Today in Labor History July 27, 1838: 70,000 people attended a Chartist rally in New Castle. Soldiers surrounded the marchers and attempted to intimidate them with their bayonets. Many feared things would escalate into another massacre, reminiscent of the Peterloo massacre in Manchester in 1819.

The Chartist movement was a working-class reform movement in the UK that was most active in the late 1830s and ‘40s. It took its name from the People's Charter of 1838. The movement was violently opposed by the authorities. The Charter called for six basic reforms: (1) universal suffrage for all men 21 years and older; (2) secret ballot; (3) No property qualification for parliament; (4) payment for service in parliament; (5) equal representation per capita, preventing less populous regions from having greater weight; (6) annual parliamentary elections as a check against bribery and corruption.

Interestingly, Allan Pinkerton, America’s most famous cop, the union-busting, murderous bulldog of the plutocrats, had not only been a Chartist in Scotland prior to emigrating to the U.S. He was a member of the Physical Force faction of the Chartists, demonstrating in the streets for temperance and against slavery, for universal suffrage, and the rights of man, committing vandalism and arson for the cause. He detested the propertied class, politicians, the cops, and Tory thugs, whom he loved to battle in the streets. And when things became too hot for him, he fled to America with his 15-year-old wife.

Here is Chumbawamba performing the Chartist Anthem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waRwJZFoJmw&list=RDwaRwJZFoJmw&start_radio=1

You can read my two bios of Allan Pinkerton here: https://marshalllawwriter.com/the-eye-that-never-sleeps/

https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

Events in LA remind us that in times past, when the state uses excessive force against its own citizens, it ultimately was on the wrong side of history. In the UK, we too have a shady past of parallel events and movements: #Levellers #Chartists #Peterloo #Suffragettes to name a few. #LA

Today in Labor History March 25, 1811: Oxford University expelled Percy Bysshe Shelley for publishing the pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism. Shelley was an English Romantic poet, radical in both his art and his politics. His poem "The Mask of Anarchy," which he wrote in 1819 after the Peterloo Massacre, is one of the first modern descriptions of nonviolent resistance. His admirers included Karl Marx, Gandhi and George Bernard Shaw. He was married to Mary Shelley, author of “Frankenstein.”

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchy #anarchism #atheism #marx #poetry #peterloo #massecre #PercyBisheShelley #gandhi #MaryShelley #frankenstein #writer #author #books #fiction #poet @bookstadon

Today in Labor History February 23, 1829: The British authorities exposed the Cato Street Conspiracy and arrested all the conspirators. Those involved had planned to murder all the British cabinet ministers and the Prime Minister and overthrow the government. The authorities executed 5 conspirators and exiled 5 others to Australia. No one knows how many people were truly involved in the conspiracy. However, numerous trade unions, Irish Republicans and shoemakers were supposedly ready to support it. They were angry about the Peterloo Massacre and government repression, like the Six Acts that were enacted to suppress any further radical organizing. They were also angry about the ongoing privation caused by the depression. The Peterloo Massacre occurred 10 years prior, when the cavalry massacred at least 19 workers and veterans of the Battle of Waterloo while they were demonstrating for the vote.

Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote about the massacre in his poem, “The Masque of Anarchy.” The authorities censored it until 1832, ten years after his death. Mike Leigh’s 2018 film Peterloo is an excellent portrayal of the massacre, and the events leading up to it. Many writers have written novels about Peterloo, including the relatively recent “Song of Peterloo,” by Carolyn O’Brien, and “All the People,” Jeff Kaye. However, perhaps the most important is Isabella Banks‘s 1876 novel, “The Manchester Man,” since she was there when it happened and included testimonies from people who were involved.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #CatoStreetConspiracy #peterloo #prison #union #deportation #massacre #novel #poem #poetry #anarchism #books #novel #fiction #poetry #author #writer #shelley @bookstadon

Suffice it to say that DeepSeek’s doesn’t have problems commenting upon political massacres so long as they didn’t happen in China
https://alecmuffett.com/article/110996
#DeepSeek #ai #amritsar #censorship #china #peterloo #tiananmen

Suffice it to say that DeepSeek’s doesn’t have problems commenting upon political massacres so long as they didn’t happen in China

See the above. I wonder what can be reverse-engineered out of the model to find out what other things it does not want us to know?

