Chartism is a fairly dispersed movement, its large nature and appeal coupled with many different opposing viewpoints, make it really difficult to categorize, and equally difficult to find a defined origin. Chartism in its rawest definition was the world first working class movement, which by its definition would give it a huge backing politically. But why exactly did it come about in the around 1838? One of the main reasons would have to be the failure of the so-called “Great” reform act for most people. Effectively the act benefited the middle classes, who were now given an electoral voice in parliament, while the working classes were largely ignored, causing widespread anger and resentment for the act, and all those it benefited.
“The failure of political extremism in Britain, in the 1930’s was due to the strength of the National Government” Assess the validity of this statement. During the 1930’s political extremist parties failed to gain power in Britain, despite having success in Europe. It can be argued that this was because the National Government had many strengths and was able to effectively run the country to a stable state, thus the political extremist could not break into main stream politics within Britain. Between 1931 and 1940 the National Government held office, consisting of the main political parties at the time, and having popular leading figures such as MacDonald (1931-1935), Baldwin (1935-1937) and Chamberlain (1937-1940), helped the Government to have wide spread popularity and support throughout the country. This patronage was important because of the threat from political extremists; the government needed a strong army of support that could withstand the persuasions of the extreme left and right winged groups, the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and the British Union of Fascists (BUF).
The public however was more tolerant of alternativists who worked as stretcher bearers or did non-combat work. In WW2, the government was keen to allocate freedom of speech and expression as the war they were fighting against was due to the upheaval in Germany where there was a struggle of freedom. This struggle for liberty everywhere influenced the authorities to respect views of Cos. The tribunals were formed as representatives from all social classes and excluded any military members. The traumatic experiences from the previous war meant that more people became pacifists and consequently a greater number applied for exemption (over 50,000) and this time all but 12,000 were given exemption.
Why was opposition to the Nazi’s so weak? In Germany, it was obvious that the Nazi party could not please everyone and they faced opposition to the their policies. However, this opposition was very weak for a range of reasons; including the current state of the economy, the Nazi propaganda methods and their brutal terror campaigns. Following the Weimar government, a large majority of the German people wanted one strong leader to bring Germany back to its former glory – and Hitler offered this. One predominant reason many backed Hitler and the Nazi’s was on the basis that they believed they could restore Germany to its former strong and internationally-dominant state.
This also meant that the land was not used to it full potential, all these factors lead to the famines and causing peasants to up rise using violence against government officials. This was on the verge of the revolution. The deep resentment from the peasantry towards the Tsar increased after the war as lots of money had being invested in the war and Russia had lost. Moreover, Sergei Witte had tried to improve the economy of Russia but it was to make sure that the Russian social order stayed the same. Due to industrialisation, factories were built which lead to rapid growth of population in the towns and cities for example from 98 million in 1885 to 125 million in 1905.
This leads on to another cause that led to the Chartism movement, the disappointment of the 1832 Reform Act. Leading up to the act, working classes had given massive support to the middle class led campaign for the act, with the hope of legislation to help them. Although it was passed by the Whigs, the working class were dissatisfied because it did not enfranchise them and they were still left without the vote. Whigs regarded the act as the final change in the electoral system, but Chartists labelled it just the beginning. Although we’ve only listed two causes in detail there were many more that led to the Chartist
The Government also controlled the price of many goods, ensuring that smaller businesses were not forced out of the market. This would ensure that the unemployment was stabilised and did not fall further. Conscription also meant that over 1 million men were employed into the armed forces by 1935, but not only did this strengthen the army and reduce unemployment, it also meant that the German industry grew massively creating nearly 1.3 million extra factory jobs which would help supply the army with munitions and equipment etc. As a result of these measures, unemployment fell dramatically, from six million in 1933 to
Although finance played a significant role in the deterioration of the relationship between Crown and Parliament, it was not the lone reason, due to the fact that there were other more important factors including foreign policy and Buckingham which caused the collapse in the relationship between Crown and Parliament. Firstly, finance was a critical factor in the breakdown in the relationship. For example, the Forced Loan caused a great amount of tension between Crown and Parliament and therefore, worsened relations. It worsened relations because Charles enforced illegal taxations on his subjects without any form of consent from Parliament. He required that his subjects “loan him the equivalent of five subsidies” and although it was “opposed by significant numbers in the localities,” the taxation still occurred as the government had “employed all its powers to eliminate resistance”.
Another key factor in early America’s success was the plantation system. Without slaves you had no plantations and without plantations you had no slaves. Capitalism has been the bane of many great ancient societies. Rome and Persia are two ancient nations that come to mind that were undone in large part to excessive Capitalism. It is also a thorned rose bush for the US.
However, due to the Industrial Revolution, America began to stray from the vision the founding fathers had for the nation in the late 1700’s and 1800’s. Though social mobility was promised to immigrants and common Americans, these same people were often exploited and left in poverty. Founding fathers, such as Thomas Jefferson, valued farming above all else, but as industrialism took hold of America, farming became much necessary, and farmers more scarce. Finally, though America’s politicians promised to hear what the common people had to say, during and after the Industrial Revolution it seemed that only the very wealthy could make any sort of impact, and there was nothing to stop them from crushing the working class underfoot. The United States of America was built on the ideal that every man should be able to make his way in the world regardless of his family or class.