Chapter 21: The Revolution in Energy and Industry
The
Industrial Revolution in Britain
·
Industrial Rev (IDR) began in Great Brit
o
Wealthiest and dominant part of the country
·
Transformation in industry was unplanned and new
o
No models to copy from
·
Brit had to pioneer industrial technology, social relations and urban
living
·
These tasks were complicated by war with France
·
Brit was leader in economic development
Eighteenth-Century
Origins
·
Generally agreed that industrial changes grew out of a long process of
development
·
Expanding Atlantic economy served mercantilist Brit will
o
Colonial empire and a strong position in African slave trade provided a
growing market for Brit manufactured goods
·
Agriculture played a central role in bringing about the IDR
o
English farmers were second only to Dutch in productivity
o
Adopting new methods of farming
o
Period of bountiful crops and low food prices
§ Ordinary family didn’t have
to spend everything it earned just to buy bread
§ Could spend more on
manufactured goods
§ Average Brit family was
redirecting its labor away from unpaid work for household consumption to work
for wages that they could spend on goods
·
Manufacturing expanded to supply both foreign and British customers,
and domestic market for raw materials was well positioned to meet growing
demands of manufacturers
o
Cheaper to ship goods by water than by land
o
No part of England was 50 miles away from navigable waters
o
Canal building enhanced natural advantage
§ Easy movement of England and
Wale’s iron and coal – critical materials for IDR
o
No tariffs within country to hinder trade
·
Brit had a lot of other assets that helped give rise to IDR
o
Effective central bank and well-developed credit marketers
o
Monarchy and aristocratic oligarchy spend lavishly on stylish luxuries
and provided stable and predictable gov
o
Gov let domestic economy operate with few controls, encouraging
personal initiative, technical change, and free market
o
Large class of hired agricultural laborers, rural proletarians whose
numbers increased after 2nd round of enclosures
o
Rural wage earners were relatively mobile
§ Rural wage earners formed a
potential industrial labor force for capitalist entrepreneurs
·
All factors combined to initiate IDR: the burst of major inventions and
technical changes witnessed in certain industries
o
Hand in hand with quickening in annual rate of industrial growth in
Brit
§ Industry grew more than ever
(3% in 30 yrs, rather than .7% in 60 yrs)
§ Quickening probably came
after American Revolution, just before French Revolution
·
Great economic and political revolutions occurred simultaneously in
diff countries
·
IDR was a longer process than political upheavals (not complete until
1850, had little impact on continental countries until after 1815)
The
First Factories
·
Pressure to produce more goods for growing market was directly related
to first decisive breakthrough of IDR: Creation of world’s first large
factories in Brit cotton textile industry
·
Tech innovations in manufacturing of cotton cloth led to a new system
of production and social relationships
·
No other industry experiences such a rapid/complete transformation
before 1830
·
Under pressure of huge demand, putting out system’s limitations started
to outweigh its advantages
·
Constant shortage of thread in textile industry focused attention on
ways of improving spinning
o
Workers knew better spinning wheels promised rich rewards
o
Hard to spin traditional raw materials with traditional raw materials
(wool and flax) with improved machines, but cotton worked
o
Cotton textiles first imported to Brit from India by East India Company
as a rare and delicate luxury for upper classes
o
Tiny domestic cotton industry emerged in n England
·
James Hargreaves: Invented spinning cotton
jenny
·
Richard Arkwright: Invented water frame
·
Breakthrough products produced an explosion in infant cotton textile
industry
o
Increasing value of output
o
New machines were making 10x as much cotton as made in 1770
·
Hargreaves’s spinning jenny was simple, inexpensive, and powered by
hand
·
Arkwright’s water frame quickly acquired a capacity of several hundred
spindles and demanded much more power – water power
·
Water frame required large specialized mills, factories that employed
as many as 1,000 workers
·
Water frame could spin only a coarse, strong threat, which was then put
out for hand respinning on cotton jennies
·
Samuel Crompton: Alternative technique, began
to require more power than the human arm could supply
·
Over time, all cotton spinning was gradually concentrated in factories
·
First consequences of revolutionary developments in textile industry
were more beneficial than believed
o
Cotton goods became cheaper, and were increasingly bought and treasured
by all classes
§ In past, only wealthy could
afford comfort/cleanliness of underwear (body linen)
§ Now millions if poor people could
afford to wear underwear
o
Families using cotton in cottage industry were freed from constant
search for adequate yarn from scattered part time spinners
o
Wages of weavers rose, as they were hard pressed to keep up with
spinners
§ Weavers became among best
paid workers in England
§ Large numbers of
agricultural laborers came hand loom weavers
·
Edmund Cartwright: Invented a power loom to
save on labor costs, worked poorly at first
·
Working conditions in early cotton factories were less satisfactory
than those of cottage weavers and spinners
o
Adult workers reluctant to work in them
o
Factory owners often turned to young children who’d been abandoned by
parents to put in care of local parishes
o
Parish officers “apprenticed’ foundlings to factory owners
o
Parish saved money, and factory gained workers over whom they exercised
slave like control
·
Children apprenticed at 5 or 6
o
Boy and girl workers were forced by law to labor for their masters for
as many as 14 years
o
Housed, fed, and locked up nightly in factory dormitories
o
Received little or no pay
o
Hours were long – 13 or 14 hours a day, 6 days a week
o
Harsh physical punishment for discipline
o
Poor children typically worked long hours and frequently outside the
home for brutal masters, but coercion of orphans as factory apprentices
constituted exploitation on a truly unprecedented scale
§ Piqued conscience of
reformers, who called for more humanitarian attitudes toward children and their
§ Got 2 laws to protect young
workers
·
Creation of world’s first modern factories in Brit cotton textile
industry grew out of putting out system of cottage production
o
Major historical development
·
New cotton mills marked beginning of IDR in Brit
·
Largely mechanized cotton textile industry towered above all others,
accounting for fully 22% of country’s entire industrial production
The
Problem of Energy
·
