"We need rest, we need sleep, and we need a nine-hour work day!"
The crowd starting from the door of the cafe shouted hysterically, venting their dissatisfaction. The double blow of the bankruptcy of railway speculation and the failure of the Irish potato harvest plunged the already overwhelmed poor workers into hell. They no longer wanted to live in such a hazy state.
Living without a meal, they don't want to experience the despair of watching their children die of hunger.
Since they (meaning the bureaucracy and the elite of the United Kingdom) say that all men are created equal.
Why can people in the West District have enough food and clothing without suffering from hunger and disease, but they can only huddle in dark corners and eat the leftover food of those people?
Is it really because they don't work hard enough?
The world shouldn't be like this!
The ignorant class consciousness of the workers was aware of the deception coming from London's upper class, but they could not explain what was going on.
Their simple view of class makes them believe that there must be people in this world who are willing to help them.
Now someone came who was willing to "help" them. He (a member of the Chartist movement) told them (workers) to fight for their rights, to get bread, to work, and they did part of what they promised [Note 1]
, they (referring to workers) will also follow their (referring to Chartists) instructions and fight for more rights and interests for themselves.
The procession slowly advanced towards St. Martin's Church, and new workers continued to join them on the way to St. Martin's Church.
A team that originally only had more than 100 people gradually expanded to more than 200 people.
Looking from St. Martin's Church towards London Bridge, you can also see many workers gathering together as if they are going to cross London Bridge to the West End.
The thirty or so vigilantes surrounding St. Martin's Church couldn't help but swallow their saliva as they looked at the workers who were many times more than them.
Armed only with smoothbore pistols, they were no match for those people. Those "untouchables" who were slightly inferior to them in physique could just swarm them and tear them into pieces.
Several of the vigilantes were so stressed that they almost ran away.
If not for the fact that more than a dozen guys from the regular police force came in at the right time.
The leader of more than a dozen police officers is a fat man with a big belly. He is wearing a dark green uniform and has a medal on his chest. He does not look like a qualified police chief, but more like a police officer with no words in his chest and no words in his hands.
A traditional nobleman with the power of binding a chicken.
"Sir, what should we do now!" the supporting policeman asked with some fear as he looked at the huge crowd.
The fat police officer looked at the huge crowd in the distance with a frightened expression. He glared fiercely at the policeman who wanted him to make up his mind.
What bastard told me that there were only a dozen demonstrators!
The man who was stared at by the fat policeman could only lower his head to prevent the fat policeman from looking at him.
Now that he is here, he must not let this group of "untouchables" rush in rashly.
Otherwise, the nobles in the West District will skin him.
Thinking of the sinister eyes of the metropolitan police chief, the fat policeman couldn't help but shudder.
"What else can we do!" The fat policeman gritted his teeth and whispered: "We must not let these guys in, otherwise, I will be doomed!"
Seemingly, the fat policeman glanced at the regular policemen beside him and added: "I'm finished! It's not going to be easy for you either! You bunch of scum, losers, and thugs, don't think that I don't know what you do on a daily basis.
!”
More than a dozen regular police officers couldn't help but feel nervous. They knew very well what they did on a daily basis.
If the fat policeman really falls, they probably won't have it easy either.
Those colleagues who have not yet entered the system do not mind reporting their "crimes" to the Metropolitan Police Department in their place.
"But, sir, our current troops are simply not enough!"
"Don't worry, I will report the situation here to the police department in a while! I believe they will continue to send more personnel. Besides, aren't there still them?" The fat policeman pointed at Jérôme Bonaparte and others and said matter-of-factly
"There are more than 50 of us in total. I don't believe we can't stop those untouchables! Are they really not afraid of guns?"
Then, the fat policeman pointed his halberd at the vigilantes proudly and said, "You all must obey my orders now, do you understand?"
"Well..." Jérôme Bonaparte led Ham forward and said, "I'm just an innocent passerby, not a vigilante, so can you let me leave!"
"No!" the fat policeman said rudely to Jérôme Bonaparte: "Every resident has the obligation to prevent this riot!"
The fat policeman, who was in a state of unknown rage, wanted to break a man in half and use him. How could he let Jérôme Bonaparte leave?
"Okay!" Jérôme Bonaparte could only return to the team, holding the revolver on his waist.
The marching team only had five minutes before they arrived in front of the stability maintenance brigade, which was composed of vigilantes and police.
The fat policeman hiding behind the regular policemen looked at the workers with resentment and numbness in their eyes and said preemptively: "You bunch of pigs and untouchables, who asked you to participate in the parade! Who organized you! Your behavior is
You are committing treason against the United Kingdom!"
The fat policeman's strategy of preempting others worked really well. Some workers couldn't help but take a small step back after hearing the word "treason."
A small-scale riot broke out in the group of more than 200 workers, and Jérôme Bonaparte, one of the vigilantes, could not help but shake his head secretly.
The discipline and combat effectiveness of workers who have not experienced formal military training are not even as good as a group of pigs. Only workers who have experienced complete military training and developed a set of iron discipline can compete with the regular army.
In this extremely critical situation, the man standing at the front stepped forward and said: "We have no use in treason, and we are not willing to conflict with you! We just want to fight for the rights we deserve, and we have tried too hard.
They negotiated, but received no response every time! In the end, we found that this was the only way to make them take us seriously!"
ps: 1. Thanks to the brief collapse of the old two parties in 1847, there was a brief chaos in the political arena of the United Kingdom. The Chartists took advantage of the situation and petitioned for a bill specifying the ten-hour working day. The court of the United Kingdom agreed under pressure.
Petition of the Chartists. Although the ten-hour day bill was passed by the Royal Court, fundamentally speaking, it did not improve the interests of workers.