Engels And The Industrial Revolution

T.S Ashton defends the optimistic view of England’s industrial revolution using the following arguments and evidence. He claims that although there may have been other factors influencing the increase of the standard of living in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, there is no denying that the industrial revolution greatly contributed to the improvement in England (17). The comfort and conditions for workers had begun to improve after the war—and undoubtedly after 1821—due to the rebuilding of the country’s economy, falling costs, and resources being more plentiful (19-20). Using Mr. Imlah’s figures, Ashton calls attention to the falling price of cotton, which did not affect the laborers’ wages, and was due to improvements in

While these claims are valid, it is important that as Marx and Engels were German social theorists, it is natural for them to theorize and come up with possible social experimentations, which explains their completely revolutionary idea. However, it is important to recognize that Marx and Engels did indeed have a point. The upper classes during the Industrial Revolution (in most cases, factory and business owners) exercised an unbelievable amount of power over the lower classes (the factory workers), especially in industrial cities. Factory workers worked extremely long hours in deplorable conditions for very low pay. The death rate in factories, especially among children, was extremely high. The upper class did little about this; they did not care for such issues. Marx and Engels believed the only way for the lower classes to improve their lives was to lead a revolution, which would essentially make them equal with the upper classes, which was known as a communist society. However, some did agree to an extent. Flora Tristan writes in 1843 that all lower class workers should unite to make themselves heard in society (5). Mrs. Tristan argues that all workers are

The topic I have chosen to discuss related to the last 400 years in Western Civilization is the industrial revolution in Britain. The industrial revolution was what created the modern capitalist system. Britain was the first to lead the way in this huge transformation. Technology changed, businesses, manufactured goods, and wage laborers skyrocketed. There was not only an economic transformation, but also a social transformation. The industrial revolution is such an interesting subject to further explore, because it truly made a difference in Britain in the late 1700s. The industrial revolution brought an increased quantity and variety of manufactured goods and even improved the standard of living for some individuals, however, it resulted in grim employment and living conditions that were for the poor and working classes. The industrial revolution had a bright and dark side to it. It was dark due to all the horrible working conditions, crowded cities, unsanitary facilities, diseases, and unsafe work environment, but the bright side is that it was a period of enormous social progress.

The Industrial Revolution began in England in the late 1700’s. The Industrial Revolution was a time of new inventions, products, and methods of work. The results of the Industrial Revolution led to many short and long-term positive and negative effects. These results have been assessed from many viewpoints such as the factory workers, the factory owners, the government, and other people who observed the conditions in industrial cities.

Secondly, as the Industrial Revolution progressed the environmental conditions were degrading with it, and becoming more and more unsanitary. The Industrial Revolution caused factories to be built and those factories had no regulations on how to maintain the environment clean. Engels says, referring to those factories that, “All the filth, both liquid and solid discharged by these works finds its way into the River Irk.” Then Engels describe the river as a “narrow, coal-black, stinking river full of filth and rubbish.” The rivers were being contaminated by the byproduct created by many factories that were brought alongside with the Industrial Revolution. The factories also polluted the air and land with contaminants as explained by Engels

The Industrial Revolution occurred in Britain and America around the late 1700’s to 1900. This revolution improved the production of goods using new mechanisms and machines. Human labor was in high demand in order for the highest production rates. Factories employed low to middle-class people that were as young as three years old (Document 9). These workers were benefited with money, shelter, and clothes, but the working and living conditions were not satisfying. The average industrial worker experienced a variety of factors that can be classified as good or bad, including the positive effects of labor, like the shelter, money, and food they were given; and the negative effects of the factory,

Thus, it was believed that conflicting classes existed because individuals developed an appropriate sense of class-consciousness (Buckler 740). This consciousness is very obvious when looking at the mindset of the middle-class owners. They were primarily focused on production and gave little thought to the environment of their workers. As a result, most early factories contained extremely unpleasant work conditions. Mills and factories were dangerously loud, and they were sweltering hot in the summer while poorly heated in the winter. Work days consisted of endlessly long hours and holidays were rarely granted. Furthermore, no laws or unions stood protecting the early urban proletariat workers. Despite these horrid conditions, the proletariat workers were desperate for jobs and were entirely dependant on their employers. Also, because of class-consciousness, they came to accept their positions in society as grueling factory workers. On top of terrible work conditions, the Proletariats’ living conditions were less than satisfactory due to the rapid population increase in urban cities. Until the Industrial Revolution, most of the continent’s population was rural. However, by mid-nineteenth century, half of all Europeans lived in cities and worked in the new industrial factories instead of farms. This transformation of Europe from a rural to urbanized society depressed the living standards of workers to horrendous levels. In doing so, however, it

