The Tolpuddle Martyrs, The Forgotten Seeds of Global Labor Rights
In 1834, six agricultural laborers from Tolpuddle, Dorset, England—George Loveless, James Loveless, Thomas Standfield, John Standfield, James Brine, and James Hammett—were arrested for forming the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers. Their crime? Swearing a secret oath to resist wage cuts that had driven them into poverty. Although trade unions were technically legal, the British government…