If you compare eighteenth-century British capitalism with today’s, there are clear similarities. Most noticeably a tendency to tyranny...

A tale of two eras – but the same plot

WORKERS, JAN 2013 ISSUE

Sometimes old sayings seem very apt. And when you compare the ruling class treatment of workers in the early and late phases of British capitalism, then the old adage “The more things change, the more things stay the same” does have relevance. The fear, the tendency to inflict deliberate harm and the reliance on tyranny are strangely similar. Indeed, the past eagerly provides many glaring parallels to the present.

Police “pacifying” pickets during the strike at Pilkingtons, St Helens, May 1970.

Stuart pretensions to absolute monarchy were defeated in the English Civil War (1640-48) and, following the final acknowledgement of bourgeois ascendancy with the Glorious Revolution of 1688, modern capitalism spread relentlessly across Britain. By the early 18th century, Britain’s new bourgeois rulers set about consolidating their power, exploiting and oppressing workers here as well as those in a growing empire. Consolidation meant draconian laws and stern actions.

First came The Riot Act (1715) which made it unlawful for 12 or more people to assemble and allowed the ruling authorities to disperse crowds of workers (though its implementation wasn’t always successful). If people didn’t disperse, then members of the crowd were guilty of a felony, for which they could be hanged or branded. The Transportation Act (1719) sanctioned felons being sent as forced labour with terms of seven or ten years to the colonies of the West Indies or North American plantations. 50,000 “felons” were despatched to North America between 1719 and 1785.

The Combination Act (1721), passed at the behest of master tailors wanting to undermine 15,000 striking journeyman tailors, made trade union efforts to advance wages or lessen hours illegal. The Workhouse Act (1723) established the hated workhouses, the bane of working class life for the next two centuries. In the aftermath of the collapse of the South Sea Bubble and ensuing economic depression, the infamous Waltham Black Act (1723) brought in the death penalty for 50 criminal offences such as poaching, which in some areas was the alternative to hunger. It remained in force for a hundred years, gaining a lasting notoriety.

The capitalists slashed the living standards of industrial and agricultural workers and destroyed their jobs. Merchant seamen (and sometimes others) were press-ganged forcibly into the imperial navy. There were 1,257 Acts of Enclosure between 1730 and 1780, which evicted customary tenants and landless villagers, driving them off the land.

The 18th-century capitalist state was weighted towards the military and the people were taxed for war: between 1688 and 1815 Britain was at war for 70 out of the 127 years and government expenditure on military purposes did not drop below 60 per cent of overall spending in any one year. All these acts of aggression against our class failed to suppress the working class’s impulse to organise and protect its interests.

Draconian

The picture at the tail-end of British capitalism remains depressingly familiar. Our ruling class has instinctively resorted to draconian laws. Millions are unemployed or under-employed. Wars abroad have happened in convoy – for the dismemberment of Yugoslavia, and against Iraq and Afghanistan.

In terms of anti-trade union legislation, crippling legislative restrictions have been enacted in this field with repetitive force: in 1968, 1971, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986,1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2008. Parliamentary tyranny has increasingly restricted unions’ ability to undertake lawful industrial action, outlawed sympathy strikes, curtailed picketing to workers’ own place of work and six official pickets only, introduced postal balloting for official industrial action, thus preventing decisions taken at workplace meetings, allowed employers’ injunctions against unions and against “unofficial” action, introduced periods of notice for action and other hurdles and interfered in union democracy and autonomy, to name but a few.

Yet despite all these restrictions some unions and workers have still managed to undertake action including instances of downright defiance of trade union legislation.

The erosion of civil liberties is a constant feature of recent decades. Since 1997, 60 new powers have been introduced in 25 acts of parliament. The Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 allowed cover up of government errors, the holding of the DNA of innocent people and the sharing of personal data between public bodies.

Police were given powers to detain terror suspects for 28 days without charge, with new stop-and-search prerogatives allowing them to apprehend people without reason at airports and other designated areas. There are restrictions on the right of peaceful protest.

There has been a massive rise in surveillance in Britain, including the ever-present CCTV camera, new laws allowing individuals to be electronically tagged, and the legal interception of letters, emails and phone calls

The Coroners and Justice Bill currently going through parliament seeks to hand the state the dictatorial power to prevent embarrassing revelations of government failure becoming public. Coroners are currently able to criticise the government and any of its agencies that cause a death. But the Bill would hand the state new powers to suspend inquests, or force them into secret. It would also allow government agencies to share personal data. Only growing, mass action will defeat the restrictive tactics.

We know what the rulers think of us: tyranny, oppression and impoverishment are their holy trinity, always. Breaking from their yoke and creating our own freedom to operate is the next great endeavour. ■