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    Linebaugh - Old Mr. Gory and The Thanatocracy

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    Linebaugh - Old Mr. Gory and The Thanatocracy

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    from The London Hanged

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    Linebaugh - Old Mr. Gory and The Thanatocracy

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    CHAPTER TWO, “Op Mr Gory’ AND THE THANATOCRACY Dali oF Kanon mae ia home pa Pouske howl hil a hang avotor pst of The Na La of Righteous (1649) Cn sy dou 2 na who kes wr upon Bi, of Tuva a comity ob being or he ae ‘ou tat he mu hla oor hon; boae they {ie uuc undrthe us ofthe common aw of som “um Lock, Sa Tati of Gist Gomme) Mion’ Samson Agonistes was writen inthe Restoration. Ie was 2 “fine ofthe rvaltion: "Mion had lot confidence in the people, Sind inthe miling sort whom he had previously regarded as natu Tal leuders. He now put bis hope in the efforts of regenerate individu! writes Christopher Hill! The genres presenting Sheppatdls strug for feedow were the burlesque and the ballad, yet they succeeded in raising epic themes fiom the English Revolution of 1aqo-00, road speaking, the Englsh Revolution wat a conflict among thrve social fore. The bovrgeosie, led by Oliver Cromwell and “nganized in Pshament, aroused the English proletariat to make war azunst Chale I, the High Church and the arstocney. Having van- ‘qushed them, Cromvell chen turned against his esewhile clas ally, the many-headed multitude, which daring the course of the strug se against dhe Ring had developed a movement of teeming freedom fat was sntithetical to the capitalist order chat Cromwell and Hiliamese songhe ra impoee The ele oF theee apheavale ean scarcely be exaggersted an army electing is own officers the Hist Gomocraic pobiical partyin World history: 2 complex discussion of ‘OLD Mr Gory’ ann riu THaNarocnacy 43 the franchise; hnge mobilizations in sweet and Fld; the provocative and sirring inelleeaal ferment of ‘mechanick preacher the prac= tical questoning ofall forms, manner and rype of authoring whether of God, King or patriarch. Whale the struggle against the nroxt Prominent organizations of the proletariat, the Levellets and the Diggers, quiclly le to cheieannilation a force in contention For the leadership of society their influence was by no mes crashed in the resistance to expropriation, uniformity of belief and Purtanical conceps of work discipline. The restoration of Seuatt kingship in 1660 seemed to representa compromise in the clas leadership of focien, a tradonal artocratic vsties (toleration, cakes and se holidays) were welcomed by che poor. In face che Restoration added to the scourges of wit and deaeth of the 1650s, the disses of plague (166s) and fire (1660). Organizationally the "hid euleare' ‘was driven underground, forced into exile or emigration, or peti~ fed in sectatian rgiiny, John Milton had been 2 spokesman of feedom dring the rol tion, and he did not compromise during the counter revolution. He hnad defended regicide: ne had been actively engaged in under standing the thought of the English communist who epposed pate property, kingly role, patriarchal authority aid "gibberish dws. He sought 10 explain the failure of revoltion inthe Chinn story ofthe Fall. Composed betwee 163% and 1663, when Mion ‘was isolated, imprisoned and targeted by assis, his Parad List ‘may be understood as an epic interpretation ofthe councer-revol~ tion ofthe Ite seventeenth ceneary. We may wea i legoriealyt0 Incoduce themes in our history ofthe eighteenth cencry ‘By Sazan§ command of Sovran power’ hundreds and dhowsands assembled in war council at Paudaemoniuis a order to devise a strategy forthe conquest of Heaven, fom which the fllen angels hnad recently been expelled, fo the fist two books of Pirie Lat ‘Milton describes their deliberations. Lucier listened with decp concentration to the advice of his maja counsellors Moloch, Beal and Mammon. “After May 1660 Satan wat not trying to 1scover ‘power in England: he had won i? writes Christopher Fil Let he three demons represent thiceforins of rls [Moloch is the first to speak, He was the fesse Spt That ug in Ean ow ener by pat, ies with dhe Eternal o be dee Egon cog, and rather than be ess CEN orto bea al with at eae lost Wien al his fof Gad, o- Hell, or wore Hersek not a 4-50) He advocated open wag, the immediate moblizacon of millions, a direct asoull armed with hellish cannon, infernal ehuader and the “Almighty Engine’ against Heaven, Under Crommell and Charles 1 the English state was eonganived for war. Cromwell had 207 men- fC war built; three-quarters of the state’ revenues was pad t0 the [Nany. Charles I insted 9 sanding anny of 1,000. By 1694 ithad frown almost fivefold to 90,000 soldiers. OF ‘King Walliams War’ Sir George Clark wrote, “Tr was the longest foreign war [England had waged since Queen Elizabeth; ¢ was the bloodiest and most costly. It was the Bist war of what may be called the modern type? [Davi Ogg ad thi to say of the Arm: As forthe ordinary soldier and salon, they were sill barely distinguishable fforn the erm hal Indeed there was th t9 be said for active service: that it supplemented the gibet asa means of keeping down the number of lndesiabls”® The first drill book ofan infty regiment appeared in 1686. The fist Mutiny Act was passed in 1689. Moloch 5 found inthe great commanders ofthe day! in Crome in Rupert, inthe Dke of Youk, in Marlborough, inthe Campbel, and in William Woleley, whose Emily ere bore the most: homo hominthpus* Moloch fought agninse Spain (136-9), the Netherinds (1652-4, 1665-7, 1672-4) and France (1689-97, t701~14) in ve European theatres of war” Moloch fought upon four continents, in Brazil, che Caribbean, Nev England, Afrien, Indi, Seodand and Ireland. “The English Moloch had eo defext the Dutch in order to control 5G.N. Clik, Te Lat Sea mp (48h, 8: Dvd Opp gland nthe Fag fame Ind Wa 95092 SON Gane, csp tose; hep Leb, The Mel Majo Gano: A Barly of Fb ona Ln Wy (aon, tt ‘OLD Ma Gorr’ ano 1HE THANATOCRACY 45 Surinam and to show the Poreaguese hat it had no other options than English clienage. This was made urgent by the gold rush foccurring in Minas Gerais and Babia atthe end’ of the centsry Draallan gold entered England in the West Country, where it paid for Portaguese purchases of broad cloths, Then quickly ifnot safely, the gold made is way to London in the shape ofthe moidare, a coin whose value was fixed in 1712 by Sie Ise Newton at 27s. 8d There mien and women were hanged for taking itt Thomas Charnock, a hox-maker in 1720, Edwatd Joyce, a ship saver in 1724, Willis Lipa, Dubliner in 4725, Edmond Neal, tailor in 1722 who thought ‘it London was built of Gold and Silver. Mary Tylor, a prostate in Whitey (& London sanctuary of abit), stole 12 moidores fom a clent and knocked loose one of his teeth so ‘it was hung by Geometry ever since’ “The Caribbean was the cockpit ofthe European powers where the serge among the fighting cocks ofthe inaperilise gametes the freebooters,fllbasers and buccaneers ~ was most ft, rion and vicious. Barbados, Bermuda and the Bahamas were English Conquest: that on the one hand provided the dumping ground for the vanquished ofthe British cae wars the Iris, the Quakers, the Monmouth rebels) and, on the other hand, produced a sugary arch fof economic accumulation. Jamaica, since is conquest fom Spain in 1635, wa its Keystone Moloch’s want of far ‘of God, or Hell, or worte™ ws no more apparent than in the ‘Company of Royal Advenaues' founded bythe King brother, the Dake of York, in 1663 to "tade’ with Aftica. The shaves of ehe newly onganized trade wore branded on the forehead by the leners DY". The King chove to exhibit his glory and to advertie the ‘Royal Advencares’ by isuinga new eon, the gold ines whowe purity vas so great chat the coin vale soon rose to 3on. on the exchange. In the London vernacular it was called "Old Me Gory’, partly Because of its provenance and purty because of the cium stances of i production ® The period between 1690 and 1721 i ‘otable in the history of the English sive trade because in 1713, Englind gained posession ofthe licence to sll dvs eo the Spans Empire. As rel mide flourished, New ports ike Liverpool were The Ontany’ dant 9 mary 89.29 Ap 1726+ Febary 31 Deeb 1733 and 0 May ‘Rand: Das Sp and Sle: The i of he Plt Clas i th Ei Hie Inds psp (Chae 2). 46 PANDAFMONIUM AND FaNawce CartrALisst ‘rented and old ones ke Bristol gained neve lie. England took con- tuol of the entize Guinea cost, Where the annual muiher of saves "tansported inthe seventeenth century ad been 37,500, inthe egh- {ecenth century t was between 42,000 an 100,000, ‘OF the Ess India Company 11. G, Wels wrote ‘Tchad come to buy and sel and ie found isl achieving a wemendous pracy" A pre mature nity adventure against the Mogul Emperor, Aurangzeb, resulted nevertheles in a peace thit permitted the fortification of 2 ew factory at Caleutta in 1690, Three yeas liter the compsty bribed che ‘great men’ of Enghd to the amount of £90,000, Besides these ‘great mes’ the East India Company owned 3 sub stantial pare of the Bank of England, which in turn owned debts ‘on the King and Parliament, The Company financed the Dadi ‘meschants and encouraged them to onganie the purting-out sytem among Indian weavers, After 1698 the company guned the right Jn Caleute to collet produce and to administer justice, including the power fo hang Indians, a power exercied “with no tiresome In Scotland during the 16905 Moloch deal with two profoundly Aliferent societies, Inv the Lowlands, there was an urban society ‘whose rulers, ubrough the Kirk, were able to make cis area one of the most dynamic and enterprising of coptait zones, In the Highlands, however, material and