Key Events and Ideas (1850-1871)

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Industrialization and the Marxist Response

• Continental Industrialization (1850–1871)

  • Represented the maturation of industrialization influenced by the British Industrial Revolution.

  • Key factors included:

  • Mechanized factory production

  • Use of coal

  • Introduction of the steam engine

  • Expansion of transportation systems

  • Period marked by economic prosperity, although faced recessions (1857–1858, 1866–1867).

• Industrialization on the Continent

  • Transition from hand looms to power looms made significant progress; yet countries lagged behind Britain.

  • Statistics of 1870:

  • Hand looms still prevalent in France (200,000), compared to their disappearance in Britain.

  • Power looms in France (80,000).

  • Railroads were critical to industrial expansion with track mileage increasing from 14,500 to almost 70,000.

  • This growth stimulated iron and coal industry expansion.

  • Transition to coke-blast smelting in continental iron industries.

  • British iron industry production dominated, yielding half the world's pig iron.

  • British output was four times that of Germany and five times that of France.

• Technological Integration

  • Rapid adoption of steam engine technology in textile, mining, and metallurgical industries.

• Trade Facilitation

  • Removal of international trade barriers:

  • Danube River (1857) and Rhine (1861) declared freeways for all ships.

  • Trade treaties in the 1860s reduced or eliminated tariffs across Western Europe.

• Development of Joint-Stock Investment Banks

  • Mobilized capital for industrial growth.

  • Prominent in railway construction despite investment risks.

Marxism and its Origins

• Publication of The Communist Manifesto

  • Year: 1848

  • Authors: Karl Marx (1818–1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820–1895).

  • Manifesto declared revolutionary socialism, calling for class struggle.

• Marx's Background and Influences

  • Born in Trier, Germany, into a prosperous family with rabbinical heritage.

  • Educated in philosophy, encountering Hegel's ideas.

  • Shifted from intended academic career to journalism following difficulties due to his atheistic views.

• Formation of Collaborations

  • Partnership with Friedrich Engels began in Paris.

  • Engels provided insights into working conditions as well as financial support.

  • Joined the Communist League in 1847.

• Core Ideas of The Communist Manifesto

  • Opens with the assertion that history is defined by class struggles.

  • Oppressed and oppressor exist in constant opposition.

  • Feudal classes were replaced by the bourgeoisie, which became the modern state’s dominant class through revolutions.

• The Role of the State

  • According to Marx, the executive state serves the bourgeoisie’s common affairs.

• Proletarian Struggle

  • Marx forecasted a fierce struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat leading to a victorious working class.

  • Post-victory scenario:

  • Formation of a dictatorship by the proletariat

  • Classless society's emergence leading to the withering away of the state and cessation of class struggles.

• Post-1848 Developments

  • Marx moved to London post-1848 failure to work on political economy, yielding Das Kapital, though unfinished.

  • Continued involvement in organizing the working class with the International Working Men’s Association established in 1864, aimed at unifying labor interests but faced internal conflicts.