Essentials of Democracy in 1928

Essentials of Democracy in 1928

Democracy is definable as a form of government where there is a fair

representation system, universal adult suffrage, the right of the

electorate to participate in the political process, freedom of speech

for all, a government dependant on majority support in the commons and

regular elections, free of corruption. In the eighteen hundreds

various events, such as the French revolution, made many Britons wary

of democracy, because of the radicalism and violence that had occurred

during them. However by 1900 politicians were eager to be seen as

champions of democracy.

The electoral system in Britain before the 1932 reform bill had been

virtually unchanged since the late 1680s, by comparison to a country

whose economy, class system and political methods had changed

substantially since that time. The principle reason for the great

change in the orientation of the country was the Industrial

Revolution, which had created a new economy and caused the emergence

of new cities such as Manchester and Birmingham where the new

factories were centred. However, because the electoral system was

still that which had been formulated in 1682, these new towns had no

political representation, while towns, which had been important then

but now had as few as ten inhabitants still had two MPs in the House

of Commons. These were known as rotten boroughs. Voting was done by

counting hands in an open vote, a process, which made it easy for a

landlord to see which of his tenants had betrayed him and so treat

them worse as a result. This led to corruption. Demand for reform had

grown as the industrial revolution had grown.

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...ty million. Although this act gave women the vote

they were still at a disadvantage. The franchise system between men

and women was still unfair, and that needed to be resolved before

there could be complete democracy.

The franchise qualifications between males and females were resolved

in the 1928 representation of the people act. This meant that the

franchise qualification was the same for both males and females. This

meant that by 1928 nearly all the features of democracy had been

achieved. However it was not until 1948 that plural voting was totally

destroyed. The main principle of one-man one vote and fair elections

free of corruption had been achieved. Nearly all the principles of

democracy had been achieved by 1928. There was a fair representation

system, universal adult suffrage and corruption free elections.