This document summarizes various reactions against classical liberalism in the 19th century. The Luddites opposed industrialization and smashed machinery in response to wage cuts and bans on unions. The Chartists advocated for political reforms like universal male suffrage. Socialists rejected the inequality of wealth distribution under liberalism and wanted public control of resources instead of private businesses. Utopian socialists aimed to modify the system through cooperation rather than competition. Marxists believed class warfare and revolution were needed to overthrow capitalism, making their views less accepted than reform-focused socialism.

1. Reactions to Classical Liberalism
Hey ‘dis ‘iberalism ‘stuff’
don’t work fer no me!

2. It worked for some, but

3. Luddites
 Opposed industrial
development
 Took action by
smashing industrial
machinery
 Driven to opposition by
moves to cut minimum
wage and to forbid
worker’s organizations
(unions)

4. The Chartists
 A group centred around the working-class calling for
political and social reform
 Universal suffrage for all men over 21 (deemed essential)
 Equal-sized electoral districts
 Voting by secret ballot
 An end to the need for property qualifications for Parliament
 Pay for Members of Parliament
 Annual elections
 Initially violently opposed, many of their policies later
became mainstream

5. Socialism
 Resources should be controlled by the
public, not by private businesses and
investors.
 Co-operation is favoured over competition.
 In 19th-century society, great wealth existed,
but fair and equal distribution of this wealth
did not.
 Thus, socialists rejected the lack of equality
and humanitarianism under classical
liberalism.

6. Utopian Socialists
 Wanted to modify the Robert Owen and
existing system New Lanark
 Humanitarians
 advocated an end to
the appalling conditions
of the average worker
 idealist rather than
pragmatic

7. All socialists believed (more or less)
 Private ownership of the means of
production permits exploitation
 The state should direct the economy to
achieve economic equality for all citizens
 Society should be classless

8. Marxists
 Marxism is also called
scientific socialism or
communism
 Ideas were based primarily on
the theory that history is the
story of evolving class warfare
 The only way to overthrow
capitalism was by means of a
class struggle (revolution)
between the proletariat
(workers) and bourgeoisie
(owners).

9. Socialists? Marxists?
 Socialism and Marxism ,while sharing common
views, differed greatly in the ways that their goal
of transforming liberal capitalist society should
be achieved…one was peacefully (socialist) the
other was violently (Marxist/Communist)
 As a result, Marxist thought was not as widely
accepted in classical liberal society
 Socialism, which favoured reform, was more
popular