Democratic Vistas by Paul Salveson

Parbold, a small village in West Lancashire, seems an unlikely place to celebrate democratic struggles and the on-going fight to ‘make votes matter’. But there’s more to this place than meets the eye. it’s the location of a most unusual monument, known as ‘The Parbold Bottle’, a brick structure constructed in 1832 to celebrate the passing of the so-called ‘Great Reform Act’ .

This article is a reflection on ‘The Parbold Bottle’, its historical context and few thoughts  on what it means for us today. Parbold, then a small village in rural Lancashire, was surrounded by rapidly expanding industrial towns and cities: Wigan, Preston, Liverpool and St Helens. Each were centres of radical working class activity, involving weavers, spinners, miners and many more. Parbold itself was part of the ‘revolt of the field’ when agricultural workers stood up for their rights, but that was later; quarry workers themselves have a long tradition of radicalism.

There was a democratic sentiment in that Lancashire air – Gerard Winstanley, the man who inspired the ‘Digger’ movement, was born in Wigan, just a few miles from Parbold, in 1609. His memory is celebrated each year by the Wigan Diggers Festival. Winstanley was very much of the mind that any rights for the common people had to be fought for; they would not be given by those who had power. And that’s a lesson that remains true to this day.

But back to the ‘bottle’. The Preston Chronicle reported thus: “A beacon has lately been erected on Parbold Hill by Messrs. Taylor and Holmes, the spirited proprietors of the Parbold stone quarries The object of the Beacon is “to commemorate the coronation of King William the Fourth and the passing of the Reform Bill, also to the memory of Charles Dicconson Esq. Of Wrightington Hall.” A dinner was given on the occasion, on the top of the hill, by the proprietors of the quarries to their workmen, and two ounces of tea each to their wives. After dinner, music was introduced and the afternoon was spent singing and dancing. About eight o’clock the company separated, highly delighted with their hospitable entertainment.” (September 1^st 1832)

All of which leaves questions unanswered. The assumption is that the ‘bottle’ was built by the quarry workers, though quite what they thought about it, given the Reform Act gave them diddly-squat, is unknown. It seems that Messrs. Taylor and Holmes were fairly enlightened bosses and of a Liberal inclination. Had they been involved in earlier radical agitation? 

Whatever…I’m sure the quarry workers appreciated the dinner and enjoyed their tea. What relevance has it for us today? Perhaps more than we think. Back in 1832 the ‘masses’ were told that the provisions of the act were ‘the last word’ and that was all you’re getting. That came after years of hard campaigning by working and middle class men and women, which took in the Peterloo Massacre of 1819. Were some of the quarry workers who enjoyed their dinner that day, present at St Peter’s Fields on August 16^th 1819? Another question we don’t know the answer to, but we do know that men, women and children walked ten or fifteen miles from towns and villages around Manchester to attend the great reform demonstration which was so brutally suppressed.

Throughout the first quarter of the nineteenth century there were demonstrations, occasional uprisings and petitions for universal suffrage. And not just men…many women were present at Peterloo and in the Chartist movement which followed, from the late 1830s to the late 1840s, some women, supported by their more radical male partners and friends, argued for universal suffrage without the ‘manhood’ bit. 

They were outraged at the inadequacy of the 1832 franchise and vowed to fight on until ‘The People’s Charter’ became law. They had a long wait. Thousands of working men and women found alternatives – above all Co-operation – perhaps the finest example of real grassroots democracy we’ve seen, which has taken in much more than groceries but at various times throughout its history has included economic democracy, housing and ‘cultural’ democracy through libraries and reading rooms. Perhaps its real potential is still waiting to be fulfilled.

The Reform Act of 1884 widened the franchise to an extent, with our lords and masters again telling us that this was as far as ‘reform’ would go. Most working class men, and all women, were left out in the cold. A few years later we saw the stirrings of a new political movement – socialism. Interestingly, the first main socialist organisation called itself ‘The Social Democratic Federation’. Note the emphasis: ‘social’ and ‘democratic’. Democracy has always been at the heart of working class reform movements. Getting the vote, for everyone, was central – from the late eighteenth century if not before. Similarly, the democratic right to join a union. Women’s rights – the vote and a lot more. But also the right to roam. If you stand on top of Parbold Hill you can see Winter Hill in the distance. This was the scene of Britain’s largest rights of way movement, back in 1896. Thousands of working people stormed over Winter Hill to reclaim an ancient right of way which had been closed by the landowner. They were led by the local branch of the Social Democratic Federation.

