Harriet Martineau’s Illustrations of Political Economy: Selected Tales is a collection of tales that she wrote to educate people in the 1830s about political economy. These tales were mainly meant for the people in the lower to middle class to read, because of their lack of education. Martineau’s obituary says, “she resolved to bring out a series of “Illustrations of Political Economy,” confident that the work was at the time (1831) very much needed by the working-class, to say nothing of other persons who had influence in the community” (quoted in autobiography 662). All of these tales have different purposes in which they educate and influence. “A Manchester Strike” is about a factory strike that takes place due to the low wages. There are many reasons for the wages to be so low during this time, but a large reason is the issue of the amount of people in the society who all need jobs. The abundance of people that work in the factory therefore forces the owners to have to pay extremely low wages. Although the workers are doing this strike hoping to improve their wages, in the end they discover large repercussions of a strike. At the end of the tale Martineau voices her opinion on why strikes are not good for the economy and also tells how she believes the system could be improved. Although Martineau adds this last chapter, she also displays her opinions throughout the tale through certain scenes and in specific characters. Martineau particularly shows the negative repercussions of strikes through the examples of wasting capital that results from strikes; the scenes that show the personal issues that arise from a strike, like drinking, domestic violence, and poverty; and the character Allen and his journey in becoming jobless. Martineau also gives some examples of how she thinks the system could be improved, in which she shows throughout the tale.
Martineau writes about how she believes strikes are a waste of capital. In the last chapter Martineau writes, “Nothing can permanently affect the rate of wages which does not affect the proportion of population to capital. Legislative interference does not affect this proportion and is therefore useless. Strikes affect it only by wasting capital and are therefore worse than useless” (“Manchester” 216). Martineau is addressing the inefficiency of strikes in this quote. She is saying that no matter what, the only way in which wages will be able to become higher is if there is either more jobs or capital available to employ people, or if the population decreases instead of increasing. She is also saying that strikes only waste capital and therefore effects the economy in a very negative way. Martineau displays the wasting of capital that results from strikes in this tale when the committee leading the strike talk of their final decisions regarding the strike to London delegates, “Their London friends believed their strike to be in a hopeless condition, and advised their making the best terms they could with their master, without any further waste of time and capital” (“Manchester” 208). This quote is describing the strike as a “hopeless condition” which is emphasizing the inefficiency of strikes. The quote also says that the strike is wasting both time and capital, which is what Martineau talks about in the last chapter. Martineau wrote, “We propose to show what Labor can effect and how it is to be encouraged and economized and rewarded: to treat of Capital, its nature and operation, and the proportions of its increase; and to exhibit the union of those two might agents of PRODUCTION” (quoted by O’Donnell). Martineau in this quote is once again voicing her opinion on the waste of capital. In her writing this, it further proves that she did not approve of strikes, and the capital that it wasted.
Factory strikes did not only affect the men being able to get rehired, but also affected the family’s personal life, specifically drinking, domestic violence and poverty. Martineau shows this negative repercussion of strikes through various scenes. One is during a description in the chapter “Hope Declining”, “All the men who were prone to drink now spent hour after hour at the alehouse, and many a woman now for the first time took her “drop of comfort” at home” (“Manchester 203). This quote is showing that not only the men, but also the women began to have this problem with drinking. This problem most likely occurred due to the stress levels of the strike leading the adults to drink to reduce that stress. Along with drinking the issues of domestic violence also arrived during the strike, “Many a man who began to slam the door behind him, after having beaten of shaken the little ones all round and spoken rough words to their trembling mother” (“Manchester” 203). Once again, this problem of domestic violence is likely a result of the increase in stress levels among the families in this strike. In showing this decline in the family dynamics Martineau further proves her opinions on the negativity that a factory strike results in. Another aspect of personal lives that the strikes resulted in was the poverty that the strikes created. Martineau displays the poverty through many scenes in which Allen’s family has to sell their possessions. One of the scenes that Martineau demonstrates the poverty is when Allen tells Martha she has to sell her bird, Billy. This scene shows how much this family has had to sell in order to accommodate for their lack of income. This was also a very moving scene because of how much Billy meant to Martha. Through the use of various scenes Martineau shows the readers her opinions on not just the economic side of the repercussions of strikes, but the personal effects on the families as well.
