That Chartism which has fustian jackets, blistered hands and unshorn chins as its emblems, has been denounced by those who would make it a thing of refinement and respectability. while we repeat the fact to our readers Chartism means poverty – and poverty is a consequence of class legislation the legitimate deduction from which is, that before poverty ceases class legislation must be destroyed.
These words or similar can be found in several of the Editorials Chartist leader Feargus O’Connor wrote in the weekly Chartist paper the Northern Star (1838-52)
It has not gone unremarked upon but there was a facial hair divide in the Chartist movement. While factory workers wore (now trendy but then cheap) fustian jackets and often appeared unshaven, others such as William Lovett who sought common cause with middle class radicals appeared with better quality jackets and were clean shaven (Lovett had distinctive sideburns but a naked chin).
The fustian jackets were in the main physical force Chartists while the clean shaven tended towards moral forces. A simplistic way of course of looking at complexity but even in the Chartist period dress and appearance said something about politics
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