JOURNAL OF THE IRISH LABOUR HISTORY SOCIETY

ESSAYS 75provided the basis for social and industrial relations, with acceptance of hierarchical divisions anintegral part of the religious framework, and the interdependence of the classes similarly determined?lPaternalistic practices were thus justified, while attempts to assert class interests were seen not only associally and politically radical, but as unscriptural, and indeed, immoral.Working mens' combinations, regarded by one eighteenth century rector as 'the greatest of allpossible evils' , were, however, firmly established in Belfast by the mid-nineteenth century.72 What isless clear in this early period is the relation between religious sectarianism and the development of thetrade union movement. Paddy DevIin takes the traditional view that with many trade unions tied to theOrange Order, workers, foremen, managers andfactory owners 'rere linked in a combination againstRoman Catholicism which undermined the developmen(ofdass consciousness. 73 Others see this asan oversimplification. Henry Patterson, for example, points to a variety of tensions existing within andbetween sections of the workforce, suggesting that religious and sectarian factors would' at most, haveexacerbated these problems at particular times of heightened political tension' .74 Ronaldo Munck' scontention, thatexclusi vist practices, whether for sectarian, political or economic reasons, had the effectof segregating the workforce along religious lines, even ifthis was not always the intention, is probablya fair assessment 75In more general terms moral elevation was encouraged, both directly and indirectly, in the interestsof social stability and industrial harmony, although this can best be seen as a pervasive ideology ratherthan a systematic practice. Employers and manufacturers supported temperance, Sunday school, Townmission and revival movements, and joined with workers in a variety of paternalistic and benevolentmovements. The Belfast Working Class Association for the Promotion of General Improvement wasone such body, aiming to improve both sanitary conditions and moral welfare, to advance the characterand conditions of working men by circulating 'useful, moral and entertaining' works, and stressing thebenefits of temperance and thrift. 76 In its attention to the rights and duties between employer andemployed, it made the familiar link between personal morality and social harmony. The Protestantwork ethic was reaffirmed, with the assertion that 'idleness is the parent of crime and the forerunnerof poverty'.The clergy of Belfast, similarly concerned to encourage the interdependence of the classes, unitedwith the empoyers in these efforts. When a group of churchmen set out to develop an 'economicdoctrine of religion' to deal with the commercial realities of nineteenth century life, the scriptures onceagain provided inspiration and example. In a collection of essays entitled Gold and The Gospel. theyreminded the material beneficiaries of industry of their social duties, stressing the responsibility of manas God's steward, and urging a more systematic exercise ofbenevolence. n To what extent evangelicaltheory was put into practice by employers is almost impossible to determine, though the greatproliferation of voluntary societies concerned with social as well as spiritual problems in Belfast in thesecond half of the century suggests at least a nominal commitment to the principle of charity?8Nor is it easy to assess the extent to which paternalistic and benevolent movements influencedworking men and women. No doubt a combimltion of apathy, fatalism and faith did encourage manyof the lower classes to accept the inevitability of their place oh a rigid social scale. Community strifeand the wider political framework which intensified local disputes undoubtedly gave credence toreligious agitators and promoted religious solidarity. B ut while ethnic loyalty was no doubt important,it was never all pervasive. Competing and sometimes overlapping loyalties to denominations,employers, neighbourhoods and centres of recreation, though often neglected, were just as influentialin creating the rich texture of working class social relationships.The aim of this essay then has been to draw attention to the range of methods used by landlords,employers, clergy and voluntary associations - under the influence of evangelicalism if not activelycommitted to its theology - to remodel the society in which they lived. Through moral agents, education,temperance, self-improvement societies, tract distribution, domestic visitation and a host of otherdevices, this activist minority made a substantial contribution to the social and cultural life of Ulsterin the first half of the nineteenth century. But their relative success - not to be exaggerated - was not