THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND THE CLASS-BASED SOCIETY

4. THE WORKING-CLASS MOVEMENT
1. 4.1. Industrial working conditions
  1. As industrial capitalism grew, the differences between the wealthy industrial bourgeoisie and the working class increased.
    1. The wealthy bourgeoisie enjoyed comfortable homes, education, healthcare, entertainment and holidays.
  2. The working class suffered terrible working and living conditions.
    1. · Wages were too low to support a family, women's and children's wages were even lower than men's.
      1. · The working day was extremely long and exhausting: between 14 and 16 hours a day.
        · Child labour in factories and mines.
        · Chronic illnesses and accidents were common, especially in the mines.
        · Workers had no right. In the case of illness, accident or death the lost their wages.
        · Workers did not have their right to protest, meet and discuss their conditions.
2. 4.2. The origins of working-class politics
  1. The difficult working and living conditions that the working class experienced led to protest against the factory owners. these owner opposed workers. In the early 19th century, the proletariat in Great Britain began to organise itself.
    1. · In 1811 the Luddites emerged. Factory workers protested by destroying machines. The death penalty for anyone who destroyed a machine in order to protest against the worker conditions.
      1. · In the 1830s the first trade unions began to appear. This associations of workers in the same industry, protest against the government and business owners in order to improve working condition.
        · The Chartist movement emerged (1838-1848) in Great Britain. A group of associated workers who wrote letters to the parliament demanding publicity reforms, these reforms were rejected. This would make it possible to pass laws that would protect workers.
1. THE BEGINNING OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: GREAT BRITAIN
1. The Industrial Revolution was the process through which technological advances led to dramatic economic changes.
  1. 1.1. The causes of the Industrial Revolution
    1. This was not a rapid process: took almost 100 years. It is considered a revolution because affected every sector of the economy.
      1. · Population growth: living conditions improved across Europe.
      2. · The Agricultural Revolution: were numerous improvements in agriculture.
        - Extensive agricultural holdings that were more profitable.
        - The mechanisation of agriculture.
        - Fertilisers were used.
        - Crop rotation was introduced.
      3. · Increased trade: in Great Britain, foreign trade increased because the country dominated trade routes in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Domestic trade also grew due to an increase in demand.
      4. · Technological advances: the Industrial Revolution was the start or the machine age, machines were the key element of industrialisation.
      5. The modern steam engine was invented by James Watt in 1769. It used coal as fuel. Steam power became the source of energy that drove the new machines.
  2. 1.3. Key elements of industrialisation
    1. Textile industry
      1. The textile industry through the invention of the spinning machine and the mechanical weaving loom caused an increase in production.
      2. New way of working developed: the division of labour, each worker was responsible for a different part of the production process.
    2. Transport Revolution
      1. Improvements to the waterways and roads played an important part in the Industrial Revolution.
      2. The invention of the steam locomotive by Richard Trevithick in 1804, the steamship by Robert Fulton in 1807 and the opening of the first public railway by George Stephenson in 1825.
    3. Iron and steel industry
      1. The development of the iron and steel industry was facilitated by the use of coal as a source of energy. This produces a lot of heat.
      2. Bessemer converter allowed foundries to transform iron into steel in large quantities.
  3. 1.2. The consequences of the Industrial Revolution
    1. · Population growth
    2. · Agricultural improvement was possible to produce enough food for the growing population.
    3. · Increased trade profits from trade were invested in industry.
    4. · Mechanisation products could be produced more quickly and in greater quantities.
2. INDUSTRIALISATION IN THE REST OF EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES
1. During the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution spread to other European countries such as Germany, Belgium and France.
  1. Industrialisation in Spain
    1. · Domestic demand was limited
      1. · The poor quality of coal from Spanish mines and the lack of local technology.
        · There was insufficient domestic capital available for investment in industry.
        · The cotton industry, was established in Cataluña with imported British machinery.
        · The iron and steel industry began in Marbella, Málaga, using charcoal. Later was establish in Asturias and then in Vizcaya, where imported British coal.
  2. The industrialisation of the United States
    1. In the 1840s the United States began the process of industrialisation. The application of new agricultural techniques to lands in the West and the large amounts of raw materials in this region assisted industrial development.
  3. · Abundant reserves of coal and iron, which provided the raw materials and energy sources for industry.
    1. · Population growth, that create demand for industrial products.
      1. · Capital for investment in industry.
        · Well-developed railway networks, which facilitated the transport of products.
        In France, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars slowed down the process of industrialisation.
3. THE CLASS-BASED SOCIETY
1. 3.2. The characteristics of the class-based society
  1. · The upper class, the wealthiest people.
    1. - The wealthy bourgeoisie. They obtained large profits from their businesses and became the dominant social group.
    2. - The nobility continued to receive high incomes.
  2. · The middle class had a medium level of wealth.
    1. - civil servants, lawyers and doctors who provided services.
    2. - small-scale merchants and craftsmen who owned their workshops or shops.
    3. - farmers who owned small agricultural holdings.
  3. · The working class lived in extreme poverty.
    1. - industrial workers, know as the proletariat. Worked in factories ans didn't own property
    2. - tenant farmers rented agricultural land in order to cultivate it. Agricultural labourers did seasonal work and were paid by the day.
2. 3.1. The origins of the class-based society.
  1. · The French Revolution abolished the privileges of the nobility and the clergy. The legal end of the estates system.
    1. · The Industrial Revolution increased the importance and power of the wealthy bourgeoisie. A new social group was formed: The working class.
5. REVOLUTIONARY IDEOLOGIES
1. 5.3. The International
  1. · The First International, known as the International Workingmen's Association (IWA), was the founded in London in 1864. In 1876 the First International was dissolves due to the various disagreements between Marxists and anarchists.
  2. · The Second International was establish in Paris in 1889. It called for an eight-hour working day and established 1 May as an international day of protest for workers' right.
2. 5.1. Marxism
  1. Developed by Karl Mark and Friedrich Engels
    2. · The dictatorship of the working classes: once they had achieved political power, the working classes would establish a new social and political order.
    3. · The communist economy: private property would be abolished. The means of production would be socialised.
    4. · The communist society: the class-based society would disappear. Society would be equal and without classes.
3. 5.2. Anarchism
  1. Anarchism was first developed by Pierre Joseph Prudhon, and Mikhail Backunin.
    1. · Individual freedom: people had to fight against any authority or institute that limited freedom, such as the state and the church.
    2. · Direct action: each citizen should represent him or here self, so anarchists rejected political parties and elections.
    3. · The abolition of private property: society would be organised into independent communes. The means of production would be owned collectively and decisions would be taken by popular assemblies.
6. THE WORKING-CLASS MOVEMENT IN SPAIN
1. · Luddite-style protests took place in Cataluña. In 1835, workers set the sewing machines on fire in the Bonaplata factory in Barcelona.
2. · From 1840 onwards, mutual aid societies, called sociedadeas de socorro mutuo were set up.
3. · The Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) was establish in 1879, and in 1888 the Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) was founded. Both followed Marxism.
4. · Anarchists initially organised many revolutionary trade unions, or syndicates, such as the (FTRE).
5. In 1910, the anarchists who were opposed to the use of violence established the Confederación Naciola del Trabajo (CNT). They became the biggest and strongest trade union in Spain.
6. Other associations as the círculos católicos and rural building societies (cajas rurales), provide loans for the purchase of fertilisers and seeds.
Candela González Bascuñana 4ºC

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