|
First of all, the working class evolved in England. This happened mostly
because England was the first to use machines for mass production. For instance,
with new inventions like the Spinning Jenny machines in England, it caused a
revolution to take place in England first. These machines reduced the values of
the old tools, the property of the individual craftsmen and replaced the
accomplishments and intellectual powers of the workers. As a result, workers
hated the machines. The machines were far too expensive to be owned by the
common worker, which meant that the workers would have no possession of their
own property. Without possession of property, the workers lives ended up
depending on the owner’s of the machines they used. Battles were fought between
workers against the use of these machines, but the owners ended up winning since
they had more general resources like money. Furthermore because the machines
caused a revolution in employment opportunities and the framework of
property-ownership in the structure of society and the classification of men,
the machines ended up creating the working class.
Due to the growth in
productivity dependent on machines, working conditions became unbearable and
inhumane. For example, in England the majority of the workers were women and
children. Companies recruited a large number of children and were paid extremely
low wages. This kept the wage-cost down for the employers and were still further
reducing the average wages paid to other workers too. In 1835 England, the
children under the ages of 13 working in a cotton industry totaled to around 24
164, and youths of ages 13 to 18 accumulated to 53 843. The factories and mills
took away the children’s childhoods. They had no happiness in their lives. The
only thing that was visible was the depressed appearances on their faces.
The
children would often be so tired from work that they would sleep during work
hours or even work while they were sick. It is unfortunate that children had to
survive under such harsh conditions. After learning more about the industrial
revolution I see that there are different work ethics out in society and I am
grateful this type of work ethics does not exist in Canada. It wasn’t until the
mid 19th Century when working conditions for employees improved. There were many
factors, which determined a workers lifestyle. They included: Real wages,
working hours, living and sanitary conditions, constitutional status, accident
benefits, and social insurance. Yet the factor that helps the most importance to
a workers lifestyle was the amount of hours they worked during a day. People who
worked 13 to 18 hours a day had no time for physical or mental energy for
themselves.
They had no time for a social life. What I believe should happen is
that those who work the hardest and longest should receive the highest wages, unfortunally this was not the case. It was the owners and businessmen that
always got the profits, while the workers just suffered through the long hours.
In the book, an intellectual named Engels suggests that the workload should be
divided between everyone in society. “…Work to be distributed among all member
of society without exception and thus enable everyone’s working hours to be so
limited that sufficient free time remained for all to take part in the normal
activities of society.” In other words, he meant that he believes everyone in
society should have his or her own free time as part of a human right. In the
end, the Ten-Hour Bill was adopted in 1847. It said that workers were only
required to work a minimum of 10 hours a day rather than 15 hours.
This was
considered a significant decrease. After its existence was more known it
influenced other countries such as France. France ended up reducing their
working hours in 1848. Belgium, Holland, Germany and Italy also followed the
same trend afterwards by also shortening the number of working hours in their
societies. In conclusion, after examining the technical inventions, which caused
the social revolution, Professor Kucynski describes exactly what conditions of
life were like for the new urban “proletariat”. He discussed about the uprooting
of families, their poverty, the crowded squalor of factory and home and the lack
of education, which speeded the process of the demoralization of the working
class from the rest of society. Kucynski shows how in time this type of
isolation creates self-awareness among the working class, which led to the
development of organized labor.
|
