The New Industrial Society: Bourgeoisie, Workers, and the Rise of Marxism and Anarchism

The New Industrial Society

The new industrial society was formed by the bourgeoisie, which became the hegemonic group and owned the property of the means of production. The bourgeoisie was divided into the great bourgeoisie (bankers and owners of large factories) and the middle bourgeoisie (professionals who served them). Meanwhile, the old nobility, whose residences were richly decorated with domestic servants, tried to imitate the social customs of the bourgeoisie.

The Working Class

The workers of the factories formed the industrial and urban proletariat. They constituted the workforce necessary for the factories in exchange for a wage. Without fixed legislation on working conditions, workers were subject to arbitrary decisions by employers. As a consequence, their living and working conditions were very hard: the working day lasted 12 to 14 hours, wages were insufficient, children were forced to work, and workers lacked adequate hygienic conditions.

Workers' Associations

The workers' response was opposition to mechanization, which they considered responsible for unemployment and low wages. Various sectors of workers began to form a social class and created workers' organizations, such as the mutual aid societies. Their purpose was to act in solidarity and help economically their members. These societies were illegal until 1825 in Great Britain, and in other countries they were prohibited until the founding of the first unions.

The workers' main demands were:

1. Defense of the right of association
2. Reduction of working hours
3. Improvement of wages
4. Regulation of child labor

Marxism, Anarchism, and Internationalism

A series of thinkers emerged who denounced the inequalities of the new industrial society and proposed a new social organization in the mid-nineteenth century.

Marxism and Socialism

In the nineteenth century, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels denounced the exploitation of the working class and argued for the necessity of a workers' revolution that would overthrow capitalism. The proletariat would conquer political power (the dictatorship of the proletariat) and establish a workers' state that would socialize property. With the abolition of private property, classes would progressively disappear, allowing the arrival of a communist society without social classes.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, Marxists promoted the creation of socialist workers' parties, which took part in political life through participation in elections. Their deputies led to the first legislation favorable to workers, such as universal suffrage.

Anarchism

Anarchism was driven by a set of thinkers, such as Proudhon and Kropotkin, who established the following basic principles:

1. Freedom of the individual
2. Criticism of private property
3. Defense of collective property
4. Rejection of authority

They defended revolutionary action by the workers and opposed participation in political life. Some anarchists defended violent action against the pillars of capitalism, and some unions of workers advocated social revolution.

Internationalism

Both anarchists and Marxists defended the unity of workers' efforts against capitalism, under the banner of proletarian internationalism. In 1864, workers founded the International Workingmen's Association. In 1889, the Second International was founded, from which anarchists were excluded, and which became the foundation of the socialist movement.