How Did O Connor Contribute To The Failure Of Chartism

O'Connor was ill-fated because he came to lead the Chartist movement after it had already started to not succeed. The failure of Chartism after 1842 is therefore perceived to be O'Connor's doing by the historian Gammage purely because he was the primary Chartist leader at the time. However, the middle class Chartist leaders who had dictated Chartism between 1836 and 1842 were more accountable for the failure of Chartism to obtain its six point because they sanctioned the physical force Chartists to obtain dominance over Chartism by failing to convince parliament to accept the Charter in 1839 and 1842, in addition they also abandoned the movement after 1842. The more reputable leaders of Chartism deserted the movement because they became dissatisfied at the alternative of the majority to physical force. Lovett, Place and
Hetherington as a result became involved in an educational scheme for the workers. Contrary to these temperate Chartists, O’Connor remained loyal to the movement despite all its failures and can be said to have been a sustaining influence, through his control of the Northern Star, which gave Chartism a focal point and a sense of stability. In contrast to the other Chartist newspapers such as The Charter and The Democrat which quickly disappeared, the Northern Star was in circulation from 1837 until Chartism completely died in 1852. The positive influence O'Connor exercised over Chartism as a result of his ownership of the Northern Star was recognised by Harney when he said, "I am convinced that even in this respect, were O'Connor thrown overboard, we might go further and fare worse" In spite of Gammage and Hovel’s belief O'Connor did not ruin Chartism but rather continued it.
If it had not been for O'Connor's propaganda with the Northern Star, Chartism would have vanished soon after the restrained Chartists had abandoned the movement in 1842. Because of Chartism's assortment of aims and membership, its lack of organisation, the lack of parliamentary representation, and the repressive actions of the state, Chartism was a depleted force by 1842. This was partially a consequence of the fact that Chartism was a manifestation of the debauched era between 1830 and 1850 and "was essentially an economic movement with a purely political programme" . Chartism regressed considerably in the 1840s because of the open market policies of Peel, which in turn enhanced the standard of living of the working class. Regarding that Feargus O'Connor died in a mental asylum, it can be suggested that Chartism destroyed O'Connor rather than the opposite. O'Connor avidly believed in Chartism but Peel's socio-economic reforms neutralised the movement by improving the lives of the working man; therefore meaning that work of O’Connor was all in
vain.