DANCEST 303 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Chartism, Bourgeoisie, Class Consciousness
Document Summary
Anglais : the historical significance of chartism. Chartism was an event of colossal historical importance for the political development of. It was a severe lesson for the ruling classes who could never forget those years when the workers" mass movement threatened the foundations of capitalism. Afraid to lose their power, the ruling classes yielded certain concessions to the workers. The bourgeoisie had to give up some of the cruelest of their exploitation methods. Thus, the bourgeoisie was forced to recognize the trade union, to introduce a number of democratic reforms. Acting against the policy of the british establishment, the british proletarians contributed to the historically indispensable cause of weakening the reaction in the whole world since. England was one of the wealthiest ad most powerful countries, supporting the world"s reactionary forces. They demonstrated an extremely high degree of class consciousness declaring the independence of their goals ad interests as sharply opposed to those of the bourgeoisie and other exploiting classes.
