Chapter 11 part II Industrial Revolution 19th Century Britain remained an industrial leader and continued industrializing. The rest of Europe fell behind during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, which did not take place on British soil. Britain dominated global trade (especially with the United States, the Caribbean, India, and Latin America after the 1820s) and did not face much competition from the other European powers in the first half of the 19th century. Britain depended on global trade for raw materials (like Southern cotton) and markets for its industry. Between the 1820s and the 1840s, industrialization spread to the Continent, especially in northern France, Belgium, and western Germany. The invention of the steam powered locomotive and the construction of the first railroad by George Stephenson in the 1820s transformed Europe. There were massive investments to build tracks, stations, locomotives, and cars, which stimulated iron production. Railroads greatly stimulated production and trade, as goods could be transported much more quickly and cheaply. Urbanization Populations kept on growing in the 19th century, and there was ever greater migration from rural to urban areas in industrializing countries. Cities grew very large, but with very little planning. Housing for workers was often substandard, with no windows or running water. Cities had no sewer systems, little regard for hygiene, and were heavily polluted because of the increasing use of coal. 1
Proletarianization refers to the process whereby artisans became industrial workers, or members of the proletariat. Artisans worked independently, set their own schedule and discipline, were highly skilled, performed multiple tasks, worked at home in partnership with their spouses, owned their own tools, and kept their profits. Members of the proletariat worked for a boss who set their schedule and discipline, were not very skilled, performed repetitive, dull tasks, worked in a factory apart from their families, had no control over their tools or machinery, and did not benefit directly from the profits of the enterprise. Farmers had worked according to the rhythms of the seasons, but factory workers followed a rigid, unchanging schedule. Not every worker experienced proletarianization (for example, construction workers). New job opportunities for skilled workers also arose with industrialization, such as work on railroads or repairing machinery. Luddites were English workers in the 1810s who resisted proletarianization by attacking factories and smashing machines. Industrialization meant the end of the family economy. The family was no longer the unit of production, just of consumption. Husbands and wives were no longer economic partners. Married women were much less likely than men to work outside the home, and so they occupied themselves with unpaid domestic work. Men became the primary breadwinners, while women's work was devalued. The end of the domestic system meant their only opportunity to earn money was in poorly paid cottage industries like mending or washing clothes. 2
Single women and children were still expected to work as before, but now they also worked in factories and mines, where they no longer were in a family setting, were exposed to danger and abuse, and were paid less than adult men. The English Factory Act (1833) set the minimum age for employment at 9, set a maximum of 9 hours work for those aged 9 13, and required some education for child laborers. Crime proliferated in early industrial European cities. People lost their traditional connections to communities and jobless meant destitution. Absence of both opportunity and/or family could lead to a life of crime and prostitution. In response, cities established the first police forces. Prisons were built to house criminals with the intention of rehabilitating them, as crime was seen as a failure of character. The alternative to prison in Britain was "transportation" to Australia. France sent prisoners to Devil's Island. 3
Classical economics is the school of economic thought which, following the ideas of Adam Smith, supported laissez faire capitalism, private property, free markets, and free trade. It was believed that government should only provide for defense, build roads, protect property, and enforce contracts. Between the 1820s and 1850s, most European governments, like France's under Louis Philippe, followed the precepts of classical economics. The German states except for Austria created a free trade zone, the Zollverein, in 1834, which eliminated tariffs on each other's goods. Britain became the champion of free trade in the 19th century. The Royal Navy patrolled the world's oceans to ensure the safety of global trade. The Corn Law was repealed in 1846, although this was due in part to the need to feed the Irish after the potato famine. The Poor Law (1834) was passed under the influence of classical economics with the premise that poverty and unemployment were caused by laziness and moral failure. Work houses were established for the relief of the poor, but they required unpleasant physical labor and had terrible food. Utilitarianism was the philosophy associated with classical economics. Its leading proponent was Jeremy Bentham (1748 1832). He believed government policies and the economy should be governed by the principle of utility, that is, what provides the greatest happiness for the greatest number. 4
