Historically, medieval peasants in the UK were serfs, which means Feudal slaves. The Civil War (c 1640's) saw an end to the absolute power of monarchs - well, Charles had his head chopped off - so it means that Britain had a revolution well before either France or Russia. But like most revolutions, it was led by an upsurging Middle Class - fired up with Protestant beliefs. Oliver Cromwell became a dictator, so was eventually replaced with a constitutionally limited Monarchy, with Parliament supreme.

The position of the rural peasantry in the UK was less than idyllic, hey simply had new masters, and the C18th saw the massive expansion of a division between the landowning classes, with their huge fancy houses, and the working class. By the C19th, Chartism - the precursor to Marxism, was already taking hold on the imagination of the rural and urban poor. Workers created newspapers, libraries, schools, hospital and medical support systems and early trades unions, and challenged the status quo.

Broadly speaking, the industrial workers faced massive challenges of child labour, exploitation, long hours, low wages, and rotten landlords - and they worked to overcome these injustices.