Evolution of Liberalism

  • Late 1800s - 1900s: welfare capitalism developed (not welfare state)

  • Issues with classical liberalism led to pressure for change:

    • poverty

    • child labour

    • dangerous working conditions

    • disparity

  • Individuals attempted to bring about change, e.g. the suffragettes

  • Industrialists voluntarily improved conditions for their workers:

    • company housing

    • fitness and recreation facilities

    • pensions

    • healthcare plans

  • Henry Ford introduced the 8 hour work day and the $5 daily wage.

  • Child labour was reformed

Reformers

Child Labour reform

  • Liberalism: associated with freedoms to protest, speak, assemble, press, associate

  • National Child Labour influenced opinions on child labour using photography: an exercise of liberalism

Political parties

  • Social democratic parties formed

    • traditional parties adopted same socialist ideas, like in late 1800s Germany

  • CCF: in 1944, Tommy Douglas formed the CCF in Saskatchewan

    • First socialist party elected in North America

    • publicly funded healthcare

Labour Unions

  • Advocated for higher wages, better working conditions

    • collective bargaining

    • walkouts

    • association and speech

    • employers and consumers may be against them

Pro-union sentiment

Anti-union sentiment

maternity leave

lots of control lost

weekends off

less competition

overtime pay

lost profits

workers compensation

increased prices

higher wages

no child labour

benefits

Progressivism

  • Trust busting → breaking up monopolies → a form of government intervention

    • Trust: a legal structure that can own stuff

  • Teddy Roosevelt → running → teddy bear

  • FDR → wheelchair

  • The Square Deal: fair deal

    • 80% of US businesses were trusts, competition was unfair

    • Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle opened eyes to food practice and sanitation, resulting in the passage of the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act

  • Conservation of resources were introduced

    • protected federal lands

    • national parks/wildlife reserves

  • Environmental protections

  • Food and drug safety regulations

  • Regulations against anti-competitive behaviour

  • Labour violence: resulted in the need for labour legislation

    • The Square Deal: unions, corporations, private citizens should all have a square deal

Issues with classical liberalism

  • Is it truly a free market when there are monopolies and anti-competitive behaviour?

  • Is intervention justified?

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

The Industrial Revolution resulted in the rapid development of NYC’s garment industry

  • Skyscrapers

  • “70 hour weeks”

  • rows of chairs and sewing machines

  • Immigrants founded Triangle

  • “everyone worked at Triangle”

Working conditions without regulation were abhorrent

  • top floors of skyscrapers

  • locked exit doors, “prevents stealing”

  • flammable materials

Cheaper materials were used in hopes of increasing profit margins

  • scenes of flames and explosions

  • firefighters were unprepared for the blaze

  • collapsed fire escapes

Building regulations did not reflect modern safety standards, endangering workers

  • Lack of fire escapes

  • Workers jumping from windows, 14 years old

  • Firefighters were unprepared to fight in highrise buildings

Industrialism was rife against collective safety — endangering others.

  • Owners cross into another building

  • Everyone else left “to die”

  • gentlemen pushing through the crowd to find loved ones

A clear need for workplace safety regulation became prevalent

  • Rosaria was “charred”

  • 146 workers dead

  • Burnt belongings → lost entire family

  • Locked doors resulted in deaths of 9th floor workers

The ideals of classical liberalism with laissez faire economics did not work in the interests of workers — ultimately endangering them with unsafe working conditions

  • Elevator operators

  • Had floor managers not attempted to stop the fire

  • Fire code not enforced

  • Spirit of fire code regulations not enforced

Lawsuits ensued against the owners of Triangle, but did not penalize the employers for the deaths.

  • $75/death → little remorse

  • Fire regulations introduced, but the “locked door” was not intentional

  • Coerced testimony resulting in acquittal

Reform and government regulation emerged from the tragedy

  • Fire/elevator/building code regulations

  • New York building code

  • Fire brigade improved with sprinklers

Unions led the push for greater working conditions following the tragedy

  • “make sure you have a good union”

  • unions strengthened

Sweatshops continue to operate despite the tragedy — change only ever happens as a result of an event like Triangle

  • Easy-to-get work for new immigrants

  • Sweatshops continue to operate in 3rd world countries

The Roaring 20s and The Great Depression

  • In the 1920s, there was prosperity in the US. Consumer spending was up, stocks were rallying and people took out loans to invest.

  • In 1929, the US Stock Market crashed. It signaled the start of the Great Depression.

The Great Depression

  • Massive unemployment during the depression was experienced, even bringing massive companies to its knees

    • US Steel lays off its entire workforce

  • A systemic bank failure prevented individuals from withdrawing savings

    • Run on a bank → mass hysteria → 800 failed banks

    • Credit freezes

    • 50% of mortgages in default

  • Hopelessness ran rampant during the depression

  • Individualist thinking runs rampant as a result of the Roaring 20s

    • “I failed, I can’t own a home”

  • The 1930s US government had very little influence upon the lives of citizens in a highly limited government

  • Drought and poor farming conditions placed strain within the food supply - further increasing prices

  • Pressure was then placed upon the US political system to fend off the threat of communism

    • USSR was considered a land of “great promise”

  • The Depression goes global and contributes to the start of World War 2

    • Germany undergoes unrest as a result of an economic crash; Hitler rises up and forms a populist Nazi government

  • The Great Depression revealed the need for reform to the American socioeconomic system which had embraced classical liberalism

    • FDR’s “A New Deal”: bank regulation, government intervention in economy via bank holidays, government payroll, rebuilds public confidence in banks, jobs are created, right to unionize

  • General strikes uprise as a result of strike violence

    • San Francisco: strike deaths as a result of labour unrest

  • Demagogues rise up to speak against changes to America’s socioeconomic system and the change its undergoing

    • Hughie Long: populist rhetoric without a plan

    • Demands absolute power

  • Public projects pump money into the American economy and provides help to individuals

    • Social Security

    • US Federal Reserve

    • Unemployment compensation

    • Interstate highway system

    • Infrastructure boom

Roosevelt’s New Deal

  • Substantially increased the role of government in society

    • Social Security: government pensions

    • Job creation via alphabet agencies, e.g. Works Progress Administration and Tennessee Valley Authority

  • Increased regulation e.g. Banking Reform, Deposit Insurance

  • Spiral reversed in a loop

    • create jobs → goods created → money → tax → more jobs (Priming the pump)

  • World War 2 ends the depression and all resources are used in a total war

    • Women became employed

    • Food and fuel were rationed → ration books

    • Raw materials were controlled

    • Government contracts were introduced

    • Wage and prices controls

    • Debt financing through war bonds