The Masque of Anarchy

On April 16, 1819, 15 peaceful protestors were killed and hundreds were injured at St Peter's Field, Manchester, Lancashire, England while gathered for a meeting to discuss parliamentary reform. To break up the meeting, the cavalry charged into a crowd of approximately 60,000 to 100,000 people from both the local area and across the North West.

After the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815, England experienced an economic slump. As a result, an increasing number of working-class people became involved in reform movements. Calls for universal male suffrage were based on the argument that allowing working-class men to vote would result in a better use of public funding, fairer taxes, decreased unemployment, and less restricted trade. The movement was led by men like Henry Hunt, who was speaking the day of the massacre. While petitions gained over 750,000 signatures in 1817, the House of Commons ignored the movement’s demands. A second economic slump in 1819 pushed the movement to mobilize with more immediacy.

The events at Peterloo were a part of this new push in the campaign. Despite the urgency of the cause, the tone of the day was one of celebration. In addition to men, women and children attended, and all were dressed in their best Sunday clothes. People danced to bands playing music after having practiced on the moors for weeks.

However, according to local officials, this crowd had violent and revolutionary intentions. These people were not practicing but rather organizing a military regiment. Thus, orator Henry Hunt and other speakers were arrested. Only the armed forces could maintain order. Yet these claims were unlikely to be completely true, as the soldiers rode into the crowd and deliberately slashed at both men and women. Later, it was revealed that their sabers were freshly sharpened shortly before the meeting, suggesting that the violence was premeditated. Among those killed were a child and a pregnant woman.

The event was first called the Peterloo Massacre by the radical newspaper Manchester Observer as an ironic reference to the 1815 Battle of Waterloo. In newspapers, names of those injured were printed so that sympathizers could financially support their recovery. The list likely did not list all who were injured, as many people would have been too afraid to publicly admit to attending the meeting and risk further harm.

The immediate effects of this massacre included the passage of the Six Acts, which were meant to suppress meetings for radical reform. While there was considerable public sympathy, no immediate reform was undertaken.

Written soon after the massacre while he was living in Italy, Shelley references three members of the government by name in his poem’s criticism of the government and the conditions that led to the need for such radical reform. Foreign Secretary Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh appears as Murder; Home Secretary Henry Addington, Viscount Sidmouth appears as Hypocrisy; and Lord High Chancellor John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon appears as Fraud. Shelley likely connected Castlereagh to Murder as he was widely reviled for his repressive measures in England and Ireland, which led public opinion to connect him to the Peterloo Massacre. Murder’s “[s]even bloodhounds” (Stanza 2) who eat human hearts likely represent a seven-nation alliance signed in Britain that preserved slavery in those seven nations. Sidmouth’s hypocrisy likely stems from his role in seeking peace abroad during the wars with France, while squelching reform at home. Eldon, first an eager supporter of war abroad, seemingly shifted his sentiments after seeing the effects of war on the survivors and those at home. Shelley’s association of Eldon with Fraud suggests that Shelley found these concerns insincere. While none of these figures are directly tied to the events on the day of the massacre, Shelley holds them responsible for the corruption and decay of England that the protestors were demanding be reformed.

Shelley’s poetic response inspired future writers and activists. Henry David Thoreau takes up the ideas and vision in Civil Disobedience. Mohandas Gandhi’s passive resistance expressed in Satyagraha was inspired and influenced by Shelley. Gandhi often quoted The Masque of Anarchy in speeches during his campaign for freedom in India. The language was also used by students at the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 and protesters in Tahrir Square during the Egyptian revolution of 2011. Campaigns for the International Socialist Organization and Jeremy Corbyn’s election used many of the lines of the poem as mottos and slogans.