Is Chartism left wing or right wing?

On economic organisation Chartism scores 00 on a scale from −10 (common ownership) to +10 (private property and markets). On social and cultural order it scores −05. A single left–right figure combines these and four further measurements that move independently, which is why the atlas reports six.

Is Chartism authoritarian?

On the organisation of power, which measures whether authority is dispersed among institutions that can stop each other or concentrated in a single centre, Chartism scores −07. Mass petition, national convention, and a contested question of whether to use 'physical force'.

Atlas / Organisations / Chartism

Chartism

1838–1857 · Britain · Radical Democratic · Movement · coding confidence high

00ECbalanced

−05CUpluralist

−07AUpluralist

−02SClocal

−04IDuniversal

+01CHcoercive

Each axis runs from −10 to +10, with zero a genuine mixed or balanced position rather than an absence of opinion. A score describes a stated position and a governing record; it is not a judgement of merit. What each score means →

Core principles

Six points: universal male suffrage, secret ballot, equal constituencies, paid MPs, no property qualification, annual parliaments.

Economic model

Divided between free-traders and land-reform schemes; no single economic programme.

Organisation of powers

Mass petition, national convention, and a contested question of whether to use 'physical force'.

Reading note

Five of the six points are now uncontroversial law almost everywhere. A useful calibration for how the frame moves.

Check a claim about Chartism. The interactive atlas measures the distance between any two organisations across all six axes and shows which ones carry the disagreement.

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The evidence for every score

All six cells are sourced. A rationale explains what the score is measuring and each artefact is something a third party can check without taking anyone's word for it.

EC · Economic organisation · scored 00

Coded at zero: no single economic programme.

ScholarshipThe movement contained free-traders, land-plan subscribers and factory reformers simultaneously.

CU · Social and cultural order · scored −05

Coded −5: democratic equality without a settled social programme.

Documented act or statuteFemale Chartist associations organised widely though the six points asked only for male suffrage.

AU · Organisation of power · scored −07

Coded −7: the six points are all constraints on concentrated power.

Programme textAnnual parliaments, secret ballot, equal constituencies, no property qualification, paid members, universal male suffrage.

SC · Scale of decision · scored −02

Coded −2: national petition with strong local associations.

Documented act or statuteThe 1842 petition carried over three million signatures.

ID · Rule of membership · scored −04

Coded −4: universal male suffrage without property or ancestral qualification.

Programme textThe demand was explicitly for every man of age, not for ratepayers.

CH · Method and tempo · scored +01

Coded +1: split between moral force and physical force.

Documented act or statuteThe Newport rising of 1839 ended with over twenty dead and transportation for its leaders.

Where it came from, and what came after

takes its doctrine fromThe Levellers
The six points restate the Agreement of the People after two centuries.
gave doctrine toUK Labour Party
Five of the six points became law before the party was founded, and its founders were their heirs.

Nearest organisations by measured distance

Straight-line separation across all six axes, out of a maximum of 49.0. Proximity means similarity of stated position, not endorsement and not resemblance in outcome.

Countries

Britain

Cite this page

Scores are revised on evidence, so a citation should carry the version it refers to. Version 4.3.1 is current; the revision log records every change.

McGrath, K. (2026). Chartism. The Political Atlas, version 4.2. https://thepoliticalatlas.com/organisations/chartism/ (accessed 2026-08-01).

Free to quote and reproduce with attribution. This is a synthesis rather than a peer-reviewed dataset — where an authoritative figure is needed, cite the Chapel Hill Expert Survey, the Manifesto Project or V-Dem.