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Utopian socialists were early critics of industrial capitalism. They objected to selfish individualism and competition. They believed community was more important, and they favored greater equality. Some tried to establish utopian socialist communities but in the end they all failed. They were not very influential during their lifetimes, and they were often dismissed for their eccentric ideas (about free love, for example), but their critique of capitalism was very influential on Marxism. Anarchism was another anti capitalist philosophy of the 19th century. Anarchists opposed all authority, whether of centralized governments or capitalist enterprises. They identified both private property and government as oppressive. They proposed life in small communities where everything would be shared and where government would be unnecessary. Many anarchists became terrorists in the later 19th century, striking mostly at political leaders. Anarchism was not nearly as influential on the proletariat as Marxism would be, but it was important in France, Russia, and Spain. 6
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Karl Marx (1818 1883) was a German philosopher who lived most of his adult life in London, where he wrote most of his work. He lived in exile due to the radicalism of his work. His most important works were The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital, both written in collaboration with Friedrich Engels. Marxism is a form of socialism which claims to be scientific, based on laws of history explained by Marx, and committed to violent revolution. It is a materialistic philosophy which believes that the dominant mode of production determines the characteristics of society. Religion, culture, and politics are superficial reflections of the underlying economic structure. Marx's laws of history explained that ever since the development of agriculture large numbers of people have been forced to work for a small, powerful, wealthy ruling class (examples: slavery, feudalism). Class conflict is the natural outcome of these unequal relations, and ultimately that conflict leads to revolution, out of which new relations of production are born. "Violence is the midwife of history." In Marx's time, industrial capitalism with its advanced technology had created two classes: 1) the bourgeoisie, the dominant wealthy propertyowning class 2) the proletariat, the dispossessed, exploited working class. Marx's labor theory of value holds that all workers are exploited in capitalism, because the true value of a good is based on the labor that went into making it. Any surplus value (profit) earned from that good by another besides the worker is therefore theft from the worker. In capitalism labor is forgotten because commodities become a fetish. 8
In industrial capitalist society, culture, politics, and religion are controlled by the bourgeoisie and exist to distract or control the proletariat. Marxism is atheistic and believes religion is a fantasy invented and controlled by the dominant classes in order to inspire fear in the dominated. Religion is the "opiate of the masses" by teaching them obedience to the authorities and giving hope in an imaginary afterlife. Marx believed it was the duty of philosophy not only to describe the world but to change it. Class conflict in industrial capitalism can only lead to revolution, which is both inevitable and desirable. The bourgeoisie will squeeze the proletariat for more and more profits, until they rise up in revolution. After the revolution there would initially be a dictatorship of the proletariat until eventually the final stage of communism would be reached. In communism there would be no classes, no exploitation, no inequality, no property, no government, no alienation, no crime, no religion, and no money. A communist revolution could only occur in an advanced industrial economy where the technological level would allow for material abundance. "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need." The premise of Marx's historical sequence is a belief in progress, which derives from the Enlightenment. 9
Revolutions of 1848 In 1848 revolutions broke out in France, the Italian states, the German states, and the Austrian Empire. The revolutionaries were liberal, nationalistic, and/or working class. In the end the interests of the liberal bourgeoisie and of working class rebels clashed with each other, so the conservative order was able to survive. France The Revolutions of 1848 began in France. The government of Louis Philippe was corrupt and unpopular. Liberals wanted a republic. Industrial workers were suffering from unemployment and resented proletarianization. There were crop failures and food was therefore more expensive. In February the liberal bourgeoisie and the proletariat of Paris rose up against the king, and the army was unable to restore order. Louis Philippe fled to England. The Second Republic was established, and elections based on universal male suffrage were called. Most voters were conservative peasants, however, who tended to be Catholic and owned their own land. The urban working class had social and economic grievances which remained unaddressed by the new, moderate government. It wanted protection from unemployment and high prices. In June 1848 workers in Paris rose up against the Republic. The army was able to restore order by killing thousands of workers. The disorder led most French people (peasants and bourgeois liberals) to prefer order. 10
