The East End Strikes Back

The course looks at the social problems caused by the industrial revolution, particularly poverty and inequality, and how those in power attempted to cope with the resulting political pressures. The dramatic events in London in 1888 and 1889 are set in this national context The course also studies how this movement, inspired by economic circumstances, went on to influence a national political realignment which eventually led to the replacement of the Liberal party by the Labour party. The course examines the causes and consequences of the sudden eruption of militant trade unionism in the East End of London by unskilled labourers at the end of the 1880s.