social life wat not only procapi- tabs i was pre-feudsl; Gaelic culture and clan organieation were nilitarist-and pastoral without notions of pivate propery Following the Massacre of Glencoe (1672), Highland society cow sisted of a huge pauperized and landless population, 2 growing clique of English cients ving upon confiscated estates, andthe bel Iicose remnant of the autonomous chiefe who would lead the cighteenth-centary Jacobite rebellions until they permitted them- selves to be co-opted into the formation of Scat regiments in the mercenary service of the English Crown.” Meanvvhile the Lowlands produced Calvinist cadres of capitalist accumlaton, such Dori Te Raa Ain Cnr 5, WEE. B Dali The Saprenn jibe afc Sa Tae (Nee York) SAGE The Cute of Dany n+ Pin Ht of te fof Maint (pn) 3, sect Rabi Mle, De Ran Fl oe Es Cpe Yk sy yp. 2423628 lp Wore, The Fae sf ‘Moe i (ew Yorks 95 9059.5, 2 Sooun Hay of St Pp, se (6) ch 9 and: Dad (ig, Hal i te Re of an Id Wi (58 28 he DNL ‘OLp Ma Goay’ au tue THawarocnacy 47 a William Paterson, 2 former missionary and buccaneee who Founded the Bank of England (1694), ot Jobn Lav, a goldsmith and convicted murderer, whose Bnancial genius reached its apogce in the ‘South Sea Bubble” aftr of the 17205. In 1698 Fletcher of Saltoun, the republican and priton escapee, proposed that a systems of vagrant TE Moloch’ moto in Scodand was ‘Divide and Rule’, lecnd it was ‘Woe tothe Vanquished”. During the campaign of 1690 the ‘Joyalty and military compecence’ of the English tegument were so ” David Ogg, 4 modern historian, Conchaded, “Modern economists have not been abe t explain how the poor ved” “The poverty of London reached criss proportions inthe 1690s. Depresions in the cloth markets in 1689, 1693-4 and 1696-7 put many textile workers out of gaint employ. Arrears in pay to silos tnd their families were the cause of mutiny as well a8 widespread hasdship. There was 4 major shortage of coal in 1691. High bread prices in (693-4 and 1696-8 meant going without and starvation. Beggars, hawkers, pears filed the suees.* The justices at Hick’ Hall, where Quarter Sesions for Middlesex st, considered more than 2,000 indictmens in 1699 (2,159) and again in 1700 (2,108), substantially more than they would for any of the nexe Slfy-five years, even thovgh the urban population over the same period Increased by 3 third People made their own money. Clipping, coining and counter- feiting tieeatened the stability ofthe kingtom, Even the coinage ‘rss ofthe 16908 could not put an end ¢o what was the practice of monetary democracy. Si Iaac Newton, the Warden and Maser of the Mint spent fy diye 3 year prosecuting clippers and coiners on Dehalf of “Old Mr Gory’ Richard Dove, a silversmith in Blowbladder Street, was hanged in 1709 for counterfeiting coin, June Houseden, thre yeas later, was Ranged for the same offence crn Mandi, Te Flic ofte Boe Vip Hanh (00): 200 Hike Din hig Pst P18 oP os 8 3 "inen Min," iy andthe Porn he te Serene Gentry Sn Le Mr and Reger ik. Loon oi The si 3) p59 NGG Bk De), Clr f aemens MICL 3} Sco (ey The Coen ofa Ne (Cabri, 1967 ft; Fk Mane, Po hat Neo (Cab 968) pp 30-44 cto S Wen Ar Ret Bun of an Nor (Codi, 586 56 Pawparmosium ao Fiance Caprtantsie She made “fake anouey in, Newgate at the time when other Prloners wet inthe Chap’ A coiner by she name of Goodman tnderstood exactly the relation between toney and sovereign power. Sentenced to death fr coisng, in Newatehe petioned Shares It begging tha he ght be allowed once mote perform the role of Alexandr the Great ina play before His Majesty. His peony granted, an is performance so socestl an giving {Stic sven power minor of own ig that Goodman wat reprieved® Many forma of mony exited besides “Old Mr Gory dnd the paper noe ofthe Braet ~fr example, private minted tokens the ly sch ofthe public hows or veal shop navy tke and the Sicko of sine uncle. Some were tres ofa thers mean of purchase ox payment. These wee cre monic tha trough with them their wm ates of violence, OF some 150 lockups of ety eightenth-contary London mos were desiged for dhenfeheping of one or the ther. ‘The working clas of London regarded money aan absract grid of vai, but it vocabulary wed concrete expresions of pata rowers ach denomination had fe own name ack (i): opus nd ake) waning (1); "epp and ru (3) ie’, son? and pig (4) “loons (1.14); and ‘trooper’. i: ‘ounce’ (ss); smelt (guinea; “hearts ene! {ats} and "yellow boy" (guns). Dilfer qualitative forms of money sere dtnguised nbbin' ony) rhino’ (eady money) “ooidae (ss "witcher (ale) spank’ (gold or ser) and ‘Old Br Gory’ (gold). Money wars prize or de aut of twas clled ia ot “winnng Te was power, “lou fe represeted food and swam ganaan ‘col prveder, Sea and tre Ie aseiton Svith maitry valence was proeredin‘pre’Daad ees Inks with wate and excrement were uggened by garage ck’ sind crp "New forms of coercion were ntodiced in the 1650. The ser— gem and