Abstract

The Common Man in Britain

This article presents information about the book "The British Common People, 1746-1938," by G. D. H. Cole and Raymond Postgate. The book opens with an account of the Jacobite rebellion of 1745, the last unsuccessful kick of feudalism; it ends with the crisis of British imperialism. In the days of the mid-eighteenth century, the first signs of the industrial revolution were barely discernible in a predominantly agricultural landscape. Labor organization was equally rudimentary, existing only in the form of a few scattered trade clubs and friendly societies which contrived to dodge the rigorous laws against "combinations." American readers of the book will find it interesting to compare the development of the British Labor Party with that of their own.