Rights Won

Contrary to the idea that protest never achieves anything, there are already very significant rights—which we often take for granted—that have been won through collective struggle. These are only a sample:

Women’s rights

Voting rights for women were achieved in the United Kingdom by the Representation of the People Act 1928—for all women over the age of 21. In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution noted: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” Voting rights were achieved in New Zealand in 1893, in the Commonwealth of Australia in 1902, Canada 1918, the Irish Free State in 1922, Jamaica in 1944, and India in 1950 (the same year as men).

Working hours

In the UK, the Factory Act of 1833 decreed that any child under the age of 9 could not work, and that children aged 9 to 13 could only work 8 hours a day, and children aged 14 to 18 only 12 hours a day. Children under 9 were required to attend school.

Robert Owen’s socialist enterprise at New Lanark in 1817 had the slogan “Eight hours labour, eight hours recreation, eight hours rest.” In the 1830s and ’40s, the Chartist reforms included a shorter working day and improved working conditions. Subsequently, in 1847, women and children were granted a ten-hour day. Australia, in 1856, saw the 8 Hour Day Movement of Stonemasons in Melbourne and Sydney.

The International Workingmen’s Association in Geneva in August 1866 demanded an eight-hour day. Such eight-hour-day movements are part of the early celebration of Labor Day and May Day. In the same month in the US, the National Labor Union at Baltimore resolution stated: “The first and great necessity of the present to free labor of this country from capitalist slavery, is the passing of a law by which eight hours shall be the normal working day in all States of the American Union. We are resolved to put forth all our strength until this glorious result is achieved.” In the UK, the Trades Union Congress adopted the eight-hour day as a key goal in the 1880s. Gradually this was achieved. For instance, in the US, the United Mine Workers won an eight-hour day in 1898.

Workers’ rights

The International Labour Organization (ILO) was formed in 1919 as part of the League of Nations to create legal rights for workers across the world. After WWII, the United Nations incorporated several worker’s rights into the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and also the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

The ILO Declaration of the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work indicates core labor standards: 1. Freedom of association: workers are able to join trade unions that are independent of government and employer influence; 2. The right to collective bargaining: workers may negotiate with employers collectively, as opposed to individually; 3. The prohibition of all forms of forced labor: including security from prison labor and slavery, preventing workers from being forced to work under duress; 4. Elimination of the worst forms of child labor: implementing a minimum working age and certain working condition requirements for children; 5. Non-discrimination in employment: equal pay for equal work.

Workers’ rights efforts across time have criticized production facilities such as sweatshops and occupational health hazards, improved workplace conditions and established standards, and increased recognition of workers’ rights in many countries, although the fight goes on.

Welfare

In the United Kingdom, the modern welfare state started to develop with the Liberal government reforms of 1906–1914 after years of radical pressure. These included the Old-Age Pensions Act, (1908), free school meals (1909), and the National Insurance Act (1911), which set up a national insurance contribution scheme for unemployment and health benefits. Then after the tremendous social struggles of the 1920s and ’30s, the Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Social Insurance and Allied Services was published (The Beveridge Report, December 1942). After WWII, the Labour Government aimed to defeat the “five giants” hounding ordinary peoples lives: Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor, and Idleness. These efforts normalized the ideal that the government should provide for its people adequate income, health care, education, housing, and employment.

In the United States, social welfare programs are less well established than in other English-speaking countries. However, American sociologist Lester Frank Ward (1841–1913) is sometimes considered “the father of the modern welfare state.” He attacked the ideals of people like Herbert Spencer, who thought that welfare provisions hold back social progress by supporting a society’s weakest aspects. Ward’s ideas on the progressive role of government influenced President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal policies of the 1930s. Yet these two poles of thinking are still fighting it out in the US. And in most English-speaking countries from the late 1970s onward the ideal of the welfare state came under attack, and renewed protests resulted. In today’s era of “austerity” the battle over the ideals is centerstage again. The long and often violently opposed history of ordinary people fighting for a decent standard of life goes on.

Union rights

In Australia from 1830 to 1850, unions were formed for shipwrights, boat builders, cabinetmakers, stonemasons, etc. Considerable working-class political activity took place and continued for the rest of the century despite legislation in Britain that outlawed unions until the Trade Union Act, 1871. By 1904, the Australian Labour Federation was formed, the first Labour government in the world was elected in Queensland, and the first federal Labour Government the same year.

Colonial independence

The Irish Republic was created after long years of popular struggle, often violent, although, for some, the full independence of the whole of Ireland is an aim not yet realized. Indian independence in 1947 was hard won by vast popular action, but partition has left many as yet unresolved issues. Australia, Canada, and New Zealand all achieved full independent status in the 1930s or ’40s. Jamaica became independent in 1962.

Social equality

In the UK, the Commission for Racial Equality was established by the Race Relations Act 1976 of the then Labour government. The mission statement of the Commission was: “We work for a just and integrated society, where diversity is valued. We use persuasion and our powers under the law to give everyone an equal chance to live free from fear of discrimination, prejudice and racism.” An admirable aim, but often nowadays we hear cries of such efforts resulting in “political correctness gone mad.” Perhaps these critics prefer to return to the days before progressive efforts for ethnic minorities or gay people or woman or the disabled? They would prefer barriers to various people being built back up again?

Right to protest

The 1949 Constitution of India ‘Article 19(1) (b)’ outlines: “the right to assemble peaceably without arms.” The First Amendment (1791) to the United States Constitution states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” And the famous lines in the 1776 American Declaration of Independence indicate that the very country itself is based on the right, even duty, of the people to protest against and change the government if they think it necessary.

Note that all these rights and more could be under threat and that some have already been changed or taken away. Such as the Thatcher government’s assault on trade unions, which saw the level of union participation in the UK fall from about 80% of the workforce in the late 1970s to only 30% by the late 1990s. Anyway, why speak of “rights”? What are they? They involve a complex set of principles and rules, often changing and rarely universally agreed upon. In any society, rights influence the legal, social, and ethical aspects of our lives. For some the aim is the improvement of ordinary peoples’ lives within the current system by fighting for such rights. But for others the aim is not just rights but revolution—meaning “a turn-around” or revolving of the current system into a new and better one. In any case, surely the aim is for us to create a society in which human dignity, creativity, equality, and freedom are at the core, not the periphery. And who’s going to stop us, apart from ourselves?

 

— Sean Michael Wilson