Labour, society, and politics in Cyprus during the second half of the nineteenth century

Description

The present study examines the process by which the opinions of Cyprus' labouring poor began to count as politics. More specifically it attempts to explain the underlying social basis of the political and national transforma- tions which culminated towards the end of the 19th century, when the labour- ing people, led by a nationalist middle class, were able to pose a challenge to the social and political status quo. In the history of Cyprus the mass of ordinary people, whose voice was seldom reflected irTthe oratory of the politicians, or the effusions of the schoolmasters, tended to be lost sight of as an indepen- dent entity and to be presented in accordance with the opinions or interests either of their leaders or of their enemies. The study therefore endeavours to put at the forefront the elements making up the Cypriot plebeian strata: peas- ants, tradesmen and labourers, as social groups with their own identity, inter- ests and aspirations.