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9. Revolutions of Industrialization

Britain: first industrial society

British textile industry

52 million pounds of cotton in 1800

588 million pounds in 1850

technological innovations, factory-based production increased output

British coal industry

5.23 million tons in 1750

68.4 million tons in 1850

railroads across Britain, much of Europe

increase in production mostly in mining, manufacturing, services

agriculture shrank in relative importance

only 8% of national income in 1891

fewer than 8% of working British in 1914

classical liberalism was ideology for growth of industrial capitalism

Adam Smith

John Stuart Mill

believed that individuals, unencumbered by state, should have liberty to do whatever with their lives/wealth

social transformation

destroyed old ways of living, created opportunity for new ways with more freedom

filled with social conflict, insecurity, false starts

offered new opportunities, higher standard of living, greater participation in public life

British aristocracy

Individuals

individual landowning aristocrats (dominant class) suffered little materially from Industrial Revolution

mid-19th: few thousand families owned more than half of cultivated land in Britain

aristocrats leased to tenant farmers who used agricultural wage laborers

dominated British Parliament

Class

declined as a class due to the Industrial Revolution

urban wealth became more important

others gained power

businessmen

manufacturers

bankers

end of century: landownership mostly no longer basis of great wealth

businessmen (not aristocrats) led major political parties

titled nobility retained social prestige, personal wealth

dukes, earls, viscounts, barons

British Empire: were colonial administrators, settlers; cushion for declination

Middle classes

Upper

upper levels: readily assimilated into aristocratic life

extremely wealthy factory and mine owners, bankers, merchants

bought country houses

gained seats in Parliament

sent sons to universities

accepted titles of nobility from Queen Victoria

Middle

smaller professions created distinctly middle class society

smaller businessmen, doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, journalists, scientists, other professionals

politically liberals

constitutional government, private property, free trade, social reform within limits

Reform Bill of 1832: broadened right to vote to many middle-class men (not women)

ideals

thrift, hard work

rigid morality

“respectability”

cleanliness

Self-Help (Samuel Smiles)

middle class distinguished from poor by enterprising spirit

poverty was “voluntary and self-imposed—the results of idleness, thriftlessness, intemperance, and misconduct”

Women

increasingly: homemakers, wives, mothers

emotional haven for men

refuge from cutthroat capitalist world

expected to be moral centers of family life, educators of “respectability”, managers of household consumption as “shopping”

ideology of domesticity defined ideal role of middle-class women

homemaking

child rearing

charitable endeavors

“refined” activities

embroidery

music

drawing

paid employment, public life was for men (long-established)

new wealth of Industrial Revolution allowed larger numbers of families to do so

woman was “lady”, husband was “provider”

having even one servant was a proud marker

temporary

by late 19th: some joined teaching, clerical, nursing

late 20th: more joined

more enduring: children attending school, not working (need educated workforce)

Lower

clerks, salespeople, bank tellers, hotel staff, secretaries, telephone operators, police officers, etc.

end of 19th: 20% of Britain’s population

new opportunities for women and men

1881-1901: number of female secretaries rose from 7,000 to 90,000 (almost all single, expected to return to home after marriage)

claim on membership in middle class; distinguish from working class (manual labor)

Laboring classes

70% or more

manual workers: mines, ports, factories, construction sites, workshops, farms

suffered most, benefited least

Urbanization

1851: majority of Britain’s population lived in towns, cities

compared to overwhelmingly rural before

by 1900: London was world’s largest city (6 million)

Conditions

overcrowded, smoky

insufficient sanitation

periodic epidemics

endless row houses, warehouses

few public services or open spaces

inadequate, polluted water supplies

average life expectancy 39.5 years by 1850

little personal contact between rich and poor

Factories

already knew: long hours, low wages, child labor

routine and monotonous work

direct, constant supervision

rules and fines for enforcing work discipline

industrial work was insecure (capitalism)

Gender

women favored for textile mills

accepted lower wages

believed to be docile, suitable for repetitive tasks

gendered hierarchy of labor

men in supervisory, more skilled positions

women had less skilled, “lighter” jobs; little opportunity for advancement

unions helped men shape conditions; women not welcome

women often did industrial work or were domestic servants

after marriage: outside paid employment; men worked

often still continued to earn money within home

took in boarders

did laundry

sewed clothes

Social protest

laboring classes: industrial life “was a stony desert, which they had to make habitable by their own efforts”

