Socialism and the Industrial Revolution

World History II – September 2012

Socialism: A Response to the Industrial Revolution

Industrialization created two new classesIndustrial middle class Industrial working

class

Good for middle; bad for working – factory conditions, hours, pay, etc.

Industrial Revolution

This system was called capitalism! An economic system based on private

ownership of the means of production (factories, machines, and tools used to create wealth)

Free trade and lack of government regulation

People started questioning the merits of capitalism because only the wealthy seemed to benefit

They promoted that the means of production should be operated by the people who did the work or by the government

“Utopian Socialism”All members of the society would share in the

work and the profitsMany said this was unrealistic

Too idealisticWanted to build within existing society

Birth of Socialism!

Karl Marx (1818 – 1883)German philosophermoved to Paris, Brussels, London

Observed the plight of the working classWrote for a series of radical newspapers

promoting socialismFrequently borrowed money from his friend

and colleague Friedrich Engels

Enter Karl Marx

1820 – 1895Son of a wealthy German cotton

manufacturerObserved plight of the working

class while managing a factory in London

Friedrich Engels

Economic determinismAll cultural (social), political, intellectual

activities are the product of the society’s economic organization

All of history is the struggle for resourcesClass antagonism has been simplified to

Bourgeoisie – those who own the means of production (industrial middle class)

Proletariat – those who sell their labor to the producers (industrial working class)

Five Essential Stages of Human Society

Essential Marxism

1. Primitive hunting and gathering societies

no extra wealth no private property,

social classes, class struggles, or even the need for government

2. Slave societies rich ruling class oppressed underclass

of slaves

5 Stages of Society

3. Feudal society noble class of

landowning lords oppressed class of serfs

4. Capitalist society rich class of factory

owners (bourgeoisie) oppressed class of

factory workers (the proletariat)

5 Stages of Society (cont.)

5. Socialist society run by the workers no private property, and thus no social classes

or class conflicts.“Dictatorship of the proletariat”

5 Stages of Society (cont.)