English Radical Movements: A Reaction Against Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution began in England during the late 1700’s. This movement introduced improved agricultural methods, textile industries, and the export of machine-made goods. Because the agricultural business was finding more efficient ways to manage their products, the working class decreased in this field (Document 7). This extreme drop in numbers led to people whining for a steady, supportive job. Luckily for the thousands of unemployed, the demand for factory workers increased (Document 2).

The progressives wanted to help relieve all these problems through a philosophy called progressivism. They managed to achieve some of their aims but not all of them. Since the industrial revolution brought many new job opportunities, communities wanted to get to

In 1877, amid an economic depression, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroads lowered their workers' wages by 20 percent. Their workers unionized in a strike that started in West Virginia. 2/3 of the nation joined, opposing the federal troops sent by President Hayes to end the strike. America’s Gilded Age was an era of confrontation between management and labor. It was an era of economic depression, growing industrialism and abysmal working conditions.

The American Revolution ignited democratic rule in nations and spread through the whole world. The American Revolution was definitely different from other revolutions in many ways. It was radical in that the causes of it were for new ideas like their ideas on equality, that all men are created equal, and are given the right to live and pursuit of happiness. Although the American Revolution was radical than any other revolution that had occurred previously. it was more conservative than it was radical.

The Industrial Revolution of the nineteenth century changed the European working lifestyles from agrarian to urban. This change of lifestyle happened very quickly, and left thousands of lower class working citizens in poverty. Throughout the nineteenth century several different arguments were made on how to improve the lives of European workers. Arguments made to improve the lives of European workers include: having a stronger government, giving more rights to the working class, turning towards a socialistic government, or simply maintaining the status quo. Documents 3, 7, and 9 claim that having a more involved government will improve living conditions for workers.

The Radical American Revolution During the 17th and 18th centuries, the US’s colonists were growing tired of Britain’s taxes and leadership, and slowly came to rebel against Britain. The colonists’ small rebellions eventually lead to the American Revolution (1775-1783), where the colonists fought to be in charge of themselves. The Revolution provided a great change in American from 1607 to 1800. Although the white elite still stayed in power, the American Revolution was truly revolutionary as shown by a new political system, more opportunities to improve the rights of slaves and women, and a new republican and enlightenment ideological basis.

In the beginning of the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution caused a massive economic spike from small-scale production to large factories and mass production. Capitalism became the prevalent mode of the economy, which put all means of production in the hands of the bourgeoisie, or the upper class. Karl Marx and Frederick Engels argue that capitalism centralizes all the wealth and power in the bourgeoisie, despite the proletariat, or the working class, being the overwhelming majority of the population. The manufacturers would exploit the common proletariat and force them to would work in abysmal conditions and receive low wages, furthering the working class poverty. “The Communist Manifesto” predicts that as a result of the mistreatment

In a time after the Civil War, when a transcontinental railroad was created connecting the East and West, people began to move and settle across the country, creating new urban cities and manufacturing hubs. It was because of the railroad that the Second Industrial Revolution and the Gilded Age took place which rapidly increased the manufacturing of products through the new machines in factories and the spread of ideas by the telegraph and railroad. It was in this context that many farmers, as well, began to move West and experience a loss in the prices of their crops. It is also in this context that many workers were forced to work long, laborious hours with little pay. Farmers responded to industrialization in the Gilded Age by forming organizations such as the Granger movement and the Farmers Alliance as well as creating the Populist Party.

The Industrial Revolution cast its shadow upon European cities and towns. Some enjoyed this shade while others suffered tremendously because of it. Those who enjoyed the luxuries and wealth that the Industrial Revolution provided, the bourgeoisie, depended on the needs of the poor, the proletarians, to increase the size of their monstrous factories and ultimately their wealth and influence. In “The Communist Manifesto” Karl Marx discusses the effects of the Industrial Revolution in further dividing society by creating new social and economic hierarchies. In addition to his observation of the division of labor, Karl Marx believed, that due to the technological shift from craftsmanship to machinery this also caused division of labor and the appreciation of proletarian handmade goods was disregarded.

For example, before the existence of civil society, there were no class struggles. Humans worked together for their collective good. Marx refers to this mode of production as ‘’primitive communism’’. The reason there were no class struggles during this mode of production was there were no surplus goods or labour

The time period from when the Second Industrial Revolution was beginning, up until President McKinley’s assassination in 1901, is known as the Gilded Age. After the Civil War, many people headed out West to pursue agriculture, and many immigrants moved to urban areas to acquire jobs in industrial factories. It is in this context that farmers and industrial workers had to respond to industrialization. Two significant ways farmers and industrial workers responded to industrialization in the Gilded Age, were creating the Populist Party and the American Federation of Labor (AFL).

For a few heroic weeks in 1871, the working class took the power in Paris in their hands. In extremely risky conditions, the Parisian workers were trying to change society and to eliminate exploitation and poverty, yet have not fallen victim to brutal counter-revolution. Only the killing of nearly 20 thousand proletarians has allowed the bourgeoisie to restore the old order. The Paris commune was the first uprising in which the working class so powerfully manifested itself. For the first time in history the proletarians have shown that they are the only consistently revolutionary class of society at this time.

From a traditional, agrarian society, the economy evolved to take on capitalist features, revolving around the concepts of supply and demand, and using machines in conjunction with human labour with the ultimate goal of making a profit in the market. With so much demand and supply, the government listened to the new ideas and that was the evolution of the give and take between the government and their citizens. The same applied for the creation of social duty as well. These massively impacted the agricultural and manufacturing processes as well, which led to further significant changes in the economic system. For instance, farm production, which was once done manually by hand and produced with the aim of feeding the immediate family, became commercialised.

These different ideals were profound in modern capitalist economy because it shaped the workers of the industrial

CHAPTER 3 CLASS STRUGGLE Generally class struggle means conflict between the upper class and lower class the idea of Class struggle is long-used mostly by socialists and communists, who define a class by its relationship to the means of production such as factories, land, and machinery. From this point of view, the social control of production and labour is a fight between classes, and the division of these resources basically involves conflict and causes damage. Societies are socially divided based on status, wealth, or control of social production and distribution, and in this division of class conflict arises. It is important to know Karl Marx theory on class struggle; he viewed the structure of society in relation to