Popular Protest1700-1900

Popular Protest

• Grain Riots

• “Captain Swing”- aka “The Swing Movement”

• The Demoiselles of the Ariege

Popular Protest

• Why Popular protest in the 18th & 19th centuries?–To affect change–To appeal to authorities who will “do the

right thing”–“the just price”…

Popular Protest• Grain Riots: 1856; Spain-

– The workers of Valladolid and Burgos rose and burned flour stores, mills, and inspection offices. The civil governor intervened to put down the rising, but the rebels overwhelmed him and attacked the chiefs of his forces. The sacking and burning continued. Most likely, as a consequence of the spreading of news of the incident, disturbances also spread to the countryside and to other cities. The governor of Palencia tried to hold back the uprising in his city, but he had to retreat before a hissing crowd. In Benavente, Rioseco, and along the Castille Canal, the disorders recurred. They had the characteristics of the old type of rebellion aimed at spectators and hoarders, among whom the masters of workshops were counted. In their hatred, the insurgents set fire to shops and storehouses with the cry of, "cheap bread, cheap bread," and attacked the boats that served for the transport of grain as well as putting the torch to grain not yet harvested in the fields.

Popular Protest

• Grain Riots: France, May 3 1775: "The musketeers, who had been warned the day before, hurried to the markets. The fleeing rioters overturned baskets full of bread and blocked the way to the horses. It was 9:00 a.m. The watch was supposed to be getting its orders at that hour and the people had already gone to the bakers and seized the bread they found in the shops. That pillage had a special character. People did it without violence. The shops of the bakers were emptied and those of the pastry makers and the dealers and other foods which were equally exposed were left untouched."

Popular Protest

• Grain Riots come in waves: – 1693-94, 1698, 1709-10, 1728, 1739-40, 1749,

1752, 1768, 1770, 1775 a big one, 1785, 1788-89, 1793, 1799, 1811-12, 1816-17, 1829-30, 1839-40, 1846-47, 1853-54, and then never again. (France)

• What do the rioters want?

• Why do they stop abruptly?

Popular Protest

• The “Swing Movement” aka “Captain Swing”, the “Swing Riots”– Ned Ludd; 1816-1817– No more peasants in England

• 1829 ordinary people start participating in collective action– Destroying Threshers

Popular Protest

• “If you don’t get rid of the threshing machine, your agony will begin. We will destroy your machines. We will burn you out.”

• Revenge for thee is on the wing from thy determined Captain Swing.”

• “We are many. We are correct. We are right. We have God on our side. We are organized. We will win.”

Popular Protest

• Demoiselle of the Ariege: 1829, 1830, 1831, 1848, 1872, & never again.

Popular Protest

• Who were they?

• What did they want?

Popular Protest

• In case, what combination of outside forces succeeded in defeating these movements?