On this day in 1819, the Peterloo Massacre took place when British cavalry charged a crowd of ~60,000 protesters gathered in St. Peter's Field in Manchester, England to demand democratic reforms, killing 18 people and wounding hundreds more.
The protest took place in the context of an economic crisis and harvest failure following the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. At the time, only approximately 11% of adult males could vote, very few of them in the industrial north, which was the worst hit by the crises.
Reformers, led by figures such as the radical orator Henry Hunt and social reformer Samuel Bamford, identified democratic and parliamentary reforms as a way to mobilize the masses, acquiring three-quarters of a million signatures in 1817, a proposal flatly rejected by the House of Commons.
On August 16th, 1819, a mass rally of democratic reformers gathered in St. Peter's Field in Manchester. The meeting's aims were explicitly peaceful and legal; organizers stated the protest's purpose was "to consider the propriety of adopting the most LEGAL and EFFECTUAL means of obtaining a reform in the Common House of Parliament" and did not allow participants to bear arms.
Despite this, members of the British Cavalry attempted to arrest leaders of the protest. When their horses became stuck in the crowd, officers panicked and began indiscriminately attacking the meeting's participants. Exact numbers are difficult to calculate, but modern estimates are that 18 people were killed and approximately 600 more were injured.
Among those killed was a two year old boy, knocked from his mother's arms by a charging horse. John Lees, a working class veteran of Waterloo who later died of wounds sustained at the Peterloo Massacre, stated "At Waterloo there was man to man but there it was downright murder".
The British government supported the military's actions, and as a result of the disorder, passed the "Six Acts", legislation to suppress radical meetings and publications. By the end of 1820, every significant working-class radical reformer was in jail.
On the political situation after Peterloo, historian Robert Reid wrote "it is not fanciful to compare the restricted freedoms of the British worker in the post-Peterloo period in the early nineteenth century with those of the black South African in the post-Sharpeville period of the late twentieth century."
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I hate myself and everyone else today so I am starting a struggle session. Class reductionism is good. If we made sure workers had enough movey to leave bad situations it would matter less that bad situations existed.
that's not class reductionism, that's just the standard take that material conditions make up the primary (but not sole!) contradiction for workers under capitalism
Welcome to the world of psyops my friend.
:walter-breakdown:
The number of people who yell at me on twotter for any discussion about class being a issue has convinced me that class reduction as an idea was created as a psyop to prevent discussion of material conditions
oh I thought you were doing a psyop on me to get me to take the bait!
I'm not good at explaining why class reductionism is not good, but it kind of seems like idealism and without an intersectional approach with the current oppressive systems it leaves vulnerable people behind. The oppressive systems need to be dismantled, or just giving workers more money doesn't really solve anything and that's kind of Yang-brain. I think class reductionism is worth debating, because it seems like it's almost there and is an easy place for people to land who don't want to investigate systemic patriarchy, oppression of minorities, etc, but that side is overrun with bigots who use it as a shield. I'm sure others will jump in.
As a cis white male I an unqualifed to examine the lived experiences of my marginalized comrades, save one. And the one I am given to understand is that a lot of my comrades would have a lot less problems if they had more money. Since, it is through injustice they are parted with the substance the first solution becomes obvious
I don't think examining lived experience is the be all end all, there is a lot of history to unravel and just awareness and acceptance of how unbalanced things currently are for some groups of people. We can examined oppressive systems which produce conditions through a material lens. The current mainstream political climate has liberal identity politics on "one side", weaponized against large swaths of the working class mostly during elections, and we have batshit insane anti-wokeness reactionaries who weaponize psyop racism, sexism, etc but only against those groups who receive very little protection from the "other side". On the surface, the immediate threat is clear, we need oppose fascism. That doesn't mean we need to hold hands with the rainbow capitalists, or even fail to try and correct their lack of class-consciousness. I think most liberals I meet mean well, but their understanding is formed by liberal media and class awareness is almost completely missing. It's a balance or optics.
I don't really think this is class reductionism or a product of it. Class reductionism is a methodology. It is the strategy to assume that the most immediate and important contradiction is the struggle between proletariat and bourgeoisie regardless of the actual circumstances. It's typically used to excuse chauvinism, dogmatism, and failure to self criticize. To suggest material solutions to problems isn't class reductionism, it's materialism. I think it's our duty to examine the social (including class) antagonisms and how the mode of production is the primary driver of that, but also to present real solutions to the issues.
Is it? Can I see an example of this? I am sure there are shitlords with every position but I don't feel like I ever see people doing that