| Routledge Revivals: Poor Labouring Men (1985): Rural Radicalism in Norfolk 1870-1923 Subjects: Humanities; Social Sciences; Agencies and Institutions; Rural and Urban Life; Class and Work; Crime and Punishment; States of Mind; History; Sociology & Social Policy; Local State; Working Conditions; Wealth and Inequality; Poverty; The Rural Environment; The Legal System; Political Beliefs and Ideologies; Social Groups; British History; Modern History 1750-1945; Social & Cultural History; Economic History; Labor History; Historical Sociology; Social Class; Sociology of Culture; Poor law; Debt; Landowndership; Wages; Policing ; Radicalism; Working Classes; Liberalism; Unemployment; First published in 1985, this book presents the first detailed account of the relationship between the farmworkers, trades unionism, and political and social radicalism. Rural radicalism, one of the most important new features of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century politics, was particularly strong in Norfolk and as such provides the focus for this study. The author shows the how relationship between 'master and man' and 'man' and 'work' was changing in the period from the 1870s to the 1920s -- ending with the great strike of 1923. The main themes are the shifts from religion to politics, from Liberalism to Labour, and in more general terms from local to national consciousness. The book shows men at work and the ways in which politics meshed -- or failed to mesh -- together. Based on detailed local research and on many hours of recorded interviews, it enables the voice of the labourer to be heard, and a real sense of hope, fear and aspiration to come through. |