Liberal Plebeianism: J.S. Mill on Democracy, Oligarchy, and Working-Class Mobilization

Abstract

How should democratic societies address inequality in an age of populist indignation? What role should popular movements play in strengthening liberal democracy? This article turns to the nineteenth-century liberalism of J.S. Mill for insights regarding the essential challenge facing democracy today: how to mobilize the public against intensifying oligarchic threats while safeguarding liberal democratic values against their illiberal alternatives. I advance a novel reading of Mill as a “liberal plebeian” who confronted the threat of oligarchy by advocating for working-class activism within a liberal parliamentary framework. I trace two discourses within Mill’s writings and speeches: an anti-oligarchic discourse focused on countering “sinister interests,” and a mobilization discourse focused on working-class incorporation. Both discourses develop from Mill’s conviction that liberal reformers should operate as “tribunes of the poor.” This reading helps to clarify Mill’s contested legacy and provides resources for rethinking the relationship between liberal democracy and plebeian populism.