Apush Dbq Industrial Revolution

The whole contemporary term “new” got shaped not only because of mill-owners but also presence of working population. The steam engine drew a sense of unity amongst the masses and it drove them to join the force of industrialization. According to some socialist the equation was prevalent :

Cotton mill and steam power = new working class

The cotton mills not only propagated the industrial revolution in England but also gave a new wave of social revolution. The phase of 1815 and 1850, saw the power of small trades in the Radical London. The period of 1790-1830 saw the formation of working class. The making of new working class changed cultural, historical and political equation. The economic equilibrium was hit by the misery, agitation, exploitation

and political repression. The social factor was drifted towards high profit production. The “little masters”(mainly boys) were employed who used to spin the machineries of the cotton mill and the master spinners monitored the whole process. More profit led to more labor which in turn led to disputes between workmen and their masters. The owner remained unperturbed in these cases so as the Magistrate. The masters were not considered as in aggregate, rather they constituted a class. In any negative circumstances the workmen were on the radar of oppression.
The plight of field laborers , artisans and weavers were also on the same plight. The relationship between the field laborers and their master can be divide into four parts :
1) Farm servants – who were hired on very low wages for a year or for a quarter.
2) Regular labor force- the dual nature of condition can be seen.
3) Causal labor – constituted of women and child labor in pauper wage, Irish migrated workers
4) More or less skilled workers where sub contracting prevailed.

In 1834,the effect of new Poor Law came into force which had differentiated effect on different areas. In many villages the enforcement of labor bill was full filled through low or poor wages. The increase in number of poor in village can be seen that agriculture sector is considered as an inelastic sector, though real employment and wage has increased but casual labor has given rise to unemployment.
The determination of wage for the artisans were done through the idea of ‘customs’, wage never used to depend on demand and supply of goods. Mixing with different localities of people and intermixing the skills gave rise to urban industries. The onset of 19th century saw an inrush of “juvenile labor” or unskilled labor but the significant growth of technology threatened the opportunity of the masses which led to unemployment. Sub contracting process was predominant in mining and other process.
The relationship between a weaver and his employer can be divided into four folds
1. The customer weaver – who was like master weaver.
2. The weaver – who is a superior artisan
3. The journeyman weaver – working in shop or in his home
4. The farmer – who is the small holder weaver working in part time
The introduction to technology replaced the handlooms into power looms where the labour power was been taxed and which led to unemployment.
The concept of child labor was not new,it came into existence form 1780’s.The working conditions not only for child but also for full fleged workers were not upto the mark.

The piece rate wage system gave rise to monotonous application of work for the children. The voluntary and involuntary actions of a child was been practiced with the speed of the machine. The factory movement got a setback when the middle class did not come forward to participate in it. The Methodist preachers used to instill the fear of death and pains of hell amongst mass, children were being terrified from early age and were being punished for small mischievous activities also. The only way out was from all the pain of the world for the Methodist is to work with regularized discipline. The class consciousness was felt in rural areas where the Primitive Methodist influence was felt much more. Formation of trade union for miners were characterized by collectivist values. Robert Owen carried out the agenda of formation of single trade union for all workers and movement like Ten Hour Movement was also carried out for this reason. Owenism and Political radicalism were based on collective conscience and Francis Place played a pivot role in spreading political awareness amongst the mass. The Industrial revolution was on the roll and manual laborers were being replaced by machineries and amidst of capitalism, earning surplus which leads to profit became the hitherto for the

capitalist.
The uproar against the oppression and technological advancements came into force through Luddite Movement where unions were deployed to break machines which caused a job obstacle for the workers. The first protest was held in Nottinghamshire on 1811.The involvement of British army to crush the Luddite movement came into picture. The legislation came into enforcement for protection of machineries, which made the act of harmful actions to the machines as a crime. This caused the arrest of around sixty men.
Wade divided the society into parasitic and the productive classes – 1) the upper class consist of dignitaries of Church and law officials and 2) the middling class – loyal parsons. The voting power was only concentrated on the hands of Elite people. The enforcement of Reform Act of 1832, which dismissed the voter’s right from working class of labors of agriculture, artisans etc gave rise to collective agenda and bought about the movement of Chartism. The class antagonism in Birmingham was not so profound compared to Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle as in Birmingham there has not been any replacement of laborers who were skilled by machineries.
The collective consciousness came as gain from British Industrial Revolution of 1832.The concept of class went through all the veins of the social elements which affected the life of common man. The class consciousness remains submissive in someone’s mind but cannot be erased completely.