The Industrial Revolution was a revolution in every sense of the word, as it altered almost every aspect of live in the nineteenth century including technology, government, communication, environment and eventually society as a whole.1 Although industrialisation created many positives for modern society, for people in Britain up to the end of the nineteenth century it had many significantly negative consequences. With the long term advances made for society came the then current development of overcrowding cities abundant with pollution, health problems and poor living conditions for the working class. These poor conditions continued into the work place with young children exploited as workers as young as the age of four or five.2 There were consequences of the Industrial Revolution for people outside of the core of Britain. India, being the periphery in the model were exploited for their raw materials which were exported to Britain.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the industrial revolution was at its way, gaining many economic and technological advances but the price of hardship forced onto the workers and children during this time was paid. During this time period rural societies transformed into urban/industrial ones and a shift from working at home to factories and mass production with machinery. Many different advancements including the iron and textile industries, and also the invention of the steam engine helped pave the way of the revolution. Industrialization brought an increase of manufactured goods and also helped pave the way to our world as we know it today. As all these things were great, the industrialization significantly and truly lowered the living conditions

As time progressed society in England changed but the biggest change was caused by the industrial revolution. Society did change for the better but had many bad side effect along with it. A good thing that came from the industrial revolution was the upgrade of tools. With the Industrial revolution came many great inventions that people today rely heavily on. Inventions such as cars, planes, and tools. These changes also helped with the progression of house building, making it easier for people to design and build sturdy homes that can withstand nature. This helped us get to where we are today with all the technological advancements. But this all came at a cost. Along with the factories producing this we had people working there. These people were treated very badly with their work environment and pay. There was no minimum wage back then making it hard for people to continue living. And if u didnt die from starvation or overworking you would die from how dangerous the factories are. All day breathing in smoke and having the risk of getting stuck in a machine. And even if u did survive getting injured you would surely die of infection because they can pay for health care on how low their salary. These changes impacted in world we know today in both positive and

The working class during the Industrial Revolution made up 80 percent of society, the other 20 was composed of wealthy business owners. People in the 1800’s migrated from shops in their home to work in dangerous and life threatening factories. While many say this was a positive period, it came with negative consequences. The Industrial Revolution was more negative than positive because working conditions were very unsafe, workers worked extremely long hours, and employees worked for cheap wages.

     In mid-eighteenth-century England the industrial revolution was in full swing. However, workers lived near the level of physical subsistence, and their condition worsened in latter half of the eighteenth century. Monotony and repetition characterized factory work; the tyranny of the factory clock and the pace of the assembly line were beyond the control of all workers. The division of labor, praised by Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations as the means to productivity growth and rising living standards, made work so routine that women and children could perform jobs just as easily as men. Business owners logically preferred such workers because they could be hired for less.

Friedrich Engels' , The Condition of the Working Class in England, were  the  descriptive book that dealing with  the emerging working group in Europe on 1845 , It also shows us the effect of industrialization in that community. Furthermore, Engels more focused on the observational pattern to analyze the different feature of the workforce community and the impact of the urban industrial life in the 1840s in Manchester and Birmingham. He observed that Industry attain their highest stage of development in the big towns, as we can see today. The area that has more industries would become more developed. The people that depend on the industries tend to live near to the place. In his article, he talked about bi-product of the industrialization like

There is no doubt that the Industrial Revolution plays a central role in the modern British history. The structure of British society has forever changed by the impact and consequences of Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution is often stated as the increase of the number of factories, the exercise of steam power in a wide range of area and the mass-production produced by new technology in the course of 1750 to 1850 (Lane, 1978: 72). Engles (1986: 37) argued that the Industrial Revolution’s mainly development were the invention of the steam engine and the cotton industry. As the improvement of technology, the steam engine could produce more power with less

The Industrial Revolution was the quintessence of capitalistic ideals; it bred controversy that led to Karl Marx’s idea of communism as a massive grass roots reaction to the revolution’s social abuses. Firstly, the Industrial Revolution featured the construction of machines, systems and factories that allowed goods to be manufactured at a faster rate with a lower cost. The seed drill made it so there could be “a semi-automated, controlled distribution and plantation of wheat seed”(Jones 2013). Secondly, there was a great social and economic divide between the wealthy owners and the poor workers, which gave rise to the mass’s vulnerability to the advent of extreme socialism. Figures of authority severely oppressed their employees by giving them insufficient pay, a treacherous work environment, and even making some children work more than 12 hours per day (Cranny 150). Finally, far right capitalism created a brutal boom and bust cycle of economics that made, for the multitude at the bottom, a perpetual nightmare of poverty and death. People responded to this social situation by taking part in violent protests; oppression sires rebellion. The Industrial Revolution was the chassis of great imagination and progress of political, economic, and social force that still affects this world today.