Birth of Modern Europe

Charles Cohen

The Industrial Revolution in England

            The Industrial Revolution was a turning point not only for England but also for the world.  Never before had a country produced so much and become so wealthy in such short period.  This sudden shock to the economy caused the living standards of the lower classes to decline to a despicable state.  The working class received little help from Parliament, who were persuaded by political-economists such as Adam Smith to not interfere with the inherent laws of industry.  Yet, it seems that the Industrial Revolution also provided for circumstances, which, made it possible for the poor to help themselves.  The people, concentrated in cities such as London and Manchester, would form labor unions to insure that all workers had equal rights.  

Industrialization took place in England before anywhere else in the world, because England was the only country wealthy from commerce and agriculture to afford the costs of such enormous development.  England had the capital and the customers.

            In 1688, a revolution gave Parliament power over the monarch.  This gave the wealthy, land-owning people the power to pass acts through parliament with ease, primarily because they made up Parliament.  When searching for ways to make more money, landowners encountered problems with the consolidation of their land.  Many improvements had been made in agriculture such as Charles Townsend’s scientifically based crop rotation, and Jethro Tull’s seed drill.  In order for landowners to take advantage of these improvements, it was necessary for their land to be properly enclosed.    Old common law gave the villagers the right to till the land indiscriminately.  Parliament passed many “Enclosure Acts” which allowed property-owners to fence in open fields and common land, which made it easier to manage.  A small amount of the population controlled the land and then lent it out to farmers. This yielded an increase in the production of the food while minimizing the amount of labor necessary for its production.

            England was then in a state where the food supply was high, yet the number of people working on the farms had lowered.  Many people became wage earners who worked for farmers or landowners and who were paid daily.  People moved to where there were more jobs and higher salaries.  There were fewer people needed to work on the farms to produce the country’s food so the work force was available to do other things.

            At the same time, England was exploring the world with its expansive navy.  England found markets all over the world willing to trade, especially in the Americas.  With its large fleet of mercantile ships, England dominated the sea.  The capitalists noticed that there was a lot of money to be made if only it could supply enough goods to fill the demand.  A merchant who had the capital could in means to increase his productivity.  Such means included machines like the fly shuttle, which was invented by John Kay in 1733, and was improved upon many times until 1800, resulting in the power loom, which spun cloth and an incredible rate.  With machines, the merchant could produce much more than the competition that produced by hand, especially woolen-cloth, which was in high demand all over Europe and which had an endless market.  Because England had earlier gained economic success through agriculture, it had the funds to initiate the machine age.

            Merchants put laborers in “mills” to do their work because it required a lot of space for large machines.  At this time, the British were importing a lot of cotton, but not enough.  In America, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, which sped up the production of cotton so much that America’s decaying South was revived.  Processed cotton products became half of what England exported by 1820.

            England was becoming very prosperous and its population grew rapidly.  People began to move to where the jobs were.  This was in the north, where the coal, iron, and factories were.  The populations of England and Ireland tripled between 1750 and 1850.  Cities like Manchester and Lancashire grew dramatically, from 25,000 in 1772 to 455,000 in 1851.  These cities were not able to keep up with the influx of people and therefore suffered in terms of inadequate sewage and garbage disposal facilities and the absence of a proper police force. 

            Soot made these cities nasty places to live because they were all centered around factories.  The factories required workers to do monotonous jobs for long hours (sometimes more than 14 hours a day).  Skilled laborers were forced to do work that required no skill at all, and were paid the minimal amount that their employers would allow.  Employers often faced debt for the equipment used at their factory, and competition among other businessman was keeping prices low.  This meant he could only afford to pay his workers the minimal amount.   Needles to say, this was not enough for a worker to properly support his family without taking any risks.   Even though all family members worked in the factories, still, if one could not work this would mean that the rest of the family would be facing dire circumstances.   

Workers in the mines and factories were usually strangers to one another.   They frequently had had no previous ties to one another due to the sudden influx of people.  People found themselves next to workers of different backgrounds who had their own agendas.  This was not like the old days when families were very close and worked together in the fields, and family ties were strong and the work enjoyable. The monotony of the labor for the skilled worker, combined with anonymity of the work force made for very horrible circumstances.  Yet, the “Cotton Lords” (the factory owners and first capitalists) thought they were doing the poor a favor by providing them with work, and felt that their businesses should not be publicly regulated.

            Factory owners felt that, if let alone, they would be able to make the country more prosperous, and that any interference from Parliament would disrupt a natural process.  They believed that Parliament should instead concentrate on protecting the security of life and property, and leave the natural laws of industry to make the country wealthy.  Adam Smith echoed all of this in his book Wealth of Nations.   R.R. Palmer and Joel Colton in their book “A History of the Modern World,” describe Smith’s ideas by saying that “...there is a world of economic relationships autonomous and separable from government or politics.  It is the world of the free market, and is regulated within itself by certain ‘natural laws,’ such as the law of supply and demand or the law of diminishing returns.  All persons should follow their own enlightened self-interest; each knows his own interest better than anyone else; and the sum total of individual interests will add up to the general welfare and liberty of all.”[1]  The French and other competitors knew this form of economics as “laissez-faire.” 

            It worked.  England’s laissez-faire economics prevented there from being any real industrial competition from other countries until 1870.  London became the center for commerce, not only for England, but also for all of Europe.

            It is true that the Industrial Revolution engendered many horrible circumstances for the people of England, but not without some very long-standing benefits.  With workers concentrated in cities, over time they recognized that they had similar interests.  Soon they organized into labor unions to help improve their situation.  The Industrial Revolution’s flaws were improved upon by the people, who set up one of the most important systems in modern day industry, the labor union.