ball, » money police, gave ce t 2 vocabulary of ‘Eeunciation 3 power the prophet urerncs of ol. They swore ter and ‘bom’ They were called ‘atc’ fer Roma {ax collector, “pursuivnt’ afer the Privy Council mesenges Sethe Ordnay Ann 8 Moy 1799 a 9 September 73 ==Theophs Lic Ants os Relig te Lies of he Came nd Shape aden ota 8 Siktons A Noe Coty Dit (7). *Oup Ma Gony’ anp run tuanaroceacy $7 Sjanisaties’ after the renegade guards ofthe Ottoman Sultan, and “Philtnes’ and "Mosbites' who, 3s Jeremiah foretold, would vallow in vom, There were some ateis of London, "the pretended privi~ lege places’, where their wris didnot zun: Whicefirs, the Savoy Salkbury Court, Rum Alley, Mises Court, Plless Rens, Baldwin’ ‘Gardens, Montgue Close, the Minories, the Mint, the Clink and ‘Dead's Place,” In sch places the money police few, ere forced to grovel in dre, Thomas Shadwell describes 2 ‘pumping’ [John Gay describe a setter "plunged in miry ponds, he gasping is, ‘Mud chokes hit mouth’. Thomas D'Usey tells how they were "Forel wo drink agaist chir Will. The financial crises of 1696 and 171 led to legisation designed to abolish the sanctuaries iy 472g the inhabitants ofthe lst remaining money smctsary, the ‘Wapping Mint, had organized chemselves, The names ofthe Minters were kept ina book, thus obliging them to the utmost extent of their Power to rescue ad set at Liberty any Peason on the said Lis, ‘whenever he was arrested or imprison’ The book was kept at “The Seven Cities of Refuge’. The reference is tothe communism ‘of Hebraic Law: "And of thee cites which ye shall give six cites Shall ye have for refuge... both fr the children of Fel, and for the {atanges, and fr the sojourner tang them The bate berween the balls and Minters continaed through the year. One bali was “dack'd im a Place in which the Soil of Houses of Office had been empty’, Another wis forced tlie in a pit ‘like 2 Sow in hot ‘weather’ A thind was whipped to a degree that ‘Sixpenny of rods [were worn) to the stump’. A fourth wae marched around in a ‘nocturnal parade of 200 torch-bearing people, the man forced ° {Leep a turd in his mouth. Inthe winter of 1725 ‘Captain’ Towers a leader of the Minters, ws hanged at Wapping before “a very grext Concourse of People who with Tears lamsenced his Condition’ At dns eral he had sid ie was beter reside inthe Mine ‘and lve hon ‘stl than go upon the Highway For Money to pay his Debt. The 9 Wim & May © 27 7). 9 Geom 28 (133), and 1 Geage Lesano htc gly we x ern fete Cane nmniis wee Confined by nes ta. Sete, o opm ae whe ae x Hs oper tig te Rel al once ed here il Ey Gayot Wahine ect dn! (in Te cy oa ae Faber enh; DUH. Co hat Ld on ese 0)». 9. {Then 9-9 nary 738. ‘the Ona Assay, ny 73 58 PANDAEMOwtust av FiNaNce CarrTatisit conception of honessy implied by the preference was venerable, if Submerged, because ic denied the wniversalicy of money lc hearkens fo Bunyan’s description of Vanity Fair and behind Bunyan t0 Winstanley and his denunciations of ‘te crafiy art of buying and selling, The revolutionary tations ofthe 16aos were kept alive in the London sanctuaries, Shadwell considered them ‘in Rebelion Sall- Under Charles Il they protected ‘the Enthusiasts, calld Lovells nd Fifi Monathy Men’. In 1725 dhe Minters were thought to har bour Ranters and members ofthe Family of Love. ‘in addition to the money police (which included the Riding Officers of 1698, co be dscuseed in Chapters), amoral police and 2 thie police were created in the 1690s. The former was a London “reation, At first Known as "ye Sociesy of Informers’ it quickly ‘hanged its tile to others of greater sanctimony: the Society forthe [Reformation of Manes (1692 andthe Society forthe Propagation ‘of Christian Knowledge (1701). It hired informers, prosecuted ‘offenders and published hss of eeprobates (Black Roll). Tt iavig- thnions were directed against cuser, drinkers, eppers,besporter of “unlawfal exercise of pastime’ and lovers. "Great number of subjects that in time of war might defend their country are effeminate, tebouched, diseased and made incapable of bearing arms; iter for i hospital than an army deciimed one oftheir sermons in 1694." These outriders of the Puritan Work and family ethic prosecuted between 290 and 900 prostitutes» year! “Tha aserceny Scout in every See, Bring eat have no Money to your Feet, ‘Andi you lsh 2 Strung ofthe Tow, ‘She ony sar for want of Hales Crow ‘Your Arles of exis appear, [Bot no Si Hazey oe Sit Chas hese ‘wrote Defoe in 1702, Of the 298 leaders ofthe societies, 297 were inca. Their Bist object of attack in 1690 were the brothels of Tower lanl: mimes of women outnamber men on the ‘Black Rolls In “© € Cimsand W.A. Spock The Sos rhe Reformation of Moonen A {CoS he Thy od Paso Mol Ref Loe al Hi. 18 79. sa Bere denowiy, Mia of ini! La and Adin vl ‘Ou Mn Gony' anp THe tHanaroczacy 59 the 10908 the judicial atack on women was especialy severe, not ‘nly by thete informal means, Profesor Beatie forms ws thatthe Jnils in London were filed with women pardoned fom the death Sentence on condition of transportation’. Yer the colonies did not ‘want them. ln 1697 the Government agreed! t pay £83 head to get, fifty women shipped to the West Indies. Sell the Recorder of {Landon had release some of the women fom the crowded gaol at Newgate." One reason for the extaondinary repression of ‘women, procures parccularly, was undoubtedly the encourige- ‘ment dhey gave to salts to desert: the desertion rate trebled inthe firs eighteen month of Willams reign, Women often took the lead in opposing che res-gang.