The Mining Proletariat explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Labor Exploitation and Machinery

  Coal miners were subjected to wage theft, false scales, fines, and the truck system, with overseers holding absolute power over pay.

• Worker Resistance and Organization

  The miners formed unions, joined the Chartists, and conducted a disciplined five-month strike under Roberts' leadership.

• Bourgeois Hypocrisy and Philanthropy

  Mine owners and justices of the peace acted as judges in their own cause, while Lord Londonderry used his power to punish striking workers.

• Class Conflict

  The strike was a direct battle between the coal kings and the miners, with the state and judiciary siding with capital.

Characters to notice

• W. P. Roberts

  Chartist solicitor appointed as the miners' 'Attorney General,' organizing the strike and legal defense.

• The Chartists

  Miners in civilized districts joined the Chartists, and the strike made at least two-thirds of the northern miners Chartists.

• Lord Londonderry

  Mine owner who threatened small tradesmen to cut credit to striking miners, becoming a 'clown' of the turnout.

• Thomas Duncombe

  The only Chartist MP, brought the miners' condition before Parliament and forced bourgeois journals to report it.

• Lord Ashley

  Introduced a bill forbidding women's work in mines, though it remained a dead letter due to lack of inspectors.

• The Masters

  Coal kings who refused to recognize the Union, imposed harsh contracts, and imported Irish and Welsh workers to break the strike.

• The Irish

  Imported as strike-breakers to restore competition among workers and collapse the strike.

• Sir Robert Peel

  Prime Minister whom Roberts demanded an audience with after the Haswell explosion to insist on investigation.

Key passages

• “It is almost beyond conception how these poor coal miners have been plundered and tyrannised over by Justices of the Peace acting as judges in their own cause.”

  The miners were robbed and oppressed by local judges who were themselves mine owners or their allies, making fair justice impossible.

  Highlights the systemic injustice in the coal districts.

• “The men began to form Unions and strike from time to time. In civilised districts they joined the Chartists body and soul.”

  Workers started organizing unions and going on strike, and in more developed areas they became devoted Chartists.

  Shows the rise of worker resistance.

• “War was thus declared. On March 31st, 1844, 40,000 miners laid down their picks, and every mine in the county stood empty.”

  The miners declared war by striking, and on that day 40,000 workers stopped working, leaving all mines idle.

  Describes the beginning of the great strike.

• “What a degree of true human culture, of enthusiasm and strength of character, such a battle implies on the part of men who, as we have seen in the Children’s Employment Commission’s Report, were described as late as 1840, as being thoroughly brutal and wanting in moral sense!”

  The strike showed the miners' high level of culture and character, contradicting earlier reports that called them brutal and immoral.

  Emphasizes the miners' dignity and intelligence.

• “If they had revolted with violence, they, the unarmed and defenceless, would have been shot down, and a day or two would have decided the victory of the owners.”

  Had the miners resorted to violence, they would have been easily shot and the owners would have won quickly.

  Explains why the miners remained peaceful.