The Making of the English Working Class

Chapter 16 traces the history of popular Radicalism through the 1820s. The chapter is divided into five subsections: “The Radical Culture,” “William Cobbett,” “Carlile, Wade and Gast,” “Owenism,” and “‘A Sort of Machine.’”

The first three subsections focus on Radicalism’s literary culture. Richard Carlile, for instance, led the fight for freedom of the press. As editor of The Republican, Carlile “hoisted the black ensign of unqualified defiance and, like a pirate cock-boat, sailed straight into the middle of the combined fleets of the State and Church” (720). He suffered years of imprisonment for his trouble. Other printers simply evaded the stamp tax imposed by the Six Acts. Satirists lampooned the government. Each new publication chipped away at counter-revolutionary censorship and helped create the literary culture of the 1820s. William Cobbett occupies the most exalted place among Radicalism’s polemicists for providing the tone and language necessary to help Radicals understand and fight Old Corruption. Other notable publications include John Wade’s Gorgon, a penny paper that considered Utilitarianism as a possible solution to the plight of the working