There were a whole variety of reasons why Chartism failed and all these factors played a part in its failure. The upper and middle classes were opposed to any kind of violent working class uprising. One of the main reasons for the popularity of Chartism was the economic recession. When this recession finished and the economy stabilised so did the support for the Chartist movement. Another reason for the failure of Chartism was because there were a variety different groups of chartists with divided aims and leadership. This meant that these groups were too localised to have the effects of a unified effort on the whole of the country. The chartists were poorly organised and did not have the resources to affect a successful revolution. The strong government also contributed to the failure of Chartism. Also in Britain there was a general fear of any revolution. This was because of the violence of previous one’s that had taken place on the continent such as the French and Italian revolutions. The drastic demands were considered to be too drastic which contributed to the failure of Chartism.
The upper and middle classes were most likely the main obstacle to the Chartist movement. The upper class wa
Many eminent historians claim that ‘Chartism was caused quite simply by the overwhelming misery among the working classes’. Therefore after the upturn in the economy Chartism fell by the wayside. People were not desperate enough to support such a movement. If this is true then Chartism was merely a reaction to bad economic circumstances and would not survive without those specific circumstances. This means from the outset Chartism would have a limited life span and barring particularly inspired leadership could not hope to achieve its aims. As it was the repeated failures caused a loss of momentum and public support declined as Chartism looked less and less likely to succeed.
Indeed Chartism was often regarded as farcical. Women had joined the movement and at that time this merely served to make it look ridiculous. The bargaining power of the Chartists had been reduced by mechanisation. They did not hold the same power they had before industrialisation. The economy was less dependent on them and so they had been forced to accept industrialisation. In part it was this gradual acceptance which finished the movement. People stopped fighting against mechanisation. Hence the products of their discontent was considerably less potent. The three petitions which they produced had millions of signatures which represented a large minority of the population were ridiculed. They contained such absurdities such as the signatures of many of the aristocracy. This again undermined the credibility of the movemen