Epoch (era) making solution was found to age old problem of energy and
power
·
Converting energy into another for benefit was long used
o
People began to develop water mills to grind grain, and wind mills to
pump water and drain swamps
o
More efficient use of water and wind – intercontinental sailing ships
·
Society continued to rely mainly on wood for energy and power
·
No matter how hard ppl worked, they couldn’t produce very much
·
Shortage of energy became severe in Brit by 18th c
o
Wood was in shortage, but remained important
o
Primary source of heat for all homes and industries and as raw material
o
Processed wood (charcoal) was fuel that was mixed with iron ore in
blast furnace to produce pig iron
o
Iron industry’s appetite for wood was enormous
o
Iron industry was stagnating
The
Steam Engine Breakthrough
·
As energy crisis grew worse, Brit looked toward abundant and widely
scattered reserves of coal as alternative to its vanishing wood
·
Coal first used for heat
o
Heat for homes
o
Heat for making beer, glass, soap, other products
·
Industrialists began to use coal to produce mechanical energy and to
power machinery
·
As more coal was produced, mines were dug deeper and were being filled
with water
·
Mechanical pumps powered by animals walking in a circle had to be
installed
o
This was expensive and bothersome
·
Thomas Savery and Thomas Newcomen invented first steam engines: burned coal to
produce steam, which was used to operate a pump
o
Both engines were inefficient
o
But, Savery and Newcomen engines were widely used in English and
Scottish mines
·
James Watt: Did critical study of
steam engine
o
Employed as a skilled craftsman making scientific instruments
o
Called to repair Newcomen engine
o
Saw Newcomen’s waste of energy could be reduced by adding a separate
condenser
o
Greatly increased efficiency of the steam engine
·
Watt needed skilled workers, precision parts, and capital, and advanced
nature of Brit economy proved essential
o
Matthew Boulton: wealthy English
industrialist, provided Watt adequate capital and skills in salesmanship that
equaled those of Josiah Wedgwood
o
Found skilled mechanics who could install, regulate, and repair the
sophisticated engines,
o
Manufacturers such as John
Wilkinson allowed Watt to purchase precision parts
·
Watt’s support allowed him to create an effective vacuum and regulate a
complex engine
·
Watt made further improvements
·
Firm of Boulton and Watt made the steam engine a practical and
commercial success in Brit
·
Steam engine of Watt and followers was the IDR’s most fundamental
advance in technology
o
For the first time in history humanity had almost unlimited power at
its disposal
o
For the first time, inventors and engineers could devise and implement
all kinds of power equipment to aid people in their work
o
For the first time, abundance was a possibility for ordinary men and
women
·
Steam engine was quickly put to use in several industries in Brit
o
Drained mines, and made possible production of even more coal to feed
steam engines
o
Steam power began to replace water power in cotton spinning mills
during 1780s, contributed to that industry’s phenomenal rise
o
Steam took place of water power in flour mills, mal mills, flint mills,
and supplied pottery industry
·
Steam power promoted important breakthroughs in other industries
o
Brit iron industry was radically transformed
§ Powerful steam driven
bellows in blast furnaces helped ironmakers switch from limited charcoal to
unlimited coke (made from coal) in smelting of pig iron
o
Henry Cort: developed puddling
furnace, which allowed pig iron to be refined in turn with coke
§ Strong, skilled ironworkers
(puddlers) “cooked’ molten pig iron in a great vat, raking off globs of refined
iron for further processing
§ Cort developed open heavy
duty steam powered rolling mills, capable of spewing out finished iron in every
shape and form
o
Economic consequence of these technical innovations was a great boom in
Brit iron industry
§ 1740: Annual Brit iron
production was only 17,000 tons
§ With spread of coke smelting
and Cort’s inventions, production reached 260,000 tons by 1806
§ 1844: Brit produced 3
million tons of iron
§ Truly amazing expansion
§ Once scarce and expensive,
iron became cheap, basic, indispensable building block of economy
The Coming of the Railroads
·
2nd half of 18th
c: Extensive construction of hard and relatively smooth roads, particularly in
France before the Rev
·
Passenger traffic benefitted
most from construction
·
Overland shipment of freight,
relying solely on horsepower, was still quite limited and frightfully expensive
·
Shippers used rivers and canals
for heavy freight whenever possible
·
1800: Am’s drove a steamer on
wheels
·
Other experiments followed
·
1820s: English engineers created
steam cars capable of carrying fourteen passengers at 10 mph
o
Noisy, heavy steam automobiles
frightened passing horses and damaged themselves and the roads with vibrations
·
For the rest of the century,
horses continued to reign on highways and city streets
·
Coal industry had long been
using plank roads and rails to move coal wagons within mines and at the surface
o
Rails reduced friction and
allowed a horse or human to pull a heavier load
o
Once a rail capable of
supporting a heavy locomotive was developed in 1816, all sorts of experiments
with steam engines on rails went forth
·
1825: George Stevenson built an effective locomotive
o
1830: Rocket sped down the track
from Liverpool à Manchester at 16 mph
·
Line from Liverpool Ã
Manchester was a financial and technical success, many private companies were
quickly organized to build more rail lines
·
Within 20 years, they’d
completed the main trunk lines of Great Brit
·
Other countries were quick to
follow
·
Tremendous significance of
railroad
o
Dramatically reduced cost and
uncertainty of shipping freight over land
§ Economic
consequences
·
Markets no longer small and
local
·
Transportation costs were
lowered, markets became larger and nationwide
·
Larger markets encouraged larger
factories with more sophisticated machinery in a growing number of industries
o
Made costs more cheaply and
gradually subjected most cottage workers and many urban artisans to severe
competitive pressures
·
In all countries, construction
of RRs created a strong demand for unskilled labor and contributed to growth of
a class of urban workers
o
Hard work on construction gangs
was done in open air with animals and hand tools
o
Landless farm laborers and poor
peasants, accustomed to leaving their villages for temporary employment, went
to built RRs
o
By the time they were finished,
they didn’t want to return home (life looked dull and unappealing)
o
Many men drifted to towns in
search of work
o
By the time they sent for their
wives and sweethearts to join them, they’d already become urban workers
