ABSTRACT
The working-class community of’ the early nineteenth century was the product, neither of paternalism nor of Methodism, but in a high degree of conscious working-class endeavour. In Manchester or Newcastle the traditions of the trade union and the friendly society, with their emphasis upon selfdiscipline and community purpose, reach far back into the eighteenth century. Rules which survive of
institutions of trade unions and friendly societies promoting the “code of the self-respecting artisan,” all played a role in building this community. Part of Thompson’s point here is to garner some respect for the working class, to show that they too had ideals of sobriety and decency and regularity which were thought to only be the terrain of the upper classes. Already disciplined by new work regimes, workers disciplined themselves as part of their sense of collective identity.