Associations

by 1815: about 1 million workers (mostly artisans) created “friendly societies”

working-class self-help groups

dues contributed by members

provided:

insurance against sickness

decent funeral

opportunity for social life

skilled artisans who were forbidden to organize in legal unions sometimes

wrecked the machinery⁠

that took their jobs

joined movements that aimed to give voting rights to working-class men (gradually achieved in second half of 19th)

1824: trade unions legalized; factory workers joined to get better working conditions and wages

initially feared by upper classes

strikes

attempts at nationwide organization

threats of violence

later became more “respectable”

Socialism

gradually spread within working class

challenged assumptions of capitalist society

People

Robert Owen (1771-1858): wealthy British cotton textile manufacturer

urged creation of small industrial communities where workers/families could be well-treated

established one at his mill in New Lanark, Scotland

10-hour workday

spacious housing

decent wages

education for children

Karl Marx (1818-1883): German who lived in England; witnessed brutal conditions of Industrial Revolution, wrote about history and economics

industrial capitalism was inherently unstable

doomed to collapse in revolutionary upheaval that would give birth to classless socialist society (end rich/poor conflict)

combined impact of industrial, political, scientific revolutions

industrialism:

made social conditions that Marx protested

made wealth that Marx thought would make socialism possible

French Revolution: evidence that grand upheavals were possible

Marx saw self as scientist (”scientific socialism”)

Movements

political parties in most European states

linked in international organizations

recruited members, contested elections, agitated for reforms, sometimes plotted revolution

Labour Party

established in 1890s

working-class political party

advocated reformist program, peaceful democratic transition to socialism

rejected class struggle, revolutionary emphasis of classical Marxism

“social democracy”

conflicted with communism

Middle class

30% of population

not wealthy but not manual labor

Marx did not predict middle class nor think capitalist societies could improve

wages rose under pressure from unions

cheap imported food improved working-class diets

infant mortality rates fell

shops, chain stores catered to working-class families multiplied

English male workers gradually gained right to vote → politicians had incentive to legislate in their favor

abolished child labor

regulated factory conditions

system of relief for unemployed

sanitary reform

urban parks

Nationalism

bound workers to their middle-class employers and compatriots

offset somewhat the economic, social antagonism

World War I: “workers of the world” set off to slaughter one another (national > class loyalty)

Negatives

Inequalities

inequalities still separated classes

40% of working class still experienced “poverty”

wave of strikes from 1910 to 1913

Labour Party becoming major force in Parliament

socialist, feminists becoming radicalized

Economic decline

relative to industrial newcomers (e.g. Germany, United States)

businessmen became committed to machinery that became obsolete

latecomers invested in more modern equipment

English Luddites, machine-breaking

Overview

well-organized bands of skilled artisans

destroyed machines

burned buildings

attacked employers

named after Robin Hood-like figure: Ned Ludd

British government sent 12,000 troops to suppress Luddites (more than sent to Napoleon

new law (emergency measure): made those who destroyed mechanized looms subject to death penalty

60-70 alleged Luddites hanged/beheaded

regarded as blind protest

outrageous, unthinking, futile resistance to progress

now more of insult to those who resist/reject technological innovation

Causes

deserve some sympathy; understandable response to painful transformation of social life

Overall

England involved in increasingly unpopular war with Napoleon’s France

mutual blockades reduced trade, hurt textile industry

mechanized production replaced skilled artisan labor

led to economic hardship, unemployment, hunger

Laissez-faire/free market economy

eroded customary protections for poor/working classes

repealed laws regulating wages/apprenticeships, prohibiting certain laborsaving machines

despite repeated appeals to Parliament to maintain some minimal protections

1799: forbade trade unions, collective bargaining

Reasons

“collective bargaining by riot”: pressure employers when legal negotiations were outlawed

return to time when “full fashioned work at the old fashioned price is established by custom and law”

price reductions

minimum wages

prohibitions on flooding of industry by unapprenticed workers

sought to preserve older way of life when industry was a livelihood

take pride in craft

government, employers felt some paternalistic responsibility

journeymen workers felt some bonds of attachment to larger social, moral order

anticipated future

minimum wage

end of child labor

concern about inferior products produced by machine

desire for trade unions

local industrial action → “general insurrection”

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