·
RR, last and culminating
invention of IDR, changed outlook and values of entire society
o
Dramatically revealed the power
and increased speed of the new age
§ Raced
down track at 16Ã 50 mph
o
Great painters Joseph MW Turner and Claude Monet expressed the sense of
power and awe
o
Massive new train stations, like
cathedrals, expressed power and awe
o
Leading railway engineers who
created railroad track areas, like Isambard
Kingdom Brunel and Thomas Brassey
became public idols
o
Everyday speech was centered
around images of RRs (“Full head of steam” and “toot your own whistle)
§ RR
fired imagination
·
You so
·
Awesome
Industry and Population
·
1851: London hosted industrial
fair called Great Exhibition in newly built Crystal Palace, an architectural
masterpiece that helped draw millions of visitors
o
Built entirely of glass and iron
·
Now the little island of Brit
was the “workshop of the world”
o
Produced 2/3 of world’s coal
o
Produced over ½ of world’s iron
and cotton cloth
o
1860: Produced 20% of world’s output
of industrial goods
·
Experiencing revolutionary
industrial change, Brit became the first industrial nation
·
As Brit economy significantly
increased production of manufactured goods, gross national product (GNP) rose
4x at constant prices between 1780-1851
o
Brit ppl as a whole increased
their wealth and their national income dramatically
·
Population of Brit boomed at
same time, from 9 mill to 21 mill
o
Growing numbers consumed much of
the increase in total production
·
Average consumption per person
increased by only 75%, as growth in total population ate up a large part of the
4x increase of GNP
·
Many economic historians now
believe that rapid population growth in Brit was not harmful because it
facilitated industrial expansion
o
More people Ã
more mobile labor force, with a
wealth of young workers in need of employment and ready to go where the
jobs were
·
Contemporaries were less
optimistic
o
Thomas
Malthus: Essay
on the principle of Population, thought population would always tend to
grow faster than the food supply
§ Concluded
the only hope of warding off “positive checks” to population growth, such as
war, famine, and disease, was “prudential restraint”
§ Young
men and women had to limit the growth of population by marrying late in life
§ Malthus
was not optimistic – the powerful attraction of the sexes, he thought, would
cause most ppl to marry early and have many children
o
David
Ricardo: Leading economist and wealthy
stockbroker
§ Spelled
out pessimistic implications of Malthus’s thought
§ Iron
law of wages: Because of the pressure of population growth, wages would always
sink to subsistence level
·
Theory proposed by Ricardo
suggesting that the pressure of population growth prevents wages from rising
above the subsistence level
§ Wages
would just be high enough to keep workers from starving
o
With Malthus and Ricardo setting
the tone, economics was dubbed the “dismal science”
·
Malthus, Ricardo, and their many
followers were proven wrong in the long run
o
But until 1820s or 1840s,
contemporary observers might reasonably have concluded that the economy and
total population were racing neck and neck, with the outcome in doubt
o
Closeness of race added to difficulties
inherent in the journey toward industrial civilization
o
Another problem: Perhaps
workers, farmers, and ordinary ppl did not get their rightful share of the new
wealth
o
Perhaps only the rich got
richer, and poor got poorer, or made no progress
Industrialization in Continental Europe
·
New tech developed in the Brit
IDR were adopted rather slowly by businesses in continental Europe
·
By end of 19th c,
several European countries as well as the US also industrialized their
economies to a considerable but variable degree
·
Process of Western industrialization
proceeded gradually, with uneven jerks and national and regional variations
·
Scholars are still struggling to
explain these variations, especially since good answers may offer valuable
lessons for poor countries seeding to improve their condition through
industrialization and economic development
·
Latest findings: There were
alternative paths to industrial world in 19th c that there was no
need to follow a rigid, predetermined Brit model
National Variations
·
Comparative data on industrial
production over time gives an overview of what happened
·
Level of industrialization per
capita: comparison of how much industrial product was produced in average for
each person in a given country in a given year
·
Reflect basic trends
o
1750: All countries were fairly
close together, and Brit was only slightly ahead of its archenemy, France
o
1800: Brit took a noticeable
lead over all continental countries
§ Gap
widened as Brit IDR accelerated to 1830 and reach full maturity by 1860
§ Brit
level of per capita industrialization was twice French level in 1830, and more
than 3x in 1860
o
Variations in timing and in
extent of industrialization in continental powers and US are apparent
§ Belgium
got independence from Netherlands in 1830 and experienced a revolutionary surge
between 1830 and 1860
§ France
developed factory production more gradually, no large bursts
§ In
general, eastern and southern Europe began process of modern industrialization
later than northwestern and central Europe
§ Regions
made real progress in late 19th c
o
Substantial industrialization in
eastern and southern Europe meant that all European states managed to raise per
capita industrial levels in 19th c
§ Continent
wide increases stood in stark contrast to large and tragic decreases that
occurred at same time in many non western countries (China and India)
§ European
countries industrialized to a greater or lesser extent even as most of the
non-Western world deindustrialized
§ Differential
rates of wealth and power creating industrial development, which heightened
disparities within Europe, also greatly magnified existing inequalities between
Europe and the rest of the world
The Challenge of Industrialization
·
Diff patterns of industrial
development suggests that the process of industrialization was far from
automatic
o
Building modern industry was a huge
challenge
·
Throughout Europe, the 18th
c was an era of agricultural improvement, population increase, expanding
foreign trade, and growing cottage industry
·
When the pace of Brit industry
began to accelerate in the 1780s, continental businesses began to adopt the new
methods as they proved their profitability
·
Brit industry enjoyed clear
superiority, but at the continent was close behind
·
By 1815, situation was quite
diff
o
No wars had been fought on Brit
soil, so Brit did not experience nearly as much physical destruction or
economic dislocation as the continent did
o
Brit industry maintained
momentum and continued to grow and improve
o
