Protest Movements The early decades of industrialisation coincided with the spread of new political ideas pioneered by the French Revolution ( - ). The movements for ‘liberty, equality and fraternity’ showed the possibilities of collective mass action, both in creating democratic institutions like the French parliamentary assemblies of the 1790s, and in checking the worst hardships of war by controlling the prices of necessities like bread. In England, political protest against the harsh working conditions in factories kept increasing, and the working population agitated to be given the right to vote. The government reacted by repression and by new laws that denied people the right to protest.
England had been at war with France for a long time – from to . Trade between England and Europe was disrupted, factories were forced to shut down, unemployment grew and the price of essential items of food, like bread and meat, soared to heights beyond the level of average wages. Parliament in passed two Combination Acts which made it illegal to ‘incite the people by speech or writing to hatred or contempt of the King, Constitution or Government’; and banned unauthorised public meetings of over persons. Protest, nonetheless, continued against ‘Old Corruption’.
This term was used for privileges linked to the monarchy and Parliament. Members of Parliament – landowners, manufacturers and professionals – were opposed to giving the working population the right to vote. They supported the Corn Laws, which prevented the import of cheaper food until prices in Britain had risen to a certain level. As workers flooded towns and factories, they expressed their anger and frustration in numerous forms of protest.
There were bread or ACTIVITY Discuss the effects of early industrialisation on British towns and villages, and compare these with similar situations in India. food riots throughout the country from the 1790s onwards. Bread was the staple item in the diet of the poor and its price governed their standard of living. Stocks of bread were seized and sold at a price that was affordable and morally correct rather than at the high prices charged by