* A tind form of police coercion i described by Bunyan at Vanity Fair ‘And moreover, ae this ie there i 2 all mes to be seen jug lings, cheas, games, tok, apes, knaves and rogues, and tha ofall sort: Here are to be seen, too, and that for nothing, thefts, murders, Aduleres, false swearers, and that ofa blood-red colour’ The Blood Money Act of 1692 offred a reward of 40 for the apprehension, prosecution and conviction of any highway robber. Another Act of "98 rewarded thore who brought a thief a prosecution leading to Conviction, 9 certificate exerting then fom having to undertake any office in the parish or ward whete the felony was committed Furchermore, the same Act promised a thie who gave information| leading to the conviction of two other like offenders a fe royal pundon. Ths wae a thief sotto catch a thief, The system of blood Toney reached is apogee under Jonathan Wild, "the Machivel of Thieves’, who ured thee ws together with the laws of stalen goods to binld sn whan mafia of eieving, reciting, and deceiving chat bocame an esental prop of metropolitan audigy Beeween 1715 and 173s, Thereafter too, the Pcedis a the Old Bay ae replete with xposulations agane them: "This Rogue. will sweat any Body's Lite away fora Farthing’ “These Thiet-Catchers will do any Thing for Money, "They live by nothing but ting Mens Lives sway"! SM. este, Crime and the C ln England, ote (eineeon, 98) acl, npresnent of Seep During the We of pun Succenion ar in 03 (ay 196} 8 Broa The ig he po iy Se hi opi sg & Sl Ser (969). He Pet 27 Jes os nd 3 Aug 73 6 PANDAEMONIUM AND Fiance CAPITALISM ‘The manna chat dropped from Belial tongve easily found its ‘way fom the “ideologia! superstructure’ of society to is “material bse’, om the abetactions of philoxophy to who'd pot ehe ket in the workhouse. Since inthe geography of conquest there were act= ally many ‘bases, Bell assed n initing them in practic ehroagh "Old Me Gory’, frit was by means ofan internationally recognized sntallc standard thatthe vale of incerntionlly produced goods 2s ‘wells the international productivity of bose could be measured In Locke's vast philosophical treatise on empisicism, the sap Concerning Haima Undereodig,feeanizal, vegetable or mineral cations ave actualy arsed ofl he earth’ thingy, 6a that fecurs most ten. Newton had ‘consecrated Enghind to Gold!” eli rested, ‘Mammon, the humblest and most profound of Lucite’ counsellors, ‘va the last to speak a Prndaemonia, He was she lest erected Spit haf From Heat or e's in Hea is ook and thoughts ‘Were slays dowaard ben, admiring more ‘Theviches of Heavas prement, costa Gol, “Than aughe divine o oly eke enjoy’ Invision beat: by him fist ‘Menlo, and by his suggesson taught, ‘Rank the Center, and with ipros Hance [Rif ee bowel of her mother Ear For Tranter ber bid eras) He advocated neither war nor peace. Milton presents hin in 1674 neither san emblem of greed nora demon of usury but a one who hhas understood the ‘till and art fiom whence to raise ‘Magnificence’. Hir is the counsel of toil and productiviy Les [Mammon whom we see in the Proteant planter overlooking his fields of cane ad aves, n the Chesian plantopss counting the yarn spun by seven-yeat-olds, in che well-fed cic thrashing his 'pren- ees, oF inthe Bible-toing intedoper who cheated Moguls “fam Sha, Sst it end Damn tin of Exh Mwy Hit, seins (oop “OLD Mr Gory’ AND nin 1ANArOCKACY 68 His counsel advised making the best out of codon. Thus did dhe anticipate an acsive priniple ofhiorieal developmen, vr grees will appear “Then mos compicusus, when great things of sal, Useful of har, prspeoun of adverse ‘Wecan ces, and in we pace soot Thrive under ev nd work eae 98 of pin Through labour ad endurance (a, asp) ‘Work was the medium through which contnidiction between great ane small, useil and huctfl, prosperity and adversity, ease and evil twas resaed. Moloch didnot fight wats: soldiers and sallow dd, and they mutinied. Beals smooth tongue did not become the national ition: people aed hack eventhough theit vernacular was profane, Hcensed, watched, and erly allowed ino print Likewise twas not Mammon who made usefil things ffom hurl: workers did and they devised many conditions to ensure hat what greatness chit Inbours yielded was not taken out of their hides without a price