On the continent, upheavals that
began with French Rev disrupted trade, created runaway inflation, and fostered
social anxiety
o
War severed normal
communications between Brit and the continent, severely handicapping
continental efforts to use new Brit machinery and tech
o
France and the rest of Europe
were farther behind Britain in 1815 than 1789
§ Time
of “national catastrophe”
·
Widening gap made it more
difficult for other countries to follow Brit pattern in energy and industry
after peace was restored in 1815
o
In newly mechanized industries
Brit goods were being produced very economically, and had come to dominate
world markets completely while the continental states were absorbed in war
between 1792-1815
o
Brit tech had become so advanced
and complicated that very few engineers or skilled technicians outside England
understood it
o
Tech of steam power had grown
much more expensive – involved large investments in the iron and coal
industries and required existence of RRs, which were very costly
o
Continental business ppl had great
difficulty finding large sums of money the new methods demanded, and there was
a shortage of laborers accustomed to working in factories
o
Slowed spread of modern industry
·
After 1815, when continental
countries began to face up to Brit challenge, they had 3 important advantages
o
Most continental countries had a
rich tradition of putting out enterprise, merchant capitalists, and skilled
urban artisans
§ Gave
continental firms the ability to adapt and survive in the face of new market
conditions
o
Continental capitalists did not
need to develop their own advanced tech
§ Borrowed
new methods from Brit, as well as engineers and some of financial resources
they lacked
o
European countries such as
France and Russia had strong independent gov that did not fall under foreign
political control (Many non-Western areas lacked)
§ Could
fashion economic policies to serve their own interests, as they proceeded to
do.
§ Eventually
used power of state to promote industry and catch up to Brit
Agents of Industrialization
·
Brit realized great value of
their technical discoveries and tried to keep their secretes to themselves
o
Illegal for artisans and skilled
mechanics to leave Brit
o
Export of textile machinery and
other equipment was forbidden
·
Many talented, ambitious workers
slipped out of country illegally and introduced new methods abroad
·
William
Cockerill: Began building a cotton spinning
equipment in Belgium
·
Johns
Cockerill: Son, Purchased old summer palace in
Belgium and converted palace into a large industrial enterprise, which produced
machinery, steam engines, and then railway locomotives; Established modern
ironworks and coal mines
o
His plants became an industrial
nerve center, continually gathering new information and transmitting it across
Europe
o
Many skilled Brit workers came
illegally to work for Cockerill, and some went on to found their own companies
throughout Europe
o
Newcomers brought the latest
plans and secrets, so Cockerill knew 10 days after an industrial advance in
Brit
·
Brit technicians and skilled
workers were a powerful force in the spread of early industrialization
·
Talented entrepreneurs, like Fritz Harkort: Business pioneer in
German machinery industry
o
Served in England in as Prussian
army officer, enchanted by what he saw
o
Concluded Germany had to match
all these English achievements as quickly as possible
o
Set up shop in abandoned castle
o
Had a calling to build steam
engines
o
Became “Watt of Germany”
·
Harkort’s idea was simple, but
tough to carry out
o
Lacking skilled laborers to do
the job, Harkort turned to England for experienced and expensive mechanics
o
Getting materials was a problem
§ Had
to import thick iron boilers that were expensive
·
Harkort, despite problems, build
and sold engines, winning fame and praise
o
His ambition efforts resulted in
large financial losses for him and his patterns, and was forced out of his
company by financial backers, who cut back operations to reduce losses
o
Career illustrates great efforts
of a few important business leaders to duplicated Brit achievement and
difficulty of task
·
Entrepreneurs like Harkort were
exceptional
o
Most continental business
adopted factory technology slowly, and handicraft methods lived on
o
Continental industrialization
usually brought substantial but uneven expansion of handicraft industry in both
rural and urban areas for a time
o
Artisan production of luxury
items grew in France as the rising income of the international middle class
created foreign demand for silk scarves, perfumes, fine wines
Government Support and Corporate
Banking
·
Another major force in continental industrialization was gov, which
often helped business people in continental countries to overcome some of their
difficulties
·
Tariff protection proved quite important: A gov’s way of supporting and
aiding its own economy by laying high taxes on imported goods from other
countries
o
After 1815 wars, France was flooded by cheaper and better Brit goods
o
French gov responded by laying high tariffs on many Brit imports to
protect French economy
·
After 1815, continental govs bore cost of building roads and canals to
improve transportation
o
Bore significant extent to cost of building RRS
o
Belgium led the way
o
In effort to tie newly indep nation together, Belgian gov decided to
construct a state owned system
o
Built rapidly as a unified network, Belgium’s state owned RRs
stimulated development of heavy industry and made the country an early
industrial leader
o
Several of the smaller German states also built state systems
·
Prussian gov provided another kind of invaluable support
o
Guaranteed that state treasury would pay the interest and principal on
RR bonds if the closely regulated private companies in Prussia were unable to
do so
o
RR investors in Prussia ran little risk, and capital was quickly raised
·
In France, the state shouldered all the expense of acquiring the laying
roadbed, including bridges and tunnels
o
Finished roadbed was leased to a carefully supervised private company,
which usually benefited from a state guarantee of its debts
·
Govs helped pay for RRs, the all important leading sector in
continental industrialization
·
Fredrich List: List’s career of German
journalist reflects gov’s greater role in industrialization on the continent
than in England
o
Considered the growth of modern industry of utmost importance because
manufacturing was a primary means of increasing people’s well being and
relieving their poverty
o
Was a dedicated nationalist
o
Wrote that the “wider the gap between the backward and advanced nations
becomes, the more dangerous it is to remain behind”
o
Backward, agricultural nation was not only poor but also weak,
increasingly unable to defend itself and maintain its political independence
