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GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY DEPARTMENT. IES FRAY PEDRO DE URBINA

The origins of the labor movement

The labor movement comes from the industrial revolution because of the lack of rights

that workers got in factories. It began in England. In the absence of any control yet, the

workers were exposed to days worked over twelve hours in unhealthy factories under

strict discipline, no security against illness, accident, dismissal or retirement, with very

low wages, and working children (being one of the most attractive targets for employers

because their wages were substantially lower). The first manifestations of the labor

movement were reflected in the Luddism (destruction of machines) to which they areblamed for the loss of purchasing power of the small artisan. This term comes from the

legendary British worker Ned Ludd, who in 1779 destroyed two knitting machines and

set fire to several factories. However, the workers realized that the machine was not hisenemy, but the use of this was done, so the workers began to address their grievances to

the employers. Thus were born the unions, seen as a resistance movement against

capitalism.

The British government reaction was to ban any type of partnership working. Part of the

labor history has been marked by persecution and hiding. In the first decades of

industrialization there was a deterioration of living conditions of workers:

Increased working hours.

Lowering wages.

Generalization of child labor.

Denial of financial aid for illness, involuntary unemployment or old age.

For all these reasons, unions were created, in which they met the hardworking people of

the same trade to defend their demands through strikes. They formed mutual aid

societies, which possessed mutual funds with capital from the membership fees.

In 1834 was formed in Great Britain the Trade Union. In its origins British tradeunionism opted for economic demands, without adhering to revolutionary political

ideals.

During the decades of 1830 and 1840 workers' associations were founded in different

countries of Europe, among whom were Germany, France, Spain and Belgium.

The labor movement is expressed in most industrialized countries through organizations

such as cooperatives.

Between 1838 and 1848, the British labor movement came into political action using

Chartism that consisted in a movement in England who tried to pressure the parliamentby collecting signatures in support of certain letters which claimed certain rights. In one

of them in 1838, it was defined a democratic program based on universal male suffrage.

Chartism organized strikes, but the movement failed because of repression, internal

divisions and the defeat of the revolution of 1848 in Europe.

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The workers met in republican and leftist organizations in favor of universal male

suffrage. After that revolution, the socialist doctrines began to create class parties,

exclusively worker.

Socialism

Utopian socialism is a term that designates a heterogeneous set of doctrines of socialreform, prior to the rise of Marxism and anarchism, which emerged in the early

nineteenth century in response to the serious problems that entailed the triumph of

industrialism and liberalism in Europe.

The term "utopian socialism" was coined by Friedrich Engels in Socialism: Utopianand Scientific (1880): He considers it the origins of socialism and an unattainable ideal,

characterized as a time prior to "scientific socialism" that would be his dialecticalovercoming.

Charles Fourier developed during the 1820 decade his proposal to create agro-industrial establishments (phalanstres) to about 1600 people, housed in a buildingspecially designed for this purpose. They would work the surrounding land and share

profits from sales. Community utilities would be ensured, and all would work, including

children, but the work would not be painful but attractive.

Robert Owen began as a reformer of industrial work, because in his factory heimplemented measures of benefit to the worker, as the removal of arduous tasks and

maintenance of salary during periods of reduced sales.

New Harmony (Indiana, USA, 1824-1829), a community established by Robert Owen,

with 20,000 acres of land and 900 members.

Later he proposed "cooperative farms (villages of cooperation), which essentially were

overturned on agriculture and had the function of generating a new moral and

educational space.

tienne Cabet was influenced by Robert Owen during his exile in England. Returnedto France, he preached a pacifist communism, democratic and prone to build common

property settlements.

Saint-Simon did not develop an idea of the future perfect world, but proceeded to

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criticize radically the society resulting from the French Revolution. In this context, he

felt that governments should aim for improving the moral and material conditions of

working class, and ending poverty and war, but exercising less and less government

(understood as despotism) and more administration. Not opposed to private property, he

suggested deleting the inheritance. The State should undertake great public works for

the benefit of the society: railways, dams, bridges, communication channels, creditunions, etc.

The main obstacle to the creation and consolidation of utopian communities was to find

a perfect living in the midst of a world based on completely different values. This means

that these communities could not avoid a mismatch between the internal (moral values)

and external (market values).

Marxism and anarchism

During the nineteenth century, contemporary socialism appears to be characterized by a

radical critique of the capitalist system, which is considered socially and economically

unjust, to defend a model of society in which ownership of the means of production was

collective and, above all, by the identification of the working class as the star of the

changes. One of the most significant concepts that the growth of organized labor is

based on was the class struggle, which brought awareness by workers of their

membership of a social class different from their employers and that, to improve their

situation, the best way was to fight. The strike - the show of workers force that

paralyzes the production of the factories - has been the main weapon in this working

class struggle.

International Workingmen's Association (IWA)

The First International Workers Association (IWA), or First International, was the first

major organization that sought to unite workers from different countries.

Founded in London in 1864, brought together initially to British trade unionists, French

socialists and anarchists, and Italian republicans. Its purposes were political

organization of the proletariat in Europe and the rest of the world as well as a forum to

discuss common problems and propose courses of action. Karl Marx and FriedrichEngels collaborated in it. The great tension between Marx and Mikhail Bakunin led to

the split between Marxists and anarchists, after which Bakunin's supporters were

expelled.

In 1872 the General Council of the IWA (AIT) is transferred from London, where it was

located since its inception, to New York and it was officially dissolved in 1876. In 1889

it was established the Second International (Socialist), as the successor to its political

ends. Communists and socialists will be divided inside after Russian Revolution.