Quarry workers took part in the Winter Hill campaign; whether any came from as far as Parbold we don’t know. There were miners from Wigan, for sure. And it was the locked-out quarry workers of Bethesda who took on the might of Lord Penrhyn in the longest-running industrial dispute (or more accurately, ‘war’) between 1900 and 1903. Thousands of Lancashire workers supported the Welsh quarry workers and their families, raising money, organising concerts and visiting the families in their homes in Snowdonia. Some of them cycled to Bethesda, including members of the Clarion cycling club which brought hundreds of working class men and women onto the roads each Sunday, cycling through villages like Parbold on their way from Bolton, Wigan and St Helens to Southport. Often they would stop off in village greens for a tea break and hear socialist speeches while Clarion socialist literature was distributed to the bemused, but seldom hostile, villagers.

Edward Carpenter described the sort of politics that emerged at that time ‘The Broader Socialism’. It was more than a wages question, it was about more than state ownership of industry. It took democracy to a much higher level, with a vision of working people having control of their own lives and workplaces. They wanted a lot more than two ounces of tea distributed by paternalistic employers.

The Chartists’ demand for universal suffrage was finally realised in 1928; most women and all men over 21 got the vote in 1918. It was another ten years before women achieved the same voting rights as men, The voting age came down to 18 some years later, in 1969.

Is that it? Again, we hear that refrain echoing back to 1832 that we have achieved a truly democratic society. That is not so. The last decades of the twentieth century saw some important advances in our democracy – particularly the right not to be racially abused,  gay rights, and – with qualifications – women’s equality in the workplace. But there is still much more to do.

Our voting system is archaic and unrepresentative. The outcome of the recent General Election may have pleased many of us, but it is built on shaky foundations with many voters still grossly under-represented. We need to revisit some of the debates of earlier times, including the work of Roy Jenkins, to come up with a fairer system, to really ‘make votes matter’. We should challenge the undemocratic view that fairer votes would give power to the far-right. Reactionary ideas should be challenged and argued against, not swept under the carpet.

But it isn’t just about sharing power more equitably at Westminster. The UK, England particularly, remains a highly centralised nation with power concentrated in London. Political, but also economic. In England, we need some of that power that Scotland and Wales have enjoyed devolved to the English regions. The current system of elected mayors is a step forward but it is far from being enough. The mayors have precious little accountability to their electorate, being scrutinised by leaders of the constituent ‘combined authorities’. It is even a long way from the metropolitan county councils of the 1970s and 1980s, disbanded by Mrs Thatcher in a fit of spite. Hardly democratic, and part of a major attack on local democracy which had begun with the abolition of smaller, often more accountable,  local authorities back in the 70s and the creation of the short-lived metropolitan county councils which came close to destroying long-cherished county identities, Lancashire in particular.

What we have now is not particularly democratic , with a system imposed on people by George Osborne and the Tories.  At the very least, we need regional assemblies which are elected – just like the Welsh and Scottish parliaments. I’d also say there is a ‘democratic deficit’ with the existing ‘city region’ structures. We were forced into new administrative areas in the 1970s without any vote or by-your-leave. ‘Greater Manchester’ might make some sense in terms of planning and transport but it has never been taken to people’s hearts – at least not in Lancashire towns like Bolton, Rochdale, Oldham and Wigan which make up most of this ‘Greater Manchester’.

Should we have a series of ‘people’s assemblies’ which look at what a sensible structure might be, which reflects people’s cultural identities as well as planning efficiency?  I’d like to see Greater Manchester and what is still referred to as ‘Lancashire’ forming a single ‘Greater Lancashire’ region, with a West Lancashire and Cheshire equivalent covering Liverpool and its own city region – with proportionally-elected assemblies working with empowered local government.

It won’t happen without a fight, and while Yorkshire has been to the fore in campaigning for a Yorkshire assembly, we haven’t had that same pressure over on this side of the Pennines. Why should Lancastrians not fight for their identity, and leave it to Yorkshire?

What would those quarry workers think of all this? I’d like to think that they’d tell us to keep at it, don’t just accept a few tea bags from the rich, or even the occasional dinner – but fight for what you really want and believe in.

This article is based on a talk given to the ‘Make Votes Matter’ event held at Parbold Scout Hut, Saturday September 8^th 2024.