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Narratives : Social Consequences of the Industrial Revolution http://www.zum.de/whkmla/sat/texts/narrsoccons.html |
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In the course of the Agricultural Revolution, in England, and to a lesser extent elsewhere, had set free a portion of the
population hitherto employed in food production, in the villages - the former serfs. In sources of the 18th century,
these uprooted poor are treated as vagrants, vagabonds, paupers. The Industrial Revolution only intensified this process, uprooting further segments of the population by rendering entire crafts, such as manual spinning and weaving, as unprofitable. On the other hand, the mining industry, the steel and machinery industry, the textile industry boomed, attracting workers in large numbers. Thus a process of urbanisation took place, unprecedented in history. Many existing cities saw a quick growth of their population; at mining sites, railroad crossroads etc. boomtowns sprang up. The emerging railroad network greatly improved mobility, thus accelerating the process. Companies advertised in newspapers, recruiting workers from far away. A new social class emerged, the Working Class or, in Marxist terminology, the Proletariat. Government policy in Britain, Belgium and other emerging industrial nations, in the early 19th century, was that of Laissez-Faire, French for let go, non-interference. Workers were denied the right to form associations, were expected to negotiate their contract with their employer on a one-to-one basis, which placed the employer at an advantage. Only in the course of the 19th century were workers permitted to form trade unions. The conditions most workers were exposed to in the early 19th century were extensive working hours (10-12 hours per day normal, in extreme cases 14, even 16 hours per weekday), work even on sundays (with some time for church visit, or for prayer within the factory, allotted), neither holidays nor vacation, very low pay, unhealthy, often hazardous working conditions, child labour (it was not unusual for children to begin working in factories at age 5 or 6). Factory owners preferred to hire women and children, for they were paid less. Foremen had the right to fine individual workers, and, if they deemed it necessary, to fire them on the spot. Accidents were frequent. Housing and nutrition the workers could afford depended on their pay, which was usually minimal. Workers' families often had many children (6-8); several children had to share a room, often even a bed. Their housing was without running water, often damp, with the stove polluting the air. Workers rarely could afford to buy new clothes, wearing rags instead. Doing the laundry and heating up bath water was a major undertaking; the entire family would share the bath water, one following the other. The early 19th century saw the emergence of poverty on an unprecedented scale, with a sickening intensity. Descriptions of the rioting Silesian weavers of 1844 and the starving Irishmen during the potato famine of 1845 and following recall vivid images; in 1844 Friedrich Engels published "Zur Lage der arbeitenden Klasse in England" (Condition of the Working Classes in England). Marx and Engels would go on to blame the employers and the capitalist system, and call employers exploiters, employees the exploited. While the living conditions of the workers were extremely poor, and their employers often lived in luxury, the situation is more complex than described in Marxist cliches. The Wars of the Coalition lasted, with very brief interruptions, from 1792 to 1815 - and had meant sustained army orders of weapons (cannon, ships, rifles, swords etc.), uniforms, saddles, ammunition. In 1815, peace was concluded and the emerging industry lost contracts, causing a depression. Employers tried to make amends by cutting wages. On the European continent, in Catholic countries, the church had experienced large-scale property confiscation. Charity had been a task of the church; now, when charity was required at an unprecedented scale, the ability of the church to do so was limited by her (considerably reduced) resources. In case of Ireland, the Catholic church actually had promoted large families, and thus exacerbated the problem. While some employers blamed the extreme poverty of the workers on their drinking habits and on the large size of their families (contemporary bourgeois families had fewer children), many realized the problems and some tried to do something about it. Utopian socialist Robert Owen set a role model, believing that happy, healthy workers are more productive. In his textile factory at New Lanark in Scotland, he provided workers housing, a shop, a kindergarten, even recreation facilities, and his factory was profitable. Employers of the 19th century would have rejected the Marxist label 'exploiters', seeing themselves rather as benefactors, even if only by providing paid jobs. While few employers shared the socialist view with Robert Owen, a good number of employers established company housing, company shops and pubs (Working Towns). Krupp Working Towns such as Essen's Margarethenhöhe city quarter (Germany) were planned to raise the living conditions of her inhabitants to a presentable level. Early in the 19th century, state administration, parliaments and the Anglican church tried to neglect the emerging problem. In England and ales, the dissenting protestant churches tried to address the problem. Dissenting churches were behind the two major political campaigns of the time, the Abolitonist Movement and the Temperance Movement, blaming alcohol consumption for lack of food and for violence in the family. With the majority of the working class earning low wages, events such a bad harvest or an economic recession exacerbated the living conditions. In such cases, workers occasionally turned to violence (Early Workers Rebellions : Luddites / England 1811`-1817, Workers' rebellions in Lyon / France 1831, Silesian Weavers / Prussia 1844). Except for the Luddites, such actions were usually spontaneous and poorly organized; the state took action against them. Only toward the mid of the century were workers' associations permitted, and TRADE or LABOUR UNIONS founded; effective from the 1860es onward. They worked hard to organize the majority of the workers in their union and to collect funds. Actions taken in labour conflicts had to be strictly legitimate, in order not to give state authorities an excuse to intervene; such legitimate actions included strikes and boycotts. Employers did retaliate by a series of means, lockouts, firing agitators, distributing blacklists, hiring hit-squads to disperse workers' meetings and demonstrations. The late 19th and early 20th century would see a climax of labour conflicts. With the franchise being extended to include the male adult workers (France 1848, Germany 1871 etc.), political parties representing the labour movement emerged. While they would not participate in the formation of governments until World War I, their share of the votes made the scope of the problem visible. Otto von Bismarck attempted to destroy Germany's Social Democracy (Anti-Socialists Laws), but also implemented legislation which is regarded the beginning of the Welfare State (mandatory health insurance, mandatory unemployment insurance, mandatory pension fund, 1870es). Furthermore, legislation began to address the worst excesses in the factories; child labour below the age of 12 was banned, above that age regulated; night shifts for women banned, basic safety standards for the industry established. These measures fell far below expectations of the Labour Unions; from 1890 on they demanded the 8-hour workday. Other demands included universal adult suffrage, the one-person-one-vote system, free sundays. The labour movement, without formally spliting up in separate organizations, consisted of three branches, the social democracy which advocated change by using the democratic system, the communist wing which advocated change through revolution, and the anarchist wing which deemed the system doomed to collapse and which advocated speeding up the process by acts such as industrial sabotage. Toward the end of the 19th, and into the early 20th century, the living conditions of the workers, in general, improved somewhat. Younger children attended school, workers would be able to afford bread and butter (regarded luxuries early in the century), in most factories, adult men formed the bulk of the workforce. The Labour Unions had established vacation homes for workers, in several countries labour-owned and operated chain stores and banks, operating on a non-profit basis. In some cities, theatres for the workers were opened; evening schools permitted workers to complete their education. Decades of suffering, and the failure of church and state to address their situation, had resulted in most workers identifying themselves with the organizations of the labour movement - Labour Unions and Labour / Social Democrat Parties. The main exception would be practising Catholic workers, who joined Catholic labour unions respectively parties, which were less radical in their demands. |
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EXTERNAL FILES |
Spartacus Schoolnet, click : Industrial Revolution, the Textile Industry,
Child Labour 1750-1900, Trade Union Movement Victorian Web, click Social History, Gender Matters |
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