Industrial Revolution: Luddism, Chartism, and Ideologies

Luddism: The First Movement

Luddism emerged in the early 19th century as a movement against the use of machines. Workers originally considered machines to be the root of their problems. The movement's leader was Ned Ludd.

Chartism: A Workers' Charter

In 1838, Chartism developed as a movement based on a workers' charter. This charter was sent to Parliament by a committee of workers with various petitions, including demands for universal suffrage and a secret ballot.

The Industrial Revolutions

The First Industrial Revolution occurred almost exclusively in England. The Second Industrial Revolution spread to other European countries and continents, including the USA and Japan. The Third Industrial Revolution took place in the mid-20th century.

The First Industrial Revolution

The First Industrial Revolution was based initially on the development of the English textile industry. The most significant innovation was James Watt's Steam Engine in 1786, which applied steam power to cotton mills.

Advantages of the Steam Engine:

• Mills and factories no longer had to be located near water.
• Transport was revolutionized.
• The production of iron and steel became faster and more efficient.
• Machines began to replace people in agriculture and industry.

Proletarian Ideologies: Unions and Socialism

Socialists believed in certain principles, primarily solidarity and an egalitarian society in which everyone had equality of opportunity and the same chances to live a decent life.

Communism

The German Karl Marx went further than socialism. He believed that liberalism was "false liberty" and thought that the famous "Declaration of the Rights of Man" of 1789 focused too much on the individual. He argued that while individuals had liberty, it was limited. He wanted society to be communal and controlled, not individualized.

Anarchism

Anarchists, guided by Bakunin, believed that politics as practiced by the state was simply a form of economic oppression. To end this, they advocated for "free association," in which society would organize itself from the "bottom up," not from the "top down."