Labour took several forms ~ forced labour, shve Inbour, bonded Inbour, convict labour, indentured labour, incarcerated labor, craft Inbour and fe” labour or service. A Tonger working diy 2 longer working week, the aboiion of holidays, the atack on fs, mech nization, reduced wages, provided Mammon with renewed ‘weapons of accumulation ‘We may outline a ypology of work, distinguishing the modes of prodaction available inthe 1690s by several criteria. These criteria Include: (1) the ownership of the tools, materials and product of Ibhowe: (2) the extent of the division of labour and the form of cooperstion; 3) the achitecua) and geographical setting of pro- duction; (4) the soutce of enesgy and power and the mode of teunsportaton; (6) the forms of reproducing the bour: (6 che kinds ‘of sel-omganizaton of workers within exch mode of production; Sind (7) the organization of ime and the durations of labour. With ‘hese criteria im mind we may distingnish Bive modes of production inthe 1600s Over-smpied such s ypology mast be stsnay help us diinguith the period under ineséigtion tom the preceding and the following periods Firs handicraft. In this mode of production, simple hand tools cowed by the artisan were applied to animal or vegetable materials for fabrication into his own food, clothing and sheer. The division 62 PANDAEMONTUM AND Finance CAPITALISE of labour was simple, the artan performing amos every operation ‘The location of abvcation was the arian dwelling Recompense for labour arote ether from the sale of the product, or By its texehaige for something more efi. The reproduction ofthe ari- sn occurred in the caf household, The ‘at and misterie’ ofthe rate woe offen pase fom paren to child Such people dd not dis tinguish heeween work and life, and lived acconding to a sacred oF furl calendat. Handicrafspersons were organized jridically into pprenties, journeymten and maxes ‘Since two-fifths of thore banged at Tybuen in the eighteenth censiry bad stared an apprenticeship itis important to examine the tacaning of that sm. Apprenticeship was 2 means both of entering the urban patricia (Yee of municipal corporation) and of lesen ing 1 trade in onder to practise i. The evo functions began to liverge daring the English Revolution of the 164ox, The proces was hustened by the Plague and the Fire. By the ely eighteenth century apprenticeship in the first sense “had really entered ts ast phase’. By 20 the London guilds had lst their power to control nade 35 well asindastry’. One cannot assume, therefore, that an eghteenth- century London ‘apprentice’ belonged to a juridcally controlled ‘urban system of gull mutuals. Nor, ca it be assumed chat an apprentice wat 2 ‘shlled’ 26 opposed to “unskilled” worker Apprenticeship was les likely to involve the development of highly ‘quiliied, sled labour power than to be the means of organizing, the exploitation of young labour power. Hence, dishonesty was the presumption. When Joba Cloggs was apprenticed his uncle, his Ether "gave a bond for my Honesty for what I steale or pilfer away’ R. Campbell, writing in The London Tidesman (2747), Calle ita tedious Seven Yeas Shvery” ‘Second, patting-out. In order to escape the guild and corporate regulation of production typial of handicaf, merchants began to ‘pot out the materials and took of poduction t workers dipersed in “0, osm Delo Enlai Cl Lao Hey (New Yr, igi pp tori ab 34} AC Kel The Beakdown of Gu and Conger Col ovr he Hand ad Reta aden Coon, Bn Hs ny, ocr elt 8) Sta Kemet, The Eh Cf Stabs Tages aed Deine (New Yor, 193) pp B5o0: Ae Dee, Engine of ‘Maruti: Te trades London's a AL os ad Roe Fy), ad [poops The Mela he Mempls (085 5-9 ‘Max elft'A Lomo Appence’ Neebn, 0-170 Hit, esr, sol mol une Sep SRN 38 ‘Ou Mr Gony' avo tHe THaNarocracy 63 {he own homes ouside the municipal franchises ofthe large coves. ‘This was the origin of “suburb. In elation tothe feemen’ ofthe owns, thee workers were, juridially speaking “Yoregness. The simple equipment and uniform materials of production were gener ally {ac st) forthe absication of new products (he ‘new draperies’, Silk, ete), 0 that they did not inially compete with exiting hand ferats, The conduite of “the senstows human activity’ of the Ihbourers were offen neither quite owned nor quite not owned by ‘hove who worked them, This ambiguity required signieane revi ion in the Inw of property, which was supplied by Chief Justice Holt, who more than any other jurist adapted lay co finance capi tals, In Cragg. Beran (703) he formulated the modern English Jaw of bailments (he delivery of goods in tat for a specific pur- pot), an essential lw ro sach a tanstional mode of production 3s putting-our™ These workers were pat of a much Inger matket, with respect to both the sources oftheir suplis, pu out to chem by international merchants, and the destination of thie products, which became prt of national and international market. Recompense