This book traces the development of agrarian ideas from the 1770s through
to Chartism, and seeks to explain why, in an era of industrialization and
urban growth, land remained one of the major issues in popular politics.
Malcolm Chase considers the relationship between ”land consciousness” and
early socialism; attempts to create alternative communities; and
contemporary perceptions of nature and the environment. He concludes that,
far from being an anachronistic, utopian, and reactionary movement,
agrarianism was an integral part of the working class experience and of
radical politics. The People”s Farm also provides the most extensive study
to date of Thomas Spence, and his followers the Spenceans. New light is
thrown on the Spa Fields and Cato Street conspiracies, in which they were
involved; but their true significance lies in their contribution to English
radicalism – a key factor in shaping the politics of agrarian reform in the
1820s and 1840s.