The Oppression of the British Working Classes
A personal view by Derek Purnell on the legacy of oppression as evidenced in his community.
It is very difficult to compare the experience of the working classes in the Industrial Revolution (commencing in the 1780s) and the experience of people that were torn from their homelands, treated as a commodity and pressed into slavery in a distant and alien land. The contexts are very different as are the heritages of the descendants and it may not be helpful to attempt to make too close a comparison.
It is evident however that the working class of Britain experienced oppression, cruelty, restricted lifespan and were also treatment as a commodity. To consider the experience of the working classes in the Industrial Revolution is to some degree not to see the whole picture as their experience was not too distant from the ‘Feudal System’ of the Middle Ages. Villeins, sometimes known as Serfs, were poor (often very poor), were given land to work and had to provide free labour, food and service whenever it was demanded. Villeins had no rights and they were not allowed to leave the Manor and had to ask their lord's permission before they could marry. At the time of the Industrial Revolution workers may have been considered free but had no political or economic power.
Robin Gamble makes a strong assessment and backs it by citing the conditions of the times: "For the industrial work force, their labour was virtual slavery. The working day was long (twelve to thirteen hours in the mills, usually longer in the workshops) while life was short (forty years was not unusual)...."(1) Two politically and religiously distinct social commentators Fredrick Engels in ‘The Conditions of the Working Classes....’(2) and William Booth ‘In Darkest England‘(3) register such similar observations which is not only strong evidence of the truth but a indictment against the governments of the day.
Unfortunately the problem is not consigned to history; after engaging many of the working classes in industry for generations they had their livelihoods decimated in the 20th century as they were deemed no longer economically viable by the ruling classes of the day. The experience of working class alienation from the establishment appears to be embedded in the memory of sections of the working classes, particularly the ‘left behind’. The process of being consumed as a commodity (utilised when needed and discarded when not economically viable) came to a head in the Industrial Revolution and has repeated itself in varying degrees throughout history. The methods of long hours, poor diet, strenuous, repetitive and poorly rewarded work were used to maintain the status quo and when workers revolted it was met with institutional violence; the eventual result is extreme apathy. This extreme apathy is still evident in working class communities today; aimless lives are not just a result of poor choices but also a matter of decades of social conditioning. There are many echoes here of the experience and legacy of slavery.
Derek Purnell is an urban ministry consultant in Manchester. His book 'Speaking the Unspeakable' explores these issues in more depth.
1 Robin Gamble, The Irrelevant Church. Tunbridge Wells: Monarch,1991, p20-21.
2 Engels, Frederick. The Condition of the Working Classes in England. London: Grafton Books, 1882, [1969].
3 William Booth In Darkest England. London: Charles Knight & Co Ltd, 1970.
2 Engels, Frederick. The Condition of the Working Classes in England. London: Grafton Books, 1882, [1969].
3 William Booth In Darkest England. London: Charles Knight & Co Ltd, 1970.