Worker Movements and the French Revolution: 18th Century Social Change

Early Worker Movements and Social Perception

The prevailing view considered poverty to be the result of a lack of will, and there was widespread fear that the working class might incite a revolutionary explosion.

The Rise of the Labor Movement

Through protest and self-organization in trade unions, workers formed a new social group: the labor movement.

• Unions were often forced underground, and many disappeared.
• Fighting methods evolved, eventually becoming more peaceful.
• Early protests were sporadic, but the destruction of machines later acquired a systematic and planned approach.

Luddism: Resistance to Industrial Change

Luddism, an English worker protest, proposed that working machines should be destroyed because neither industry nor the government would allow the destruction of the source of work.

Conclusion on Early Industrial Conditions

During the first Industrial Revolution, owners prospered while workers faced:

• Destruction of traditional life.
• Repressed living conditions.
• Poverty in a country that was increasingly rich, with wealth concentrated in the hands of the nobility and gentry.

The Old Regime and Royal Absolutism

The Old Regime was the political and social system based on royal absolutism that existed before the French Revolution. Society was rigidly divided:

1. The King, Nobility, and Clergy (First and Second Estates).
2. The Third Estate (Bourgeoisie, artisans, and peasants).

The French Revolution (1789–1815)

The French Revolution was a complex process with multiple causes, combining economic discontent among social groups and the powerful influence of the Enlightenment.

Key Causes of the Revolution

• A deep economic crisis caused by widespread crop failure.
• The bourgeoisie demanded political participation, seeking access to government and the right to decide matters of state.
• Peasants sought to suppress noble rights, ending privileges related to hunting, fishing, and charging for the use of windmills.
• The influence of Enlightenment thinkers weakened the ideas of the Old Regime, questioning the absolute monarchy and the King's power.

Stages of the French Revolution

The revolutionary process included three main stages:

1. 1789–1791: Predominant power held by the haute bourgeoisie (upper bourgeoisie).
2. 1792–1794: Control of the revolutionary process shifted into the hands of the lower bourgeoisie, backed by popular urban and rural areas.
3. 1795–1815: Included the recovery of power by the high bourgeoisie and the consolidation of the regime under Napoleon Bonaparte.