41 - Social Class and Labor Movements (abridged)

aristocracy

privileged hereditary upper-class; ranked just below royalty; wealth derived from ownership of one or more estates

bourgeoisie

term for the middle class used by Karl Marx in the Communist Manifesto

white-collar professionals

middle class workers who perform professional, managerial, or administrative work, such as attorneys, engineers, doctors, accountants, and educators

Victorian middle class values

determined respectable social standing based on meritorious behavior rather than inherited aristocratic privilege; valued prudish self-restraint, politeness, orderliness, thrift, responsibility, and self-improvement

proletariat

term for the working class used by Karl Marx in the Communist Manifesto

British Reform Act of 1832

extended suffrage to upper middle class males; allowed around 20% of men to vote

Chartist Movement

1848 working-class petition demanding universal male suffrage rejected by British Parliament

mass politics

based on inclusion of all classes in the political process through organized parties advocating for ideologically-based social, economic, and political reforms; emerged in the late 19th century once universal male suffrage was adopted in the United States and most European states and settler colonies

compulsory elementary education

required basic education for all children; first mandated in Prussia in 1763

Jules Ferry laws

introduced free, mandatory, secular education in France in 1881; eliminated Catholic church control of public education in order to instill republican and nationalist values in French youth

workhouses

state institutions that provided employment to the destitute, beggars, and vagabonds; work was harsh, such as breaking stones, crushing bones to produce fertilizer, or picking apart old naval ropes to recycle fibers

social question

issues relating to workers and women in western Europe during the Industrial Revolution; became more critical than constitutional issues after 1870

Factory Act of 1833

British law that reduced child labor to no more than 12 hours per day

Communist Manifesto

influential 1848 pamphlet by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that called for the oppressed proletariat to seize control of the means of production; urged "Workers of the World, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains."

trade union

organization of workers created to defend the interests of members through collective bargaining negotiations with employers or labor strikes

strike

organized work stoppage intended to force an employer to address the demands of a workforce; often violently broken up by employers and government forces

American Federation of Labor

largest American national organization of craft unions that sought better wages and working conditions and shorter hours for skilled workers through non-violent strikes and negotiations

Great Railroad Strike of 1877

1877 national strike in the United States by rail workers who had suffered multiple pay cuts; US government used federal troops to violently end it; over 100 killed

Homestead Strike

1892 strike at a Carnegie Steel Company plant near Pittsburgh, PA, USA where ten workers were killed by Pinkertons; union loss in the dispute set back American organized labor movement for a generation

Pinkertons

American private police force frequently hired by wealthy corporations to break up labor strikes

revisionism

socialist movements that at least tacitly disavowed Marxist revolutionary doctrine; believed social success could be achieved gradually through existing political institutions

socialist parties

political parties that wanted to incite a working-class revolution or enact legislation to improve the condition of the working class; emerged during the late 19th century

Social Democratic Party of Germany

German working-class political party founded in 1869; turned away from Marxist revolution in favor of passing social reforms in parliament; largest party in Germany by 1912

German social legislation

first-of-its-kind progressive welfare legislation; covered lost wages due to sickness for up to 13 weeks, insured workers for injuries incurred through their employment, and provided pensions to retired workers age 70+; introduced by conservative Otto von Bismarck in 1880s to forestall socialist revolution in Germany

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

Russian socialist revolutionary leader; founder of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Party, leader of the 1917 Russian Revolution, and first leader of the Soviet Union

British Labour Party

center-left revisionist social democratic party founded in 1900 to represent the interests and needs of the urban working class, many of whom only gained suffrage in 1884