Moral Force Chartism.

Colin Skelly argues that while moral force Chartism §was once contrasted favourably with the Chartist §O Connorite mainstream, in the later twentieth §century a renewed interest in class led historians §to reverse this judgement, dismissing moral force as §increasingly irrelevant in a movement defined by its §physical force and class-conscious mainstream. He §reassesses the origins, nature and influence of §moral force Chartism, and in so doing rejects both a §return to the past historical elevation of moral §force over physical force and the more recent §relegation of moral force to the margins of Chartist §history. It is argued that moral force Chartism was §influential not only in the making of Chartism but §also for its continuing contribution to the Chartist §mainstream throughout the 1840s. Far from moral §force Chartists being mere props for moderate, §middle-class liberal individualism, they are shown §continuing in the commitment, shared by many §Chartists, to democratic reform as the only sure §pathway to radical social change.