Danielle Downey October 20

Opposition to Liberalism

Luddites

Luddites were factory workers who were resisting being replaced by machines. They believed they

deserved to keep their jobs to be able to support their families. Luddites valued their jobs because they

were provided with the means to live. They formed an army called the Army of Redressers, which broke

into factories to destroy machines. During the attacks, some Luddites were killed. Ned Ludd was the

leader, providing Luddites with their name.

“The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has

outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.” – Martin Luther King

“We must make this an insecure and inhospitable place for capitalists and their projects…. We must

reclaim the roads and plowed land, halt dam construction, tear down existing dams, free shackled rivers

and return to wilderness millions of tens of millions of acres of presently settled land.” – David Foreman,

Earth First!

Luddites can be considered liberalists because of how they wanted all of the working class to keep their

jobs. They tried to influence their government to get fair treatment and more rights.

Chartists

Chartists were the working class in Britain who were unhappy with their limited rights. Their name

comes from the People’s Charter of 1838. Chartists believed that there should be annual elections and

that everyone should have the right to vote. They valued equal rights. The House of Commons rejected

three petitions from the Chartists but their demands were eventually implemented in the Reform Acts

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of 1867 and 1884. William Lovett, Francis Place and Henry Hetherington were involved with the London

Working Men’s Association.

“Free admission was given to all who came cleanly in clothing and person; the education given being

reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar and geography with such other kinds of information as was in our

power to bestow.” – William Lovett

“A man willing to work, and unable to find work, is perhaps the saddest sight that fortune's inequality

exhibits under this sun.” – Unknown

Chartists were extremely liberal in regard to the fact that they were fighting for the right to influence

their government and a way to choose their leaders.

Utopian Socialists

Utopians were humanitarians who wanted to put an end to bad working conditions in industrial

capitalist countries. They believed that education and improved working conditions could eliminate the

worst aspects of capitalism and lead to a socialist society. Utopians valued education greatly because

they thought it would lead to a more humane society. One Utopian, Robert Owen, established the

Institute for the Formation of Character, which was a community education center.

“What ideas individuals may attach to the term “Millennium: I know not, but I know that society may be

formed so as to exist without crime, without poverty, with health greatly improved, with little, if any

misery, and with intelligence and happiness increased a hundredfold; and no obstacle whatsoever

intervenes at this moment except ignorance to prevent such a state of society from becoming

universal.” – Robert Owen

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“It is therefore, the interest of all, that every one, from birth, should be well educated, physically and

mentally, that society may be improved in its character, that everyone should be beneficially employed,

physically and mentally, that the greatest amount of wealth may be created, and knowledge attained,

that everyone should be placed in the midst of those external circumstances that will produce the

greatest number of pleasurable sensations, through the longest life, that man may be made truly

intelligent, moral and happy, and be thus prepared to enter upon the coming Millennium.” – Robert

Owen

Utopians are not liberalists because they place more value on the group and want the government to

have almost complete control. A liberalist would strongly disagree with this way of thinking.

Marxism

The term Marxism comes from Karl Marx, but Marx did not create it. He claimed not to be a Marxist.

Marxism is a radical form of socialism. They believed that the only way to overthrow capitalism was a

class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. They placed a lot of value on economics,

believing that it is the foundation of society and the means of production. Marxism was very popular in

France in the 1930s.

“Marxism is like a classical building that followed the Renaissance; beautiful in its way, but incapable of

growth.” – Harold MacMillan

“Marxism has not only failed to promote human freedom, it has failed to produce food.” – John Dos

Passos

Marxists are not liberalists, although they could be considered to be. They want everyone to have value

in society. On the other hand, they have no desire to have a way to influence their leaders or the

leader’s decisions and did not advocate for more rights.

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Classical Conservatism

The development of classical conservatism was a reaction to classical liberalism. Edmund Burke was a

classical conservatist who believed that government should be chosen by a limited electorate with

special rights, responsibilities and privileges. He valued the idea that government should represent the

will of all people. Burke had a positive view on the American Revolution, which led to orderly

government, and had a negative view on the French Revolution, which included civil disorder.

“We owe an implicit reverence to all the institutions of our ancestors.” – Edmund Burke

“In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon

the minority.” – Edmund Burke

Classical conservatists are not liberalists because they do not believe in rights for the individual. They

want leaders to control all aspects of society, with no input from the majority.

Ned Ludd William Lovett Robert Owen Karl Marx Edmund Burke