1. Urban Reforms

2. The Street-Sweepers Answering to the Inspector’s Call Sketch By Paul Franzeny

3. Improvement of Health and Living Conditions
After 1850, it became clear the workers would eventually crumble due to abusive working conditions
Parliament took action in response to Cholera epidemics
Public Health Act of 1875
All towns forced to pave, light, and clean the streets
Had to appoint a Medical Officer of Health
A Surveyor and Sanitary Inspector appointed to advise on problems with sewage, water supplies, diseases, food, and housing conditions.
Urban Conditions Improved Dramatically
New discoveries
How to find uncontaminated water supplies
Use of filters to purify water

4. Improvement of Health and Living Conditions
Sewers built and streets cleaned by teams of sweepers
Public baths and wash-houses set up
Food quality regulated
Soup kitchens to feed the hungry
Establishment of Metropolitan Police Force in 1829

5. Government inspector visiting a factory in England to regulate child labor in the mid 1800s

6. Labor Laws Reform Act of 1832 Before 1832, only landowners could vote
As factory owners in cities became richer, they demanded to be represented
The Reform Act allowed industrial cities to elect their own members of Parliament
Sawyer Committee
Held hearings on child labor in factories
Testimony shocked upper and middle classes
Athorp’s Act
Banned employment of children under 9 years old
Limited workday to 9 hours for children 9-13 and to 12 hours for children 13-18

7. Labor Laws Mines Act Factory Acts
Women, girls, and boys under 10 could not work in mines
Factory Acts
Further limited working hours of children and women
Mandated school attendance for children
Ordered factory owners to fence their machinery

8. English workers marching in Trafalgar Square in 1887

9. Union Movement
In 1700s. Trade Clubs, or Combinations, were formed by skilled workers to bargain with employers
In response, labor union meetings banned until 1824
After 1824, unions could legally exist
In the next 50 years, workers of many trades formed unions
Union Consolidation
In 1868, five large unions came together to form the Trade Union Congress
In 1870s, unions won the right to strike
Membership expanded to include all workers

10. Union Movement Benefits of Unions Threat of strike as bargaining tool
Unemployment insurance and retirement benefits through paying of union dues
Unions fought for better pay, shorter work days, and better working conditions
Limits on Union Power
Government usually supported employers, while prosecuting unions
Union funds not protected and picketing illegal
Growth
1871: 290,000 workers were union members
1901: 2,000,000
1914: 4,000,000

11. An Allegory of Class Struggle

12. Class Struggle 1848: The Communist Manifesto
Written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
Argued that wealth becomes concentrated in fewer and fewer members of the bourgeoisie (Upper classes)
The proletariat (workers) would continue to grow and become more angry at being exploited
The workers would unite and overthrow the bourgeoisie in a violent revolution
Dictatorship of the Proletariat
Worker rule and ensure that all power has been stripped from the bourgeoisie
A classless society emerges
Under communism, no one would be exploited and all wealth would be distributed equally

13. Class Struggle Development of Communism
In 1864, the International Workingmen’s Association founded
Its goals included fostering proletariat unity, overthrowing the bourgeoisie, and abolishing capitalism and private property
Socialist political parties created in many European countries from 1875 to 1905

14. Robert Owen’s Model Textile Mill

15. Robert Owen
Successful Welsh businessman who owned several textile mills
He thought changing the poor working conditions would make workers happier and healthier, enabling them to work harder
He created his own community for his workers
Provided food, decent housing, education for workers and shorter work days
His ideas influenced other to experiment with creating communities in later years