o
To promote industry was to defend the nation
·
Practical policies that List focused on in articles and his influential
book were RR building and the tariff
o
Supported formation of customs union, or Zollverein, among the separate
German states
o
Such a tariff union came into being in 1834, allowing goods to move
between the German member states without tariffs, while erecting a single
uniform tariff against other nations
o
List wanted a high protective tariff, which would encourage infant
industries, allowing them to develop and eventually hold their own against
their more advanced Brit counterparts
o
Denounced the Brit doctrine of free trade as part of Brit’s attempt to
dominate the whole world
·
By 1840’s, List’s economic nationalism, policies designed to protect
and develop the national economy, had become increasingly popular in Germany
and elsewhere
·
Banks, like gov’s, played a larger and more creative role on the
continent than in Brit
o
Previously, almost all banks in Europe were privately owned, organized
as secretive partnerships
§ Because of possibility of
unlimited financial loss, the partners of private banks tended to be quite
conservative and were content to deal with few rich clients and few big
merchants
§ Generally avoided industrial
investment as being to risky
o
1830s: 2 Belgian banks pioneered in a new direction
§ Received permission from gov
to establish themselves as corporations enjoying limited liability:
stockholders could now lose only their original investments in the bank’s common
stock, and they could not be forced by the courts to pay for any additional
losses out of other property they owned if the bank went bankrupt
§ Publicizing risk reducing
advantages of limited liability to investors, Belgian banks were able to
attract many shareholders
§ Mobilized impressive
resources for investment in big companies, became industrial banks, and
successfully promoted industrial development
o
Similar corporate banks became important in France and Germany in 1850s
and 1860s
§ Usually working in
collaboration with gov’s
§ Established and developed
many RRs and many companies working in heavy industry, which were also
increasingly organized as limited liability corporations
§ Credit Mobilier of Paris,
founded by Isaac and Emile Pereire: Used savings of
thousands of small investors as well as resources of big ones; built RRs all
over France and Europe
·
Combined efforts of skilled workers, entrepreneurs, govs, and
industrial banks meshed successfully between 1850-1873 (financial crash)
·
Period of unprecedented, rapid economic growth on the continent
o
In Belgium, Germany, and France, key indicators of modern industrial
development (railway mileage, iron and coal production, steam engine capacity)
increased at average annual rate of 5%-10%
o
Rail networks were completed in western and much of central Europe, and
the leading continental countries mastered the industrial technologies that had
first been developed in Brit
·
1870s: Brit was still Europe’s most industrial nation, but a select
handful of countries were closing the gap that had been opened up by IDR
Relations
Between Capital and Labor
·
Industrial development brought new social relations and intensified
long standing problems between capital and labor in both urban workshops and
cottage industry
·
New group of factory owners and industrial capitalists arose
o
Men, women, and their families strengthened wealth and size of the middle
class, which had previously been made up of mainly merchants and professional
ppl
o
19th c became golden age of middle class
·
Modern industry created a much larger group, factory workers
o
For the first time, large numbers of men, women, and children came
together under one roof to work with machinery for a single owner or a few
partners in a large companies
·
Growth of new occupational groups in industry stimulated new thinking
about social relations
o
Often combined with reflections on French Rev, thinking led to
development of a new overarching interpretation, a new paradigm, regarding
social relationships
§ Briefly argued that individs
were members of economically determined classes that had conflicting interests
§ The comfortable, well
educated “public” of 18th c came increasingly to see itself as the
backbone of middle class(es), and the “people” gradually transformed themselves
into the modern working class(es)
§ Even if the new class
interpretation was more of a deceptive simplification than a fundamental truth,
it appealed because it seemed to explain what was happening
§ Conflicting classes existed
because many individuals came to believe they existed and developed a sense of
class feeling – class consciousness: An individual’s sense of class
differentiation
The
New Class of Factory Owners
·
Early industrialists operated in a highly competitive economic system
o
There were countless production problems, and success and large profits
were not certain
o
Manufacturers waged a constant battle to cut their production costs and
stay afloat
o
Much of profit had to go back into machinery
o
Struggling manufacturer had “no time for niceties”
o
“Conquer or die, make a fortune or drown himself”
·
Most early industrialists drew upon their families and friends for
labor and capital, but came from a variety of backgrounds
o
Many were from well established merchant families with a rich network
of contacts and support (Harkort)
o
Others were of modest means, especially in the early days (Watt,
Wedgwood, Cockerill)
·
Artisans and skilled workers of exceptional ability had unparalleled
opportunities
·
Members of ethnic and religious groups who’d been discriminated against
in traditional occupations controlled by landed aristocracy jumped at new
chances and often helped each other
o
Scots, Quakers, and other Prot dissenters were tremendously important
in Brit
o
Prots and Jews dominated baking in Catholic France
o
Many of the industrialists were newly rich, and were proud and self
satisfied
·
As factories and firms grew larger, opportunities declined in well
developed industries
o
Became harder for a gifted but poor young mechanic to start a small
enterprise and end up as a wealthy manufacturers
o
Formal education became more important as a means of success and
advancement, and formal education at the advanced level was expensive
·
Leading industrialists were more likely to have inherited their well
established enterprises, and were financially much more secure than their
struggling fathers and mothers had been
o
Had a greater sense of class consciousness, were fully aware that
ongoing industrial development had widened the gap between themselves and their
workers
·
Wives and daughters of successful businessmen found fewer opportunities
for active participation in Europe’s increasingly complex business world.
