Introduction

Abstract

THUS George Potter, prominent trade unionist and radical journalist. Similar phrases are scattered through contemporary accounts of the working class in the third quarter of the nineteenth century, emphasising the role of an ‘aristocracy of the working classes’ distinguished from other workers by their way of life, values and attitudes, as much as by a superior economic position. They were often seen as a moderating influence on the politics of popular protest, contributing to the mid-century disintegration of mass movements such as Chartism. Historians following the lines of enquiry suggested by this contemporary analysis have adopted the term ‘labour aristocracy’ to indicate such groupings within the working class. How valid are these attempts to identify a distinct upper stratum? And how did divisions within the working class affect the militancy and class consciousness of the labour movement in the decades after 1850? Studies of the labour aristocracy continue to provoke a lively debate around these problems.

The working man belonging to the upper class of his order is a member of the aristocracy of the working classes. He is a man of some culture, is well read in political and social history…. His self respect is also well developed (The Reformer, 5 November 1870).