KARL MARX
A MEETING
London, 20th March. For
months  the Morning Advertiser has been trying to initiate
a society called the “National and Constitutional Association” for the purpose  of agitating for the overthrow  of the
oligarchic regime. After much  preliminary work  had been
done, many appeals made, subscriptions received, and so  on,
a public meeting was finally called for last Friday at the
London  Tavern.108 It was to be the birthday of the new  much
advertised Association. Long  before the opening  of the meeting the great hall was packed with workers  and, when  the
self-elected leaders of the new  movement  finally appeared,
they actually had difficulty in finding room  on  the platform.
Mr. James Taylor, who  had been appointed chairman, read
aloud letters from Mr. Layard, Sir de Lacy Evans, Mr.
Wakley, Sir James Duke, Sir John  Shelley and others who
affirmed their sympathies for the aims of the Association but
at the same time on  various pretexts declined the invitation to
attend in person. This was followed by  the reading of an
“Address to the People” , in which a strong  light was thrown
on  the war being waged in the East and on  the ministerial
crisis. Then came the declaration that there were
“practical men  of every class, and especially of the middle class,
with all the attributes for governing  the country ” .
15*

This gauche allusion to the particular claims of the middle
class was received with loud hissing.
“The chief aim of this Association,” it continued, “will be to destroy
the aristocratical monopoly  of power  and place, which has proved fatal
to the best interests of the country. Among  its collateral objects will be
included the abolition of secret diplomacy. The special mission  of this
association will be to address itself to the constituencies of the United
Kingdom,  warning and exhorting them to be careful into whose  hands
they entrust the liberties and resources of the country, and to shrink
from bestowing  their votes any longer on  the mere nonentities of the
aristocracy and wealth and their nominees.”
Thereupon  Mr. Beales rose and in a detailed speech tabled
the first motion.
“The perilous state of public affairs, and the manifest hopelessness
of improvement  under the present oligarchical system,  which has usurped
the functions of government,  monopolised  place and privilege, and
brought  disgrace and disaster upon  the country, makes it incumbent on
the people to unite, in order to prevent a continuation of the existing
calamitous system. . . . That an Association be, therefore, now  formed;
and be called the National and Constitutional Association."
Mr. Nicholay, one of the intellectuals from Marylebone,
seconded the motion,  and a Member  of Parliament, Apsley
Pellatt, spoke  in the same vein:
“The people will go  about the task of reforming the government
with determination, temperance, steadiness and the resolution of
Cromwell Ironsides. Power  to rectify every abuse lies in the hands of
the English electorate, if they are determined to send honest men  to
Parliament gratis. But  they could never expect to be honestly represented
whilst a man like Lord Ebrington  from Marylebone is returned to Parliament at an expense of £  5,000, while his unsuccessful rival had only
£  3,000 to spend.”
Mr. Murrough, Member  of Parliament, now  stepped forward, but  after considerable opposition  was compelled to
make room  for George Harrison (a worker  and Chartist
from Nottingham).
“This movement, ” said Harrison, “is an attempt by  the middle classes to gain control of the government,  divide amongst  themselves the
places and the pensions  and establish a worse  oligarchy than that now
in existence.”
Then he read aloud an amendment wherein he denounced
equally the landed and financial aristocracy as enemies of

the people and proclaimed that the only  way to regenerate
the nation was to introduce a People’s Charter with five
points: universal suffrage, vote by  ballot, equal electoral
districts, annual Parliaments, no  property  qualifications.
Ernest Jones (head of the Chartists, who  comes from a
high-ranking aristocratic family) seconded the amendment
and remarked in a similar vein:
“The people would  destroy its own  position, if it were to support
this movement  of the middle classes to get into their own  hands place
and power. On  the platform there are undoubtedly many eager prime
ministers” (cheers), “many job  hunters without  office” (cheers). “The
people should not, however,  ally themselves to the Brights and the
Cobdens  and the moneyed  interests. It is not  the landed aristocracy, but
money-grabbing  that has opposed  a humane factory law, rejected the
Bill against stoppage of wages (deductions from the nominal wage). It
has prevented the passing of a good  law of assembly and it is above all
the money  and factory interests which have tried to hold down  and
degrade the people. He  for his part is ready at any moment  to become
part of a movement,  the purpose  of which is to break the influence of
the Duke  of Devonshire  and others, but  he does not  wish  to do so  merely
to replace it with the influence of the dukes of factory dust and the
lords of the spindle.” (Cheers and laughter.) “It has been said that the
workers ’ movement,  the Chartists’ movement  is dead. We  must  here
explain to the middle class reformers that the working  class is sufficiently
alive to kill any movement. They would  not  allow the middle class to
move,  in case it resolved not  to accept the People’s Charter and its five
points  in its programme. The middle class should not  deceive itself.
Repetition of the old deceptions is out  of the question.”
After some  further discussion, the chairman, amidst considerable commotion,  attempted to dispose of the amendment
by  saying that it was not  an amendment. However,  he soon
realised that he had to alter his decision. The amendment
was brought  forward and went  through  with a majority of
at least ten to one, amidst loud shouts  of approval and
waving of hats. After he had declared that the amendment
had been passed, the chairman, amidst loud laughter, confirmed that he still believed that the majority of those present
were for the founding of the “Constitutional and National
Union ” . They would  therefore go  ahead with their organisation, and later on  another appeal would  be addressed to the
public, indicating, although indirectly, that in future, to
avoid opposition  only  people with membership  cards would
be permitted to enter. The Chartists, in the best of moods,

complimented the chairman with a vote of thanks and the
meeting was closed.
One  cannot deny that logic was on  the side of the Chartists, even from the point  of view  of the publicly proclaimed
principles of the Association. The Association wishes to
overthrow  the oligarchy by  means of an appeal from the
ministry to Parliament. But  what is the ministry?  The minion
of the parliamentary majority. Or  does the Association wish
to overthrow  Parliament by  means of an appeal to the voters?
But  what is Parliament? The freely elected representative
of the voters. The only  solution that remains is to increase
the number  of voters. If one  refuses to increase the electorate
to the dimensions of the people itself through  acceptance of
the People’s Charter, then one is admitting to an attempt
to replace the old aristocracy with a new  one. Faced with the
present oligarchy one would  like to speak in the name of the
people, but  at the same time avoid the people appearing in
person  when  one  calls.
on  March 20, 1855
Published in Neue Oder-Zeitung Translated from the German
No.  141,  March 24, 1855