You’ll notice that the Northern Star talks of ‘the resurrection of Chartism’ and Feargus O’Connor too speaks of ‘renewal’. This reminds us that Chartism was already 9 years old by this stage, and had already enjoyed an eventful history in which the West Riding had played an important role. In January 1840 there had been at attempted risings in Bradford (led by Robert Peddie) and in Sheffield (led by Samuel Holberry). These were in response to the rejection of the first Chartist Petition and another attempted insurrection in Newport, South Wales in 1839. In 1842, the West Riding was part of the storm centre of the mass strike-wave, known as the ‘Plug Plot Riots’, which followed the rejection of the second national petition. Once more, Ben Rushton provided local leadership addressing a mass meeting on Skircoat Moor at 5 am on the 15th August and another at Hawksclough later the same day. From Hawksclough the strikers marched to Halifax, where there arrival was described by the Leeds Mercury as follows:

“…not less than from 15,000 to 20,000 [people], came from the neighbourhood of Bradford, Hebden Bridge [and] Todmorden…There were at least 5,000 from Hebden Bridge and they entered the town singing the hundredth psalm”.

This crowd was dispersed by the cavalry and some 18 strikers were arrested at Akroyd’s Mills. The following day an attempt was made to rescue these prisoners who were being taken under cavalry escort to Elland station. If you want to find out how that attempt fared then I suggest you attend Linda Croft’s guided walk on Sunday 16th July, beginning at 5pm at the junction of Skircoat Green Road and Godfrey Road.

After 1842 the Chartist movement went into decline. However, the movement seemed to acquire a new lease of life in 1845 when O’Connor announced the formation of the Chartist Land Co-operative Society. In essence, the Land Plan involved raising money from subscriptions to buy land which would then be rented out in 2, 3 and 4 acre allotments (complete with cottages) to members of the Chartist Land Co-op. The rent would be used to buy more land, which would be rented out to members and so the scheme would continue. This plan which offered the prospect of ‘independence’ and a good home proved incredibly popular with working people – Halifax Chartists subscribed nearly Ł200 (at least Ł10,000 today) in 1845 alone. The size of the Blackstone Edge gathering reflected the movement’s gathering momentum.

And so, 29,999 Chartists climbed to this place in August 1846. I say 29,999 climbed because the Northern Star reports that Mr Thomas Livesey of Rochdale (described by the paper as “a remarkable stout man”) rode his “celebrated race-horse ‘Bando’ to the top of the mountain”. The Northern Star reported that Ben Rushton “was unanimously called to the chair”. In the context of local West Riding rivalries, to say nothing of the competition between Yorkshire and its neighbouring county, the fact that Ben Rushton was unanimously chosen speaks volumes for the high esteem in which he was held. The Northern Star described Rushton thus;

“There is something very attractive to the eye and to the ear of labour, in this man’s person and in his voice. He has stood all the trials, the chances, the risk and responsibilities consequent upon fidelity to the Democratic principle; and his unswerving honour, his modest demeanour, and indefatigable perseverance, have secured for him the universal respect of his order.”

On taking the chair, Ben Rushton called for order and told the meeting that “the squire had made a request that in their passage across the mountain they would not disturb the rest of his birds.” Rushton waited for the crowd’s laughter to die down before commenting acidly that “Those gentlemen, thought but little of the rest of the toiling millions, as compared with the rest of those birds that ministered to their amusement. It would be well for themselves and for the country, if they thought more of their duties and less of their sports.” He then introduced the assembled speakers to the crowd.

Amongst those speakers was Ernest Jones, a young man from a relatively privileged background (his father had been the Duke of Cumberland’s aide-de-camp). Ernest Jones was a barrister and a published poet who had literally just taken the momentous decision to join the Chartist movement. His speech at Blackstone Edge was his maiden outdoor speech, and it made such an impression on the Halifax Chartists that they invited him to stand as their candidate in the following year’s General Election. Re-reading the reports of Ernest Jones’s speech in preparation for this meeting I was struck first by the differences between the problems facing the Chartists in 1846 and those facing us in 2006. Then, however, it was the resonances and similarities between our situation and that in 1846 which drew my attention.

First, the differences: it occurred to me that the problems with which our democracy is grappling are, in one sense, the mirror opposites of those confronting the Chartists. In 1846, there was a politically engaged and committed populace – 30,000 people on Blackstone Edge testify to that – and for them, the problem was how to secure proper political representation, in short how to get the vote. In 2006, we have the advantage of the vote – our problem is how to get more people directly interested in and involved with democratic politics. For there is widespread agreement, I think, across the political spectrum – that a properly functioning democracy depends on an actively engaged population. Does the Chartist experience offer any suggestions, any lessons as to how this problem of widespread political apathy might be solved? Well, not only can their example serve as a continuing inspiration to us all – once, you’ve learnt how long the people of this country had to campaign to secure those basic democratic rights and civil liberties we enjoy, it becomes more difficult to take them for granted – but more than that, the Chartist belief in the ability of ordinary, working people to develop policies, to find answers to the problems that they faced in daily life – that is to say a belief that politics could, and should, be a bottom up rather than a top down process – it is this which arguably offers the best way of re-invigorating our democracy. By drawing up a new people’s charter for 2006, the members of the Calderdale branch of the Youth Parliament have shown themselves to be the inheritors of this most vital aspect of the Chartist legacy.

However, I was also struck as I read Jones’ speech of the, often uncanny, way in which the issues and themes he identifies have a continuing contemporary relevance. In particular, four aspects of his speech stand out in this respect.

Firstly, Jones identifies a dangerous gap which exists between popular understanding and the increasingly dogmatic insistence on the part of politicians and assorted ‘experts’ that “they know best”. In 1846, Jones put it like this:

“They say we are too ignorant to enjoy the franchise; we, ourselves, do not know what we want; we are no judges of what would be good for us. Does a man know what he wants when he is starving? And sees the rich rolling on in riotous profusion? He’ll tell you that he wants food – but then, they say, that’s all his folly – it’s the workhouse that he wants!”

If he were here today, I suspect he would say something along the lines of “The doctors, the nurses, the teachers and many other public sector workers, say that what they want are more resources and to be trusted to get on with their jobs – but they say – no what you need are; more managers and more directives and more outside consultants to tell you how to do your job properly!” Continue ...