Today in Labor History December 21, 1910: 344 miners died when the Hulton Bank Colliery No. 3 Pit exploded in Westhoughton, England. It was the third worst mining disaster in British history. The original owner of the mine, William Hulton, once served as sheriff. In that role he sentenced 4 people to death, including a 12-yer-old boy, for taking part in a Luddite attack in 1812. His orders also led to the Peterloo Massacre in 1819, in which the cavalry charged a crowd of 60,000 workers and peasants fighting for suffrage. Many had just returned from Waterloo. Hulton paid the lowest wages of any colliery owner in Lancashire and he violently opposed any attempts to organize. His son and grandson, who later took over control of the colliery, were no better.

For a really good portrayal of the Peterloo events, see Mike’s Leigh’s 2018 film, “Peterloo.” Several recent novels portray Peterloo, including Carolyn O'Brien's “The Song of Peterloo” and Jeff Kaye's “All the People.” Isabella Banks wrote the novel “The Manchester Man” in 1876, based on her own interviews with survivors of the massacre. Additionally, there is a graphic novel in 'verbatim' form, Peterloo: Witnesses to a Massacre, as well as a 2016 Doctor Who audio adventure based on the Peterloo Massacre.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #miners #disaster #Peterloo #massacre #luddite #books #film #novel #fiction #doctorwho #author #writer @bookstadon

‘A revelation and a joy’: Mike Leigh pays tribute to cinematographer Dick Pope https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/oct/31/a-revelation-and-a-joy-mike-leigh-pays-tribute-to-cinematographer-dick-pope #Happy-Go-Lucky #AnotherYear #MikeLeigh #VeraDrake #Peterloo #MrTurner #Culture #Film

Continuing to reduce the height of my to be read pile #Goodreads #ReadingChallenge #Bookworm #Bibliophile #CurrentlyReading #Peterloo #History

Thanks to all who joined us last night to commemorate the 205th anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre, including Deputy Lord Mayor Carmine Grimshaw.
We read the names of the 18 who lost their lives after the magistrates ordered an attack on a peaceful crowd gathered to call for parliamentary reform and laid flowers in their memory.
#Peterloo

Today in Labor History August 16, 1819: Police attacked unemployed workers demonstrating in St. Peter's Field, Manchester, England. When the cavalry charged, at least 18 people died and over 600 were injured. The event became know as the Peterloo Massacre, named for the Battle of Waterloo, where many of the massacre victims had fought just four years earlier. Following the Napoleonic Wars there was an acute economic slump, terrible unemployment and crop failures, all worsened by the Corn Laws, which kept bread prices high. Only 11% of adult males had the vote. Radical reformers tried to mobilize the masses to force the government to back down. The movement was particularly strong in the north-west, where the Manchester Patriotic Union organized the mass rally for Peter’s Field. As soon as the meeting began, local magistrates tried to arrest working class radical, Henry Hunt, and several others. Hunt inspired the Chartist movement, which came shortly after Peterloo.

John Lees, who later died from wounds he received at the massacre, had been present at the Battle of Waterloo. Before his death, he said that he had never been in such danger as at Peterloo: "At Waterloo there was man to man, but there it was downright murder." In the wake of the massacre, the government passed the Six Acts, to suppress any further attempts at radical reform. The event also led indirectly to the founding of the Manchester Guardian newspaper.

Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote about the massacre in his poem, “The Masque of Anarchy.” The authorities censored it until 1832, ten years after his death. Mike Leigh’s 2018 film Peterloo is an excellent portrayal of the massacre, and the events leading up to it. Many writers have written novels about Peterloo, including the relatively recent “Song of Peterloo,” by Carolyn O'Brien, and “All the People,” Jeff Kaye. However, perhaps the most important is Isabella Banks's 1876 novel, “The Manchester Man,” since she was there when it happened and included testimonies from people who were involved.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #peterloo #waterloo #unemployed #poverty #freespeech #massacre #anarchism #poetry #literature #books #poet #author #writer #fiction @bookstadon

New Podcast! "16 August 1819: Peterloo massacre" on @Spreaker #history #manchester #peterloo https://www.spreaker.com/episode/16-august-1819-peterloo-massacre--61016914?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

Today in Labor History March 25, 1811: Oxford University expelled Percy Bysshe Shelley for publishing the pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism. Shelley was an English Romantic poet, radical in both his art and his politics. His poem "The Mask of Anarchy," which he wrote in 1819 after the Peterloo Massacre, is one of the first modern descriptions of nonviolent resistance. His admirers included Karl Marx, Gandhi and George Bernard Shaw. He was married to Mary Shelley, author of “Frankenstein.”

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchy #marx #poetry #peterloo #massecre #PercyBisheShelley #gandhi #MaryShelley #frankenstein #writer #author #books #fiction #poet @bookstadon

Today in Labor History February 23, 1829: The British authorities exposed the Cato Street Conspiracy and arrested all the conspirators. Those involved had planned to murder all the British cabinet ministers and the Prime Minister and overthrow the government. The authorities executed 5 conspirators and exiled 5 others to Australia. No one knows how many people were truly involved in the conspiracy. However, numerous trade unions, Irish Republicans and shoemakers were supposedly ready to support it. They were angry about the Peterloo Massacre and government repression, like the Six Acts that were enacted to suppress any further radical organizing. They were also angry about the ongoing privation caused by the depression. The Peterloo Massacre occurred 10 years prior, when the cavalry massacred at least 19 workers and veterans of the Battle of Waterloo while they were demonstrating for the vote.

Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote about the massacre in his poem, “The Masque of Anarchy.” The authorities censored it until 1832, ten years after his death. Mike Leigh’s 2018 film Peterloo is an excellent portrayal of the massacre, and the events leading up to it. Many writers have written novels about Peterloo, including the relatively recent “Song of Peterloo,” by Carolyn O’Brien, and “All the People,” Jeff Kaye. However, perhaps the most important is Isabella Banks‘s 1876 novel, “The Manchester Man,” since she was there when it happened and included testimonies from people who were involved.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #CatoStreetConspiracy #peterloo #prison #union #deportation #massacre #novel #poem #poetry #anarchism #books #novel #fiction #poetry #author #writer #shelley @bookstadon

Today in Labor History December 21, 1910: 344 miners died when the Hulton Bank Colliery No. 3 Pit exploded in Westhoughton, England. It was the third worst mining disaster in British history. The original owner of the mine, William Hulton, once served as sheriff. In that role he sentenced 4 people to death, including a 12-yer-old boy, for taking part in a Luddite attack in 1812. His orders also led to the Peterloo Massacre in 1819, in which the cavalry charged a crowd of 60,000 workers and peasants fighting for suffrage. Many had just returned from Waterloo. Hulton paid the lowest wages of any colliery owner in Lancashire and he violently opposed any attempts to organize. His son and grandson, who later took over control of the colliery, were no better.

For a really good portrayal of the Peterloo events, see Mike’s Leigh’s 2018 film, “Peterloo.” Several recent novels portray Peterloo, including Carolyn O'Brien's “The Song of Peterloo” and Jeff Kaye's “All the People.” Isabella Banks wrote the novel “The Manchester Man” in 1876, based on her own interviews with survivors of the massacre. Additionally, there is a graphic novel in 'verbatim' form, Peterloo: Witnesses to a Massacre, as well as a 2016 Doctor Who audio adventure based on the Peterloo Massacre.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #miners #disaster #Peterloo #massacre #luddite #books #film #novel #fiction #doctorwho #author #writer @bookstadon