took tW0 ‘ain forms i addition to time wages: the price-form (the ancestor ‘of piece-wages) was common; of might consist in direct appro~ phutions governed by a patern of customary negotiations. ‘This tripe form of recompense (wage, price and custom) has puzzled economic historians, who are not quite sure whether to chy prtting-out as a firm’ or not The reproduction of this working las (men ond women, adele and children) was che direct resale of the expropriation of those who had owned their ovin means of sulistence and production, an expropriation that could be either ‘ince snd violent or accomplished through price, market and taxa tion polices, The duration ofabour was determined bythe worker “This chatacerisic, together withthe considerable see ie (coming and going benween shop and warehouse), lent toi workers a ‘appearance of idleness, Consequently, the rise of pusting-out in London correspon to the Act of Tidorssns enforcing a work- ‘ng dy Rom son-ap to sundown. Self organization by such workers depended upon this urban mobility and slink with porters, wag loners, carters and sbneran, ‘Lac Raymond so-930 Bhckston, Cama Bk ch 24. iit Millen, The Enmerence of Wage Tabour Eady’ Modern Engin Epleon Boa ay 8 GOR PR 313 Ge Pawparmostuat ano Financ Carrratisie ‘Thind, manufaceare n chi, che tool remained extensions of the band or eye, distinguishing it from factory production and exb- lishing a continsiy with handiceae and parcing-out. However, by the eighteenth century the fools had become highly specialized and fefined, asa glance trough the rations of Diderots En elo fright atest. The sanie may be said of the materials of production, ‘which were mined, gathered or harvested from ever vaster areas of the earth’ surface, The principle of the division of labour had become the mantis cause of dtferential productvity, nd already in the 1690s was being extolled by politcal economists, William, Morris, writing after ts demise, was less optimistic The unit of hbour isa group, nt man; the nvidia work in thi synem isheplifelong at the pekcaanceolsone ik ite poy 8 oe, She which e soon mater and Having insted tn mong more dO into goo inaretng hi speed of and under the pur of competion vith lows unt a evo the prfoe machine whic is Tamas duty to becom, ice withoot ting to that end hes di oF become a pauper™™ ‘What chilly characterized manufsture a4 mode of production was its location ~ the eental workshop — which removed dhe labour process to a site owned and controlled by the bos, who was able Eonsequently to maintain contol vet both the tools and material of labour that he owned and over the labouring acivty of the ‘workers employed. They received recompense for their creative tetivity by a wage of account, though thit might still be supple— fcnted in momerous traditional ways. This Working clas was reprodced on an urban bass ~ ha i it was reeruited through a [nbouir market dhe actually consisted of (1) an utan poo! of labour; {@) migrans from the countrysdey and (3) people fom other pets ofthe world. Within the city bot the public hoe and the brothel, With their “aceworks of loose and transitory allanees, helped to ‘otganize informally the hbour market of mnubicture® Sele-organ- ination by this working cas consisted of incipient ade unionism, the Friendly Society or Box Club, and strong links with particular public houses, Mors, the handitafisman, had studied our period ‘The Hope of Cian sete othe Hanmer Back othe Soca gape snd pblabed in Siu of hog (8. SSoEn'L Meili The Cong Cow Lo Cinna Unde, 0-10 (Stow Benes 18) 19. “Oto Mx Gony’ AND Tha THANATOCRACY 6S with a practical eye, deeply regret for what it had deswoyed. He hted that when the woes ofthe poor press most dangerously upon the rich, then anage searches most energetically c pietce the future for hope, He wrote: ‘The eightcendh-century atsan must hive bce a terrible product of civilization, and quite in condition t0 ive rise to hopes ofthe torch, the pike, and the guillotine andicra, puting-ovt and manticure could lead to confusion asto the ownership ofthe means, materials and product of produc~ tion, The Willamite criminal code sought co clarify the confusion. ‘The privilege of benefit of clergy was removed from the fllowing ollences: robberies of 5s. or more in a dweling-hosse shop ot ware- house (Robbery Act of 1691; stealing goods of ss. oF more in the dhy or night fom a shop (Shoplifting Act of 169); sealing goods of {os or more from dwelling or outhouse (Larceny ftom a Dwelling House Act of 1713). Ofeardinalsiticance to chese statues was the Iba operandi ®* New modes ofthe circulation of commodities Ghop- ping) and new modes of their production (putting-out and manufacture) cha emphasized physical locations were reected in these revised detnitions of robbery, breaking and entering, burglary and shoplifting. out, the planation, This wat characterized by is huge scle-in land, many