Revolutionary Idea That God Backs The Poor

Posted August 6, 2006 in News

Oastler spent three years in London prisons (1841-44) and during ths time his weekly Fleet Papers became famous. He publicised the harsh elements of the industrial system and printed a series of verdicts by Petty Sessions in South Wilthsire to illustrate how magistrates penalised farm labourers. He wrote of the "horrible system of selling agricultural labourers and their families to the mill owners. He described manufacturing towns as military garrisons designed to protect an antisocial power.

He described how country people, accustomed to the charities of the rural parishes, had moved north to the factories whre they found no parish relief, only workhouses where husband and wife were often separated.

On his release from prison, The Times carried a leading article entitled "The ransomed patriot." It claimed: "Mr Oastler is the providential organ of the oppressed and suffering poor. Those who do not see and know and feel what he does are not competent judges."

Source: Times Online

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