Zusammenfassung der Ressource
THE INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION AND THE
CLASS-BASED SOCIETY
- 4. THE WORKING-CLASS MOVEMENT
- 4.1. Industrial working conditions
- As industrial capitalism grew, the differences
between the wealthy industrial bourgeoisie
and the working class increased.
- The wealthy bourgeoisie enjoyed comfortable
homes, education, healthcare, entertainment and
holidays.
- The working class suffered terrible working
and living conditions.
- · Wages were too low to support a
family, women's and children's wages
were even lower than men's.
- · 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.
- 4.2. The origins of working-class politics
- 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.
- · 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.
- · 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
- The Industrial Revolution was the process through which technological advances led to dramatic economic changes.
- 1.1. The causes of the Industrial Revolution
- This was not a rapid process: took almost 100 years. It is
considered a revolution because affected every sector of
the economy.
- · Population growth: living conditions improved across Europe.
- · 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.
- · 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.
- · Technological advances: the Industrial Revolution was the start
or the machine age, machines were the key element of
industrialisation.
- 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.
- 1.3. Key elements of industrialisation
- Textile industry
- The textile industry
through the invention of
the spinning machine
and the mechanical
weaving loom caused an
increase in production.
- New way of working
developed: the division
of labour, each worker
was responsible for a
different part of the
production process.
- Transport Revolution
- Improvements to the
waterways and roads
played an important
part in the Industrial
Revolution.
- 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.
- Iron and steel industry
- 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.
- Bessemer converter
allowed foundries to
transform iron into
steel in large
quantities.
- 1.2. The consequences of the Industrial Revolution
- · Population growth
- · Agricultural improvement was possible to
produce enough food for the growing
population.
- · Increased trade profits from trade were
invested in industry.
- · Mechanisation products could be produced
more quickly and in greater quantities.
- 2. INDUSTRIALISATION IN THE REST OF EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES
- During the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution spread to other European countries such as Germany, Belgium and France.
- Industrialisation in Spain
- · Domestic demand was limited
- · 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.
- The industrialisation of the United States
- 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.
- · Abundant reserves of coal and iron, which provided the raw materials and energy sources for industry.
- · Population growth, that create demand for industrial products.
- · 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
- 3.2. The characteristics of the class-based society
- · The upper class, the wealthiest people.
- - The wealthy bourgeoisie. They
obtained large profits from their
businesses and became the
dominant social group.
- - The nobility continued to receive
high incomes.
- · The middle class had a medium level of wealth.
- - civil servants, lawyers and doctors who provided services.
- - small-scale merchants and craftsmen who owned their
workshops or shops.
- - farmers who owned small agricultural holdings.
- · The working class lived in extreme poverty.
- - industrial workers, know as the proletariat. Worked in
factories ans didn't own property
- - tenant farmers rented agricultural land in order to
cultivate it. Agricultural labourers did seasonal work
and were paid by the day.
- 3.1. The origins of the class-based society.
- · The French Revolution abolished the privileges of the nobility and the clergy.
The legal end of the estates system.
- · The Industrial Revolution increased the importance and power of the wealthy
bourgeoisie. A new social group was formed: The working class.
- 5. REVOLUTIONARY IDEOLOGIES
- 5.3. The International
- · 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.
- · 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.
- 5.1. Marxism
- Developed by Karl Mark and Friedrich Engels
- · The dictatorship of the working classes: once they had achieved political
power, the working classes would establish a new social and political order.
- · The communist economy: private property would be abolished. The means
of production would be socialised.
- · The communist society: the class-based society would disappear. Society
would be equal and without classes.
- 5.2. Anarchism
- Anarchism was first developed by Pierre Joseph Prudhon, and Mikhail Backunin.
- · Individual freedom: people had to fight against any authority or
institute that limited freedom, such as the state and the church.
- · Direct action: each citizen should represent him or here self, so
anarchists rejected political parties and elections.
- · 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
- · Luddite-style protests took place in Cataluña. In 1835, workers set the sewing machines on fire in the
Bonaplata factory in Barcelona.
- · From 1840 onwards, mutual aid societies, called sociedadeas de socorro mutuo were set up.
- · The Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) was establish in 1879, and in 1888 the
Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) was founded. Both followed Marxism.
- · Anarchists initially organised many revolutionary trade unions, or syndicates, such as the
(FTRE).
- 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.
- 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