ACFA: Question About Cooperative. No 4

Question 4: Why Was 1840^s Called The Hungry Forties?

Answer: The 1840s were known as “The Hungry Forties” because the move from hand looms in homes to powered looms in factories during the industrial revolution which changed the lives of many working people in Rochdale. The weekly wage for weavers had fallen by half at least from the 1820s to the 1840s and was barely enough for them to survive on. Women’s wages were even lower and many people were only working two or three days a week.

Industrialization led to a rapid increase in the population of Rochdale. The cost of housing meant that workers lived in slums, often with one room for each family. The poorest families lived in basements, with little ventilation and light and with access only to polluted water. Food prices were very high and many shopkeepers added weights to the scales so that customers did not receive the amount of food they had bought. Food adulteration was common, with water being added to milk, chalk being added to flour and gravel being mixed with oatmeal.

Working people had little control over their lives and were struggling to improve their living and working conditions by joining trade unions and campaigning for the vote. Elsewhere in Europe others were pioneering co-operative ideas to address poverty in rural areas. In Germany Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen and Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch developed ideas that led to savings and credit co-operatives. In Slovakia Samuel Jurkovic established similar rural co-operative initiatives.