sens; io labour, many hundreds; in equipment, large inveumients, though the hand tools remained simple and rough, The planter owned tools, land, materials and, according to the lancer lw, the workers themches. Methods of culation were politically efficient, i economically inefcient: the planter “had to Keep his bourer filly occupied in the slow months, as well asin crop time, to forestall michief and rebellion. So he put them ‘workin the el wth hoes ested of horse-drawn plows There the workers cooperated in massive gangs and were therefore quick to appreciate the power of collective Inbour: “They were closer to 2 tmodern proletariat than any group of workers in enstence a che time! wrote CLR. James They produced tabaeco and sugaedes- ‘ined fora mas, world market whose clearing house wss the Port of London, The darstion of abo was from can-do inthe morning to can'-do at night Iwas reproduced only chrough che most vicious ano erghied y Rainowic,o, Y . 607 “ann, op cep NM es MOST nes Ti lake, sat (New York, 6 86 66 PaNDaeMontuM AND Finance CarrTAtisat serugae: the refs of reproduction by those women boughs pre- ‘Giely as “breeders andthe tendency 10 suicide ofthe most desperate Had tobe compen fr by the teading fom the Afican cos of ever rhe thors fr the hated ‘middle pase’ and the breaking-pens of the Wese Indies. Recompease consisted of near-wortles “garden plo’ or whatever mater hoe to dh ot intervals between work, Siitornization ofthe workers began at sundown: noc ight- fal, conspirator, mgieal and exotic whack cked in velocity ie mone than tae up for in mas. Since dis mulstade was dispersed among plantations in continental Americs and in the Canblbean Antille, 2 bass was exablished forthe emerging pan-Alfican civiization and cycles of echelon that bore inereasmghy interesting relsonships with ‘teugglesin trond and London.” fn (688 Apa Ben wrote the fist English novel Is hero wae an Afican shave, Orconoko, the eae of se cbeton who was inp by Engh migrant Quakers and by the memory of Hannibal: Fifth, the ship. Thi was dhe mode of production tht provided communication among the others, fom the handicrafs of India the plantation in America to manufactures and putting-out in London, Technically t difered from the others in chat the location and instrament of production were idential ~ the most complex “ontrivance of neatly «00 yeas of European civilization. A fst-rte Ship-ol-the-linecartied a erew of between 700 and geo; a second- rate was manned by about 600; 3 ehitd-ate, soo. The Ibour that 3 thip organized combined the necesitics of large-scale cooperation Such ar was found on the panason with che inci ofthe division ff bout such as was found in manufacture and the veraiity of Saividual sills suck at might be found in handicraft Characteristics ff the save, the artisan and the hbourer were therefore to be found in the sailor. Nominally 4 vage worker, che sailor was in Fact offen Icky to be Fe. The crews of to frigates off the coat of frend petitioned the Admiral, sating that dhey were make, homeless and Rrungey, ‘there being above fity-two months’ pay due to them. Even when payment was made, it might not be what it seemed (£10,000 in shilings and sinpences to pay off the Fleet in 1696 was cat and Roberta Brenbagh, No Put Bee he ine: The Bl Corian tre (New Yrs 7) 98-2 ‘Sxiher ee Oramte eS; Ange Coe, Reoameing Apa A Seis ‘apy of As (New Yr, 180). ne ‘OLD Mx Gory’ axD THE THANATOCRACY 67 rejected by ye lower Onler of People” hecase ic was unsound coin.” [Nominally fee, the silo was coerced for long period of sevice. By dhe 16908 the prest-yang had become the chi means of reeruit= ‘meat. Labour discipline, 38 with manufacture, consisted of constant surveillance and corporal punishment, apparently made necesary by the cooperation netded where one life depended on the whole ‘That the work was filly incarcerated and that in many task the ‘machine’ controled dhe worker rather than the worker the too, lent to the dip an objective principle similar tothe facony.® The labour ‘was continuous, “around the clock, but organized by the bell. This ‘working class wae filly international. By 1700 the Navigation Acs Thad been amended to permit up to thre-quarers ofthe merchane complement to consist of foreigners. Both the merchant marine and the Royal Navy drew upon the soli and vagabond population to Fil cheie manning requnement, Sailors were held in lockups, p30, sinyping houses andthe hated ulks" SelF-orgniztion ofthe nauti- fal proletariat consized of mutiny, running’ and malingering Indeed, in the silo slang, tern denoting mulingering were exceeded only by chose denoting punishments And these punishments, when combined with the violence ofthe profesion andthe soltion from bother kins of people, produced 3 worker who wat on shore pepe the most volatile, dangerous and creative of eighteenth-century ‘working-

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