Rather than contributing as vital partners in a family owned enterprise, they
were increasingly valued for being ladylike
·
Some influential women writers and most businessmen assumed that idle
class wives and daughters should steer clear of undignified work in offices and
factories
·
Middle class lady should protect and enhance her femininity
·
She should concentrate on her proper role as a wife and mother,
preferably far away from ruthless commerce and the volatile working class
The
new Factory Workers
·
Almost everyone agrees that the economic conditions of European workers
improved after 1850 (Brit was the first to industrialize and their social
consequences seemed harshest there)
·
Experience of Brit workers after 1850
·
From the beginning, the IDR had its critics – first, romantic poets
o
William Blake: Called early factories
“Satanic mills” and protested against the hard life of the London poor
o
William Wordsworth: Lamented destruction of
rural way of life and the pollution of th eland and water
o
Luddites: Attacked whole factories
in n England in 1812 and after, and smashed new machines, which they believed
were putting them out of work
o
Doctors and reformers wrote of problems in the factories and new towns
o
Malthus and Ricardo concluded workers would earn only enough to stay
alive
o
Fredrich Engels: Indictment of middle class,
“mass murder, wholesale robbery, and all the other crimes”; New poverty of
industrial workers was worse than the old poverty of cottage workers and
agricultural laborers, culprit was industrial capitalism with its relentless
competition and constant technical change
·
Observers believed that conditions were improving for the working
people
o
Andrew Ure: Conditions in most factories
were not harsh and even quite good
o
Edwin Chadwick: Concluded that the “whole
mass of the laboring community” was increasingly able to buy more of the
necessities and luxuries of life
·
Those who thought conditions were getting worse for working people were
in the majority
·
Scholarly studies weakened the idea that the condition of working class
got much worse with industrialization
·
Most recent scholarship confirms view that early years of IDR were hard
ones for Brit workers
o
Little or no increase in purchasing power of average Brit worker
o
1792-1815: constant warfare with France, life was difficult
§ Food prices rose faster than
wages
§ Living conditions of
laboring poor declined
·
Only after 1820 and especially after 1840 did real wages rise
substantially, so that the average worker earned and consumed roughly 50% more
in real terms in 1850 than 1770
·
There was considerable economic improvement for workers throughout Brit
by 1850, but that improvement was had won and slow in coming
·
Hours in average workweek increased
o
Workers earned more simply because they were working more
§ 300 days vs 265 days
§ 11 hr days
§ Leisure days like “Saint
Monday” were taken away
·
Wartime decline in average worker’s real wages and standard of living
from 1972-1815 had a powerful negative impact on workers
o
Difficult war years with more unemployment and sharply higher prices
for bread, were formative years for the new factory labor force, and colored
experience of modern and industrial life in somber tones
·
Look at gods workers purchased to determine their standard of living –
info somewhat contradictory
o
Workers ate more food of higher nutritional quality as IDR progressed,
except during wartime
o
Diets became more varied: ppl ate more potatoes, diary products,
fruits, and vegetables
o
Clothing improved
o
Housing for working ppl probably deteriorated somewhat
o
Per capita use of specific goods supports the position that the
standard of living of the working classes rose, at least moderately after the
long wars with France
Work
in Early Factories
·
First factories were cotton mills, which began functioning near fast
running rivers and areas
·
Cottage workers accustomed to putting out system were reluctant to work
in the new factories even when they received relatively good wages because
factory work was unappealing
o
Workers had to keep up with machine and follow its relentless tempo
o
Had to show up everyday on time, and work long, monotonous hours under
constant supervision of demanding overseers
o
Punished if they broke work rules
§ Late or spoiled material or
nodded off à fines deducted from weekly
pay
o
Children and adolescents beaten for infractions
·
Cottage workers not used to that stringent life or discipline
o
All members of the family worked hard and long, but in spurts and
working at their won pace
o
Could interrupt work when they wanted to
o
Women and children could break up their long hours with other tasks
o
On Sat, head of family delivered week’s work to merchant manufacturer
and got paid
o
Sat night, they relaxed and drank
·
Factories resembled English poorhouses, where indigent people went to
live at public expense
o
Some poorhouses were industrial prisons where inmates worked to receive
food and lodging
o
Similarity between large brick factories and large stone poorhouses
increased cottage workers’ fear of factories and their hatred of factory
discipline
·
Cottage workers’ reluctance to work in factories prompted early cotton
mill owners to turn to abandoned and pauper children for labor
o
Owners contracted with local officials to employ large number of
children who had no say
o
Pauper children were often badly treated and overworked
o
18th c: semi-forced child labor seemed necessary and was
socially accepted
Working
Families and Children
·
By 1790s early pattern was rapidly changing
·
Use of pauper apprentices was in decline, in 1802 it was forbidden by
PLMT
·
More textile factories were being built, mainly in urban areas, where
they could use steam power rather than waterpower and attract a workforce more
easily
·
Need for workers was great
o
People came from near and far to work in cities, as factory workers and
laborers, builders, and domestic servants
·
As they took new jobs, working ppl did not simply give in and accept
highly disciplined system of labor that formerly repelled them
o
Helped modify system by carrying old, familiar working traditions
§ Workers came to mills and
mines as family units like on farms/putting out system
§ Mill or mine owner bargained
