Impact of the Industrial Revolution: Labor, Socialism, and Anarchism
The Labor Movement and Social Welfare
The accelerated industrialization brought forth a new social class: the proletariat. Workers exchanged their labor for money, often enduring 14 to 16-hour days in heavily polluted sites with strict discipline. There was no insurance, no weekends, and nothing protected the workers. Wages were extremely low, barely at subsistence level, and life was miserable. Houses and neighborhoods lacked basic sanitation or hygiene.
Chartism: Early British Workers’ Demands
Very early on, British workers realized that laws benefiting employers were made in Parliament. With the idea of influencing Parliament, they organized Sunday demonstrations, demanding voting rights. This concern grew, alarming authorities. Outside Manchester, the army harshly suppressed the movement, causing it to disappear, but its core demands persisted.
Socialism: Marxist Thought and Class Struggle
The main theories giving rise to this ideology originated from Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marxist thought states that human history is a class struggle. Marx posited that one class rules, traditionally the nobility. However, from the 14th century onwards, new forms of production emerged, including trade, crafts, and professions like lawyers. This non-birthright group, the bourgeoisie, developed its own way of life and entered into political confrontation with the ruling class. Marx believed that the bourgeoisie, having matured by the 18th century, had the capacity to impose itself on the nobility and seize power through a revolutionary manner. The bourgeoisie needed a revolutionary process to gain power, control the state, and impose its worldview.
Marx theorized that the proletariat would grow with industrialization, and their increasing anger might lead them to gain power and control the rules that affected them. He believed that this should be a dictatorial process, where private property must end, and all wealth should belong equally to all citizens.
Anarchism: Individualism, Freedom, and the State
Its main thinkers are Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and Mikhail Bakunin. Anarchism stems from a radical reading of individualism and freedom, asserting that we must challenge inequities and falsehoods that prevent individuals from being liberal, happy, and equal. Anarchists often clashed with communists, arguing that if the state is controlled, true equality cannot be achieved. This is why they advocate for the abolition of the state, along with religion. They deny the validity of political parties and party democracy, emphasizing that life should be centered on communes, which should organize production and consumption.
Consequences of the Industrial Revolution
- Urban Transformation: Cities increasingly reflected different social classes. The bourgeoisie settled in new urban expansions or boulevards, while workers’ neighborhoods developed around manufacturing environments.
- Industrial Growth and Labor Changes: Industry encouraged population growth and changes in production. Machines and factories were built, simplifying work, making it routine, cheaper, and more plentiful.
- Mass Emigration: This population increase led, for the first time in Europe, to significant emigration from countries like Germany, England, and Italy towards the U.S. or South America. There was a widespread abandonment of the countryside as people migrated to industrial cities, causing these cities to grow enormously.
- Economic Expansion: The economy saw increased trade, facilitated by machines that made production cheaper and faster, and by new transportation methods like trains and steamboats.
- Rise of Industrial Capitalism: The increasing size of factories, expanded international trade, and the development of railways required substantial capital. Governments and banks became entrepreneurs. At a private level, increasingly, many businesses became joint-stock companies (companies divided into shares to distribute costs, risks, and benefits). Shares were bought and sold on the stock market, and shareholders were only liable for their actions up to the value of their shares.