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, nephew of the late emperor, promising a restoration of order and glory, was therefore able to win election as President of France in 1848. He had no democratic convictions but he won because of his name and what it promised. He did not respect the constitution or the National Assembly, claiming that only he represented the will of the people. He enjoyed the support of the conservatives, the bourgeoisie, the peasantry, and the Catholic Church, all of whom feared a radical and socialist revolution. He led a coup in 1851, making himself dictator. In 1852 he made himself emperor as Napoleon III. The liberal revolution of 1848 ended up having a conservative outcome. Austria The Austrian Empire experienced a liberal revolution in Vienna, copying that in Paris, followed by nationalist uprisings in Hungary, Bohemia, and Lombardy. March 1848: Students and workers seized control of Vienna. Metternich resigned, and the government fled to the countryside. A nationalist uprising broke out in Hungary, led by Louis Kossuth. Hungary established self government and issued a liberal constitution. The Hungarian leaders, however, were not willing to recognize the rights of other nationalities within Hungary, insisting on Magyarization for Croats, Slovaks, Romanians, and Serbs. 11
Czechs rebelled in Bohemia, but the large German minority supported continued Hapsburg rule (as did the minorities in Hungary). Piedmont Sardinia invaded Lombardy to aid the nationalist rebellion in Milan. Piedmont was the most advanced and industrialized Italian state, and its ambition was to unify Italy. In the end, however, the Hapsburg monarchy and army (which mostly consisted of peasants) was able to restore order, and retake the rebellious cities. Most peasants and many minorities supported the monarchy. In Vienna bourgeois liberals ended up preferring order to giving in to more radical working class demands. Emperor Ferdinand I, who was mentally disabled, abdicated and his 18 year old nephew, Emperor Franz Joseph I, restored decisive leadership. The army captured Vienna, Prague, and Milan (defeating Piedmont in the process). In the case of Hungary, Austria needed outside help to restore order. Russia under the conservative Nicholas I responded and invaded Hungary to restore it to Hapsburg control. Italy After the failure of the Piedmontese invasion of Lombardy, Italian nationalists took control of Rome in 1849. Initially it had been hoped that Pope Pius IX (r. 1846 1878) would be a liberal and lead Italian unification, but he did not agree with the revolutionaries and fled Rome when they seized control. 12
The new Roman Republic was led by Italy's leading nationalists, Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi. The conservative President Bonaparte of France wanted the support of the Catholic Church, and, as a Bonaparte, wanted military glory. He also opposed Italian unification, fearing the creation of a potential rival on France's borders. Thus, France invaded Rome in 1849 and restored Pius IX, earning Bonaparte the gratitude of France's Catholics. French troops stayed in Rome to sustain papal rule. Germany Revolutions broke out in 1848 in most of the German states, demanding that monarchs grant constitutions. The King of Prussia, Frederick William IV, responded to the revolutionaries in Berlin by promising a constitution, although there had been little violence and the government never lost control of the capital. An elected assembly ended up writing a constitution which suited the king, ensuring conservative dominance. The king retained control of the army, and ministers were responsible to the king, not to the assembly. Voters were divided into three classes, depending on their income and property. The weight of their votes thus varied, so that the wealthiest 5% was able to elect a third of the assembly, and the next wealthiest 13% elected another third, leaving 82% of the voters electing a final third. 13
Independent of Germany's rulers, a group of German liberal nationalists met in 1848 in Frankfurt to write a constitution for a unified Germany. The Frankfurt Parliament designed a German flag. One of the major issues dividing the Frankfurt Parliament was whether to include Austria because of its substantial non German population. It ended up choosing a smaller Germany which excluded Austria. As liberals, they rejected any protections for industrial workers and guilds, so they never won the support of the working class. Conservatives also rejected their efforts from the start. When the Frankfurt Parliament offered the crown of a unified Germany to Frederick William IV, he rejected it, saying crowns come from God, not from elected politicians. The Frankfurt Parliament thus failed to win support from German rulers and workers, and disbanded in failure. 14