Dec
11
Britain & Reform: The Great Reform Bill
December 11, 2011 | Comments Off on Britain & Reform: The Great Reform Bill
In 1832, Parliament passed a law changing the British electoral system. It was known as the Great Reform Act. This 1832 cartoon by John Doyle shows the British public helping Earl Grey against William IV and the Duke of Wellington This was a response to many years of people criticising the electoral system as unfair. […]
Dec
11
Britain & Reform: The Peterloo Massacre
December 11, 2011 | Comments Off on Britain & Reform: The Peterloo Massacre
In March 1819, Joseph Johnson, John Knight and James Wroe formed the Manchester Patriotic Union Society. All the leading radicals in Manchester joined the organization. Johnson was appointed secretary and Wroe became treasurer. The main objective of this new organization was to obtain parliamentary reform and during the summer of 1819 it was decided to […]
Dec
10
Bertrand Russell on the Romantic Movement
December 10, 2011 | Comments Off on Bertrand Russell on the Romantic Movement
This is an audiobook recording of the “Romantic Movement” chapter from Bertrand Russell’s “The History of Western Philosophy” (1945). It’s a useful introduction to the late 18th and early 19th intellectual trends which culminated in the Romantic Movement. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Xu3mhKc6jg[/youtube]
Dec
10
Black, Red, and Gold Demands for Change: Germany and the Revolution of 1848
December 10, 2011 | Comments Off on Black, Red, and Gold Demands for Change: Germany and the Revolution of 1848
Early in 1848 several outbreaks of revolution had caused the French King Louis Phillippe to abdicate (24th February) and Metternich, the chief minister of the Habsburg Monarchy and architect of a system of restored monarchical government in Europe since before the fall of Napoleon (1815), lost the confidence of the Habsburg ruling family and was […]
Dec
10
Prices Rising, Liberties Falling; A Lead Up to the French Revolution of 1848
December 10, 2011 | Comments Off on Prices Rising, Liberties Falling; A Lead Up to the French Revolution of 1848
Notably disagreeable weather across much of Europe in 1845-6 affected agricultural production leading to rising food prices and to generally depressed economic conditions of widespread unemployment. Such sufferings as this brought to those badly affected led, in turn, to a radicalisation of political attitudes. During these times France was yet a monarchy under Louis Phillipe […]
Dec
10
A Chain Reaction: The Start of the Revolutions of 1848
December 10, 2011 | Comments Off on A Chain Reaction: The Start of the Revolutions of 1848
The revolution of 1848-1849, (sometimes referred to in the German lands as the Völkerfrühling or the Springtime of Peoples), can perhaps be seen as a particularly active phase in the challenge populist claims to political power had intermittently been making against the authority traditionally exercised by the dynastic governments of Europe. The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Era […]
Dec
7
What is Marxism?
December 7, 2011 | Comments Off on What is Marxism?
MARXISM IS COMPLICATED by the fact that Marx is by no means the only influence on this critical school; indeed, given the various sorts of political movements that have been inspired by this thinker (socialism, Trotskyism, communism, Leninism, Stalinism, Maoism, radical democracy, etc.), one despairs at trying to provide a fair and lucid introduction. Add […]
Oct
3
What is Romanticism?
October 3, 2011 | Comments Off on What is Romanticism?
Romanticism, first defined as an aesthetic in literary criticism around 1800, gained momentum as an artistic movement in France and Britain in the early decades of the nineteenth century and flourished until mid-century. With its emphasis on the imagination and emotion, Romanticism emerged as a response to the disillusionment with the Enlightenment values of reason […]
Nov
2
Marxist Challenge
November 2, 2009 | Comments Off on Marxist Challenge
Revolutions of 1848 concentrated on constitutional change while the allies from the working class sought basic social and economic rights Industrial Revolution had not yet affected many lives in Europe in mid 19th century, but the growing cities such as Britain, France and the German states struggled with the harsh conditions of factory work Utopian […]
Nov
1
Utilitarianism and Utopian Socialism
November 1, 2009 | Comments Off on Utilitarianism and Utopian Socialism
early 19th century liberals were not democratsfeared if rights were extended to uneducated masses then tyranny would return under someone like Napoleon uneducated class → incapable of making rational decisions liberals sought to end revolutionary action as soon as they achieved their limited goals end of 19th century political democracy and economic justice attracted liberals […]