38. F. Engels. Letters from London.— I. The English Agricultural Labourers' Strike
London, April 20, 1872
The labour movement in England has made enormous progress in the last few days. It has established itself — solidly — among the agricultural labourers. In Great Britain, as is well known, all the land belongs to an extremely small number of large landowners who receive, in the form of rent, annual incomes ranging from 100,000 lire in the case of the poorest to several million for the richest. The Marquis of Westminster enjoys an annual income of over 10 million lire.
The land is divided up into large lots, worked by a small number of agricultural labourers, with the aid of machines, on behalf of the tenant farmer. There are no small peasant proprietors. The number of agricultural workers, already small in proportion to the area of land they cultivate is decreasing every year as a result of the introduction of new machinery. Hence the English agricultural labourers — ignorant, slaves of the soil as were never seen before and at the same time victims of competition — form the lowest paid class of the population. On several occasions they have rebelled against their hard fate. In 1831, in the south of England, they burned the farmers' corn and hay ricks.[107] A few years ago they did the same thing in Yorkshire. From time to time there have been attempts at setting up resistance societies among them, but with no real results. The present movement, however, has in a few weeks assumed dimensions which guarantee it an enormous success. This movement began among the labourers of Warwickshire. They demanded a rise in their wages from 11 or 12 shillings (13 or 14 francs) a week to 16 shillings (19 francs). In order to obtain it they formed a resistance society and went on strike.[108] There was general horror among the landowners, farmers and Tories of the county; the labourers, slaves in body and mind, after over a thousand years were daring to rebel against the authority of the masters! And they really did rebel. They struck with such effect that in two or three weeks the rebellion spread to all the labourers not just of Warwickshire but of the eight neighbouring counties. The union of agricultural labourers was for the frightened landlords and farmers what the International is for the reactionary governments of Europe: the scarecrow at the mere mention of whose name they quake. And they mounted an opposition, but in vain; the union, helped by the counsel and by the experience of the resistance societies of the industrial workers, grew and became more solid every day. It was supported, moreover, by the public opinion of the bourgeoisie itself. The bourgeoisie, despite its contract of political alliance with the aristocracy, permanently wages a sort of little economic war with it. Since at present it is enjoying a state of great industrial prosperity in which it needs many workers, nearly all the agricultural labourers on strike found themselves transported to the towns, where they were employed and paid much better than they could have been on the land. Hence the strike was completely successful, with the landlords and farmers of all England spontaneously raising labourers' wages by 25 and 30 per cent. From this first great victory will date a new era in the intellectual and social life of the rural proletariat, which has entered as a mass into the movement of the urban proletarians against the tyranny of capital.
Last week, the English Parliament discussed the International. Mr. Cochrane, a rabid reactionary, accused the terrible workers' association of having ordered the Paris Commune to murder the archbishop(1) and set fire to the city! He then demanded repressive measures against the General Council which is based, for the moment, in London. Naturally the government replied that the members of the International, like all the inhabitants of England, are responsible before the law alone, and as they have not yet broken it there was no reason to persecute them.(2) It is believed that the General Council of the Mr. Cochrane's falsehoods.(3)
Signed: F. E.
"Our correspondence"
Association will be replying to
Endnotes
[107] i°7 In 1830-31, extremely hard conditions caused spontaneous rebellions of agricultural workers in the south and east of England. The new agricultural machines led to mass unemployment among the farm-hands who, in protest, burned hay ricks and damaged machines. The rebels were severely dealt with by the army.
[108] i°8 In late March 1872, the agricultural workers of Warwickshire formed a union which headed a strike that soon spread to the neighbouring counties. The strike was supported by the trade unions of industrial workers. Their financial aid and the need for extra workers promoted the struggle of the agricultural workers. A national union of agricultural workers headed by Joseph Arch was founded in May 1872 and by the end of 1873, it numbered about 100,000 members. The struggle for a shorter working day and higher wages went on till 1874 and was victorious in a number of counties.