with the movement's representatives or to accept a Chartist petition containing over three million signatures.
The People's Assembly's call for a mass movement to challenge an exclusionary political cartel, to turn popular hardship and outrage into organisation and action, then, is part of a tradition that is still depressingly relevant and stretches far beyond the "Spirit of '45" invoked by Ken Loach's panegyric to the postwar Labour government. Despite the Attlee administration's undoubted triumphs in improving the lot of the British working class under capitalism, Loach himself has expressed his lack of faith in the Labour party's capacity to deliver a similar level of popular radicalism in power now, as has Len McCluskey, the head of Unite.The People's Assembly's call for a mass movement to challenge an exclusionary political cartel, to turn popular hardship and outrage into organisation and action, then, is part of a tradition that is still depressingly relevant and stretches far beyond the "Spirit of '45" invoked by Ken Loach's panegyric to the postwar Labour government. Despite the Attlee administration's undoubted triumphs in improving the lot of the British working class under capitalism, Loach himself has expressed his lack of faith in the Labour party's capacity to deliver a similar level of popular radicalism in power now, as has Len McCluskey, the head of Unite.
This perception that Labour has abandoned its historic commitment to the organised working class is significant. Despite the inclusion of MPs from both Labour and the Green party in what appears to be coalescing as the leadership of the People's Assembly, it may turn out to be less focused than its forerunners on ameliorating existing political structures, and instead try to challenge or transform them. The London Corresponding Society's claim to be "fully convinced a thorough parliamentary reform, would remove every grievance under which we labour", or the Chartist faith in achieving change through presenting million-strong petitions to parliament, currently sounds as optimistic as it does anachronistic.This perception that Labour has abandoned its historic commitment to the organised working class is significant. Despite the inclusion of MPs from both Labour and the Green party in what appears to be coalescing as the leadership of the People's Assembly, it may turn out to be less focused than its forerunners on ameliorating existing political structures, and instead try to challenge or transform them. The London Corresponding Society's claim to be "fully convinced a thorough parliamentary reform, would remove every grievance under which we labour", or the Chartist faith in achieving change through presenting million-strong petitions to parliament, currently sounds as optimistic as it does anachronistic.
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