Mass Politics and Nationalism (^) ‹ 161
• Equal electoral districts
• Abolition of property qualifications for Members of Parliament
• Payment of Members of Parliament
If enacted into law, the People’s Charter would have had the effect of creating a completely
democratic House of Commons. But Parliament rejected the Charter on numerous occasions.
In 1867, the new leader of the Conservative (or Tory) Party, Benjamin Disraeli,
convinced his party that further reform was inevitable and engineered the passage of the
Reform Bill of 1867. The bill doubled the number of people eligible to vote and extended
the vote to the lower-middle class for the first time. Additionally, the Conservatives passed
a number of laws regulating working hours and conditions, and the sanitary conditions of
working-class housing.
In 1884, the Liberals, under William Gladstone, again took the lead, engineering the
passage of the Reform Bill of 1884. This bill included the following reforms:
• It extended the right to vote further down the social ladder, thereby enfranchising two-
thirds of all adult males.
• It made primary education available to all.
• It made military and civil service more democratic.
The most significant result of the advent of mass politics in Great Britain was competi-
tion between Liberals and Conservatives for the newly created votes. In 1879, Gladstone
embarked on the first modern political campaign, which came to be known as the Midlothian
Campaign, riding the railway to small towns throughout his district to give speeches and win
votes. Disraeli and the Conservatives countered with a three-pronged platform of “Church,
Monarchy, and Empire.”
It is important to bear in mind the context within which these events took place.
Nationalism cannot be wholly separated from the forces of industrialism, for it was often
through government support of industry that nationalists helped increase their nations’ power
and influence relative to the rest of the world. To this end, Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III)
developed investment banks and encouraged massive railroad construction, and Sergei Witte of
Russia imposed protective tariffs, promoted railroad construction, and solicited foreign invest-
ment. Bismarck’s Zollverein used economic policy to simultaneously strengthen Prussia and
weaken a potential rival, Austria. This, in turn, gave rise to changes in social class structures,
prompting social tensions with nationalists that had to be accommodated (Great Britain),
co-opted (Italy), or repressed (Russia, at times).
Review Questions
Multiple Choice
Questions 1–3 refer to the following passage:
I will not, sir, at present express any opinion as to the details of the Bill; but having during the last
twenty-four hours given the most diligent consideration to its general principles, I have no hesita-
tion in pronouncing it a wise, noble, and comprehensive measure, skillfully framed for the healing
of great distempers, for the securing at once of the public liberties and of the public repose, and
for the reconciling and knitting together of all the orders of the State. [The Ministers’] principle
is plain, rational, and consistent. It is this, to admit the middle class to a large and direct share in
the representation, without any violent shock to the institutions of our country....
I praise the Ministers for not attempting, under existing circumstances, to make the repre-
sentation uniform. I praise them for not effacing the old distinction between the towns andPRACTICE19_Bartolini_Ch19_153-164.indd 161 27/04/18 1:55 PM