with head of family and paid him for work of entire family
§ In cotton mills, children
worked for mothers or fathers, collecting scarps and piecing broken threads
together
§ In mines, children sorted
coal and worked ventilation equipment
§ Mothers hauled coal in
tunnels below surface, fathers hewed with pick and shovel
·
Preservation of family as economic unit in factories of 1790s made new
surroundings more tolerable, both in Brit and other countries during early
stages of industrialization
o
Parents disciplined their children, making firm measures socially
acceptable, and directed their upbringing
o
Presence of whole family meant that children and adults worked same
long hours (for cotton mills, 12 hours)
o
In early years, some very young children were employed solely to keep
family together
·
Jediah Strutt: Believed children should
be at least 10 to work in his textile mills, but reluctantly employed 7yo’s to
satisfy their parents
·
Adult workers were not particularly interested in limiting minimum
working age or hours of their children as long as family members worked side by
side
·
When technical changes threatened to place control and discipline in
the hands of impersonal managers and overseers, adults then protested against
inhuman conditions in the name of their children
·
Some enlightened employers and social reformers in PLMT felt otherwise
o
Argued more humane standards were necessary, and used widely circulated
reports to publicize and influence public opinion
o
Robert Owen: Successfully manufacturer
in Scotland, testified that employing children under 10 was harmful for
children
o
Workers also provided graphic testimony at hearings
o
Scored some successes
·
Most significant early accomplishment was Factory Act of 1833
o
Limited factory workday for children between 9 and 13 to 8 hours, and those
14 to 18 12 hours
o
Act made no effort to regulate hours
o
Children under 9 were required to be enrolled in elementary schools
that factory owners were required to establish
o
Employment of children declined rapidly
o
Factory Act broke pattern of whole families working together in factory
because efficiency required standardized shifts for all workers
·
Ties of blood and kinship were important in other ways in Brit in
formative years between 1790-1840
o
Many manufacturers and builders hired workers through subcontractors
o
Paid subcontractors on basis of what subcontractors and crews produced
o
Subcontractors in turn hired and fired their own workers, many of whom
were friends and relations
o
Subcontractor might be as harsh as greediest capitalist, but relationship
between subcontactor and work crew was close and person
o
Personal relationship traditionally existed in cottage industry and in
urban crafts, and was more acceptable to many workers than impersonal factory
discipline
o
System provided ppl with an easy way to find a job – friends get
friends jobs
·
Ties of kinship were particularly important for newcomers who often
traveled great distances to find work
o
Many urban workers in Brit were from Ireland
o
Forced out of rural Ireland by population growth and deteriorating
economic conditions
o
Irish searched for jobs and took what they could get
o
Irish worked together, formed own neighborhoods, and thrived
The
Sexual Division of Labor
·
Era of IDR witness major changes in sexual division of labor
o
Pre IDR Europe had ppl working in family units
o
By tradition, certain jobs were for certain genders
o
Many tasks might go to either sex
o
Family employment carried over into early factories
o
By 1830s, it was collapsing as child labor was restricted and new
attitudes emerges
o
Diff sexual division of labor arose
o
By 1850, man was taking place as family’s breadwinner and primary wage
earners, while married woman found limited job opportunities
o
Women denied good jobs and good wages in growing urban economy
o
Women expected to concentrate on housework, raising children, and some
craftwork
·
New pattern of separate spheres: A gender division of labor with the
wife at home as mother and homemaker and husband as wage earner, had several
aspects
o
Married woman from working class were much less likely to work full
time for wages outside house after 1st child arrived
§ Did small jobs for putting
out handicrafts
o
When married women did work for wages outside of house, they usually
came from poor families, where husbands were poorly paid sick, unemployed, or
missing
o
Poor married or widowed woman were joined by legions of young unmarried
women who worked full time but only in certain jobs, of which textile factory
work, laundering, and domestic services
o
All women were generally confined to low paying, dead end jobs
§ Virtually no occupation open
to women paid a wage sufficient for a person to live indep
§ Men predominated better
paying, more promising jobs
§ Evolving gradually, new
sexual division of labor in Brit was a major development in history of woman in
the family
·
Reorganization of paid labor along gender lines is debated
o
Some see little connection with industrialization, and comes from
deeply ingrained sexist attitudes of “patriarchal tradition” which predated the
IDR
§ Stress role of male
dominated craft unions in denying working women access to good jobs and
relegating them to unpaid housework
o
Others stress that gender roles of women and men can vary enormously
with time and culture, and look to a combination of economic and biological
factors in order to explain emergence of a sex-segregated division of labor
·
3 ideas stand out in new interpretation
o
New and unfamiliar discipline of the clock and machine was hard on
married women of laboring classes
§ Relentless factory
discipline conflicted with child care
§ Women operating machinery
could mind a toddler near her, but couldn’t work while pregnant or breast
feeding
§ Working class woman had
strong incentives to concentrate on child care within home
o
Running a household in conditions of primitive urban poverty was an
extremely demanding job in its own right
§ No supermarkets or public
transportation
§ Everything done on foot
§ Shopping and feeding family
was so hard
§ Another brutal job outside
house, “second shift”, had limited appeal for average working woman
§ Women might have well
accepted the division of labor as the best available strategy for family
