The Mask of Anarchy

By Percy Bysshe Shelley

Narrated by Denis Daly

On 16 August 1819, a crowd of about 60,000 people gather at Manchester in a peaceful demonstration to demand reform of the parliamentary electoral system.

The government of the day interpreted the gathering as an act of rebellion and ordered the militia to disperse the crowd. In the resulting fracas, fifteen demonstrators were killed and several hundred injured.

The immediate reaction of the government was to repress the movement for reform. However, eventually, after a decade of negative reaction from the public, the reform bills of the early 1830s were passed, which led to significant improvements in the lives of the working class.

Shelly was living at Leghorn at the time of the massacre, and the news of the massacre roused his fiery republican sentiments. The result was The Mask Of Anarchy, a rousing call to action on behalf of the oppressed.