See... the first response is that people "left the farm to work in industrial jobs" ... totally ignorant of the social disaster caused by enclosure. History doesn't teach us that the people of England were forced off their land in the 1700's. It's no different than the denial of slavery in this country.

That history goes much deeper … I'm inclined to think it began with Wat Tyler and John Ball. Tyler was betrayed by John of Gaunt, and murdered. The root of that history is the old one … an invading culture (Norman French) imposes itself on an established community (Anglo-Saxon England), and ultimately destroys it. There was no happy synthesis, just years of abuse and resistance to abuse.

"It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times."