survival in industrializing society
o
Young, generally unmarried women who worked for wages outside home were
segregated and confined to certain “women’s jobs”
§ Desire of males to
monopolize the best opportunities and hold women down
§ Some scholars argue sex
segregated employment was a collective response to the new industrial system
·
Previously, youth were under a watchful parental eye
·
Factories and mines produced opportunities for girls and boys to mix on
the jobs, free of supervision from family
·
Continued to mix after work and were more likely to form bonds
·
Intimacy led to unplanned pregnancies and fueled illegitimacy explosion
·
Segregation of jobs was an effort to control sexuality of working class
youth
·
Middle class men who expected their daughters to pursue ladylike
activities failed to appreciate the physical effort of the girls and women who
dragged with belt and chain the heavy carts of coal underground
·
Yet professed horror at sight of women working without shirts, which
was a common practice because of heat
·
They quickly assumed the prevalence of sex with male miners who wore
little too
·
Most girls and married women worked for related males in a family unit
that provided considerable protection and restraint
·
Yet many witnesses from the working class believed that “blackguardism
and debauchery” were common and that the lasses were best out of the pit
·
Some miners stressed the danger of sexual aggression for girls working
past puberty
·
Mines Act of 1842: English law that prohibited underground work for all
women and girls as well as boys under 10
·
Some women who had to support themselves protested against being
excluded from coal mining, which paid higher wages than most other jobs open to
working class women
·
Others were part of families who could manage economically, and were
pleased with the law
o
Had to pay for nanny
o
Was so tired
The
Early Labor movement in Britain
·
Many kinds of employment changed slowly during and after IDR in Brit
·
In 1850: Most ppl still worked on farms than in any other occupation
o
Second largest occupation was domestic service, 90% were women
o
Many old, familiar jobs outside industry lived on and provided
alternatives for individual workers
o
Helped ease transition to industrial civilization
·
With industry itself, the pattern of artisans working with hand tools
in small shops remained unchanged by tech change
o
Brit iron industry was dominated by large scale capitalist firms
o
Many large ironworks had more than 1000 ppl on their payrolls
o
Firms that fashioned iron into small metal goods (tools, tableware)
employed fewer than 10 wage workers who used handicraft skills
o
After 1850 some owners found ways to reorganize some handicraft
industries with new machines and patterns of work
o
Survival of small workshops gave many workers an alternative to factory
employment
·
Working class solidarity and class consciousness developed in small
workshops as well as in large factories
o
Anticapitalist sentiments were frequent by 1820s
o
There were thousands of workers and a little owners and managers
o
Modern tech and factory organization created few versus the many
·
Transformation of some traditional trades by organizational changes,
rather than tech innovations could create ill will and class feeling
o
Economic freedom and laissez faire emerged in late 18th c
and continued to gather strength in early 19th c
o
Brit gov attacked monopolies, guilds, and worker combinations in the
name of individual liberty
§ 1799: PLMT passed Combination
Acts, which outlawed unions and strikes, favored capitalist business people
over skilled artisans
§ 1814: repealed old and
disregarded law regulating wages of artisans and conditions of apprenticeship
§ Certain skilled workers
found aggressive capitalists ignoring traditional work rules and trying to
flood their trades with unorganized women workers and children to beat down
wages
·
Capitalist attack on artisan guilds and work rules was bitterly resented
by many craftworkers, who subsequently played an important part in Brit and
other countries in gradually building a modern labor movement to improve
working conditions and serve worker needs
o
Combination Acts disregarded by workers and craft guilds
o
Printers, papermakers, carpenters, tailors, continued to take
collective action
o
Societies of skilled workers also organized unions
o
Unions sought to control the number of skilled workers, limit
apprenticeship to members’ own children, and bargain with owners over wages
·
They were not afraid to strike
o
In face of union activity, PLMT repealed Combination Acts in 1824
o
Unions were tolerated, though not fully accepted after 1825
·
Next stage in development of Brit trade union movement was attempt to
create a single large national union
o
Led by social reformers such as Robert Owen
§ Self made cotton
manufacturer
§ Pioneered in industrial
relations by combining firm discipline with concern for the health, safety, and
hours of his workers
§ Experimented with
cooperative and socialists communities
§ Organized one of the largest
and most visionary of the early national unions, the Grand National
Consolidated Trades Union
·
Owen’s and other grandiose schemes collapsed
·
Brit labor movement moved in the direction of craft unions
o
Most famous was the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, which represented
skilled machinists
·
Unions won benefits for members by fairly conservative means and thus
became an accepted part of the industrial scene
·
Brit workers engaged in direct political activity in defense of their
own interests
o
After collapse of Owen’s national trade union, any working ppl went
into the Chartist movement, which sought political democracy
o
The key Chartist demand: That all men be given the right to vote
o
Became the great hope of millions of aroused ppl
·
Workers active in campaigns to limit workday in factories to 10 hours
an to permit duty free importation of wheat into Brit to secure cheap bread
·
Working ppl developed a sense of their own identity and played an
active role in shaping the new industrial system
·
Were neither helpless victims nor passive beneficiaries
Thank so much for this.
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