vega Sy The MAKING of the ENGLISH WORKING CLASS by E.P. Thompsonij i | 1 ur Vv vi vit vat x xm CONTENTS Preface 9 Part Ont: THE LIBERTY TREE ‘Members Unlimited 7 Christian and Apollyon 26 “Satan's Strongholds”” 8 ‘The Free-born Englishman n Planting the Liberty Tree 102 Part Two: THE CURSE OF ADAM Exploitation ‘The Field Labourers Artisans and Others ‘The Weavers Standards and Experiences ‘The Trancforming Power of the Gross i, Moral Machinery ‘The Chiliasm of Despair Community i. Leinure and Personal Relations ‘The Rituals of Mutuality iii, The Irish 429 jv, Myriads of Eternity 48 THE MAKING OF THE WORKING CLASS Part Three: THE WORKING-CLASS PRESENCE, XII Radical Westminster XIV. An Army of Redressers ‘The Black Lamp ‘The Opaque Society i. The Laws against Combination jv. Croppers and Stockingers v. Sherwood Lads vi, By Order of the Trade XV Demagogues and Martyrs Disaffection ii, Problems of Leadership iii, Hampden Clubs iv, Brandreth and Oliver v. Peterloo vi, The Cato Street Conspiracy XVI Glass Consciousness 4. The Radical Culture William Cobbett i. Carlile, Wade and Gast Bibliographical Note Acknowledgements Index mm mm ne n9 807 833 837 898 PREFACE ‘Tuts noox sas a clumsy tite, but it scone which meets ics purpose. Moking, because it is study in an active proces, ‘which owes as mach to agency as to conditioning. The working clase did not rte like the sun at an appointed time. Tt was present at is own making. ‘Class, rather than clases, for reasons which tis one purpose of this book to examine, There is, of course, a difference. “Work- ing classes" is a descriptive term, which evades as much a5 it defines. Tt ies loudly together a bundle of dserete phenomena ‘There were tailors here and weavers there, and together they make up the working clases. ‘By clas I understand an historical phenomenon, unifying a number of disparate and seemingly unconnected events, both in the raw material of experience and in conscioumes. T emphasise that itis an hitrcal phenomenon. I do not tee Glam asa “structure”, nor even ata “category”, but as some- thing which in fact’ happens (and can be sown to bave happened) in human relationships. ‘More than this, the notion of class entails the notion of Listorieal relationship. Like any other relationship, it ica fluency which evades analysis i we attempt to stop it dead at any given moment and anatomise fis structure. ‘The finest Ieshed sociological net cannot give us a pure specimen of class, any more than it ean give ut one of deference or of love. “The relationship must always be embodied in eal people and fn a real context. Moreover, we cannot have two distinct classe, each with an independent being, and then bring them into relationship with each other, We cannot have love without lovers, nor deference without squires and labourers. And clas appens when some men, as a result of common experiences, (inherited oF shared), feel and articulate the identity of their Interests as between themselves, and as agains other men whose interest are diferent from (and usually opposed t) theirs. The class experience is largely determined by the productive relations into which men are born-—or enter involuntarily.