Perish the Privileged Order: A Socialist History of the Chartist Movement

Literary Nonfiction. British History. Labor Studies. PERISH THE PRIVILEGED ORDERS is an accessible and committed history of the Chartist movement and its struggle for political rights for working-class people in nineteenth-century Britain. It follows the chronology of the movement from its roots in workers' struggles against economic exploitation and social impoverishment. It not only recounts the key developments and turning points of the movement, but also brings to life the color and courage of the principal leaders and influential figures within it. At each turn it highlights the crucial roles of the ordinary working people who, through their energy, creativity and fighting spirit, made the Chartist movement what it was. The weavers, the mill-workers, the iron-workers, the trades people, the women and the whole panoply of the British working class of the era are brought forward as they play their distinctive roles in the story.