Workers’ Rights & Labor Movements: 19th-20th Centuries
Workers’ Conditions and the Rise of Labor Movements
Living conditions of workers: Working hours and salaries of employees were subject to market fluctuations and margin requirements. This benefited the working class, but also caused anxiety and insecurity, as workers did not know how much money they would bring home at the end of the week, how long their work would last, or how to find another job if they lost theirs. There was no social security.
Origins of the Labor Movement
The liberal state took a hands-off approach. It was in the second decade of the nineteenth century when the working class focused its attention on social problems and was pressed to solve them through various forms of organization. The first associations of workers were born in the Industrial Revolution, from the ancient guilds. The first worker’s demand was the right of association. Britain was the first to recognize this right in 1824. Once achieved, workers were targeted toward the collective defense of wages and working conditions of a trade. The strike was usually the main instrument of pressure.
- Luddites: An organization focused on destroying machines powered by steam. Workers sent threatening statements against traders and businessmen before acting against the machines.
- Chartism: Born in Britain from the Workers’ Association in London. They fought for democracy.
- Socialism: A new society without exploitation or injustice, in which everyone would be equal and power would be in the hands of the people. The main theoreticians of socialism were Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. They were convinced that the analysis of capitalism and proposals to change it were based on science. For this reason, Marxist socialism is also known by the name of scientific socialism. A clear idea was that workers needed to organize their own political party.
- Anarchism: Coincided with socialism in the diagnosis, but did not share solutions. The most important theorist of anarchism was Mikhail Bakunin, who advocated the destruction of the state through direct action and the organization of society in free communes. They rejected centralized organization and opposed political action.
The First International
The First International was a committee consisting of 21 British, 10 Germans (among whom was Marx), 9 French, 6 Italian, 2 Swiss, and 2 Polish members. Marx influenced the AIT (International Workingmen’s Association) from the start. He quickly created local chapters of the AIT in different European countries. Starting in 1868, worker unrest grew throughout Europe, which governments attributed to the International, and that is why they began banning it. The anarchists were expelled from the International as a result of a confrontation. In 1876, at the Congress of New York, the First International was dissolved.
The Second International
The Second International was a federation of socialist parties in which anarchists were not admitted. They respected the autonomy of each country and organized meetings to discuss specific issues that had great resonance among the public. Disagreements within the Second International were between reformists and revolutionaries. The final crisis of the Second International came with the outbreak of the First World War because the various socialist parties were unable to prevent the outbreak of the war.
The Changing Map of Europe
Factors contributing to political instability included the unifications of Germany and Italy, and the Turkish Empire destabilizing the Balkans, creating ambitions for both Russia and Austria. The expansion of the Russian Empire to the East culminated in a military conflict with Japan (Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905).