"RO was exactly the kind of middle class philanthropist reformer I was referring to."
Following your point - he was not a philanthropist and he wans't Victorian
He was a businessman who believed the fairest and most efficient way to make society work was to involve working people as, if not equals, human beings
His philosophy was socialism - his religion was immaterial
The later philanthropists stepped in when unionism began to take a hold to prevent the evils of communism as described by Marx "A spectre that is haunting Europe"
At no time did they advocate that the working man should have a voice, rather that they should be treated kindly
Jim Carroll