Martineau uses Allen to display her negative opinion on strikes. One of the negative repercussions of a strike is the number of workers that cannot be rehired once the strike is over, Allen is one of these workers. Mr. Wentworth is the factory master that tells him that he cannot be rehired once the strike is over, “I can employ now only two-thirds of the number who turned out from me. Of these, at least half left me unwillingly, and have therefore the first title to employment” (“Manchester” 213). The reason the factory owners can not hire back all of their workers is because by the time the strike is over, they have lost too much money to be able to afford to give everyone jobs. He will first hire back the workers that were forced into the strike, and therefore the men who began the strike to get larger wages are going to ultimately be unemployed. Therefore, there was no point in the strike in the first place. Martineau writes on this subject, “Combinations of laborer’s against capitalists (whatever other effects they may have) cannot secure a permanent rise of wages unless the supply of labor falls short of the demand—in which case, strikes are usually unnecessary” (“Manchester” 216). This quote is defending the reason why Allen cannot be hired by any of the masters after the strike. Martineau is writing that the wages cannot increase unless there are less workers, only then can those few workers get an increase in pay. Therefore, the masters will not rehire as many people after the strike, and the people who begun the strike will have a lesser chance to be rehired, in this case Allen. Eleanor Courtamanche writes, “Martineau represents class conflict as inevitable and even justified, but over time the workers are doomed to be crushed because of their employers’ superior strength” (Courtemanche). This quote is showing the inefficiency of strikes, as Martineau is trying to show in the tale. Part of the reason that strikes do not work out in the end is because the masters are ultimately superior to the laborers, so in the end the laborers will end up losing. In “A Manchester Strike” the example of a laborer not benefiting from the strike is Allen losing his job in the end, because his superior is unable to hire him.
Martineau has some ideas for how the system can be improved. She states three way in which the improvements can take place, “The condition of laborer’s may be best improved—1st by inventions and discoveries which create capital. 2nd by husbanding instead of wasting capital—for instance by making savings instead of supporting strikes. 3rd BY ADJUSTING THE PROPORTION OF POPULATION TO CAPITAL” (“Manchester” 216). The first way to improve the labor system is for more advancements, which can create more capital. The reason this would help the economy is there could be more jobs created, so that each job could then pay more in wages. The second way Martineau says there could be improvement is if people would beginning saving any extra money they had, instead of putting that money towards supporting strikes, which will in the end waste more capital. Alan Richardson writes, “Martineau celebrates the virtues of industry and capital accumulation, and programmatically advocates individual initiative over collective working-class action” (quoted by Harding). This quote brings into attention that Martineau’s writing is not against capital, but instead she wants to highlight the good parts of capital. Also, this quote is saying that she is trying to push the working-class people into action to further improve the economy. The last way Martineau tells the reader there could be improvements is by adjusting the proportion of population to capital. This is addressing the amount of people versus the amount of jobs available. Martineau is suggesting the population needs to stop increasing at a steady rate, so that there can be more jobs for less people. Martineau uses some of the propositions at the end of the tale to display her second improvement idea, “Proposed: that the men shall set apart a portion of their weekly earnings, as soon as able to do so, and in proportion to the size of their families, in order to liquidate the debt incurred on account of the strike now about to be closed” (“Manchester” 212). In this proposition Martineau is showing the community putting her second idea into action. They are saying that the men should begin to save their money instead of using that money to fund a strike.
Through The Illustrations of Political Economy: Selected Tales Harriet Martineau is able to tell her readers her opinions of sociology and the economy. Harriet Martineau wrote,
All that I write is now, with a view to the illustration of these great truth; with the hope of pressing upon the rich a conviction of their obligations, and of inducing the poor to urge their claims with moderation and forbearance, and to bear about them the credentials of intelligence and good deserts. (quoted by Sanders)
In this quote Martineau is saying why she wrote The Illustrations of Political Economy: Selected Tales. That reason being, to inform and influence both the poor and the rich based on her opinions of the economy and how it can overall be improved. In “A Manchester Strike” Martineau tells a tale in which she is able to display her opinions on factory strikes. These opinions include that strikes are a waste of capital, cause personal issues for families, and can cause more people to become jobless. She also shows her readers how she believes the system can be improved for laborers, particularly by people saving their money instead of using that money to fund strikes. The Illustrations of Political Economy: Selected Tales is a group of tales in which Martineau uses to show her opinion to the world.
Work Cited
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