# Chartism — The Condition of the Working Class in England character guide

> Chartism in The Condition of the Working Class in England by Friedrich Engels.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Chartism

**First appearance:** 0011-labour-movements

## Snapshot

A mass movement of petitions, torchlight meetings, and imprisoned leaders, it gave England's workers a political language for their rage.

## Who they are

Chartism is less an organization than a pressure wave, sweeping through mill towns and mining villages with demands for universal male suffrage and secret ballots. It is torn between moral force and physical force, between respectable petitioning and the threat of general strike, and the state answers with spies, arrests, and troops. Engels treats it as the first mature expression of proletarian politics, the moment the working class stops begging and starts demanding.

## Links

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- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_condition_of_the_working_class_in_england_se
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