Bilkent University

2003-2004 Summer Semester

HCIV 102: History of Civilization 2

“SECOND ESSAY” on TOPIC TWO: “Kapital: The Age of Industry and Reform”

An Answer to the FIRST Question:

“What were the most significant characteristics of the Industrial Revolution and were these characteristics reflected in the intellectual developments of the Age of Industry?”

FATIH SINAN ESEN

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There are many characteristics of the Age of Industry but firstly, we should find answers to these questions and then will be able to come to these special characteristics: What are industry and revolution? Where they came from? What we know about their Etymological structures? What happens if they used together and what does that phrase mean for the people in Europe in 19th century?

Coming from the Latin word “industria” meaning “diligent activity directed to some purpose” and its descendant, old French “industrie” with the senses “activity, ability” and “a trade or occupation” our word (first recorded in 1475) originally meant “skill”, “a device” and “diligence” as well as “a trade”. Over the course of the Industrial Revolution, as more and more human effort became involved in producing goods and services for sale, the last sense of industry as well as the slightly newer sense “systematic work or habitual employment” grew in importance, to a large extent taking over the word. (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition, Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000)

After describing industry properly, it’s the word “revolution”’s turn to be described. After describing this word and its historical background, we can write off its meaning and importance according to the people in 19th century’s Europe. “Revolution” is actually comes from the

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verb “to revolt” which comes from a French word “révolter (or revoltar or revolutare)”. If we analyze “revolutare”: “re-“ is a well-known prefix in most of the languages as it is commonly used in English and French. “-volutare” means “to roll” or “revolve” in French. (Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, 1989) Thus, the synthesis of two words doesn’t point to another meaning but the meaning they form with being together: Revolution is “an instance of great change or alteration in affairs or in some particular thing” as a term. On the other hand, it’s “a complete overthrow of the established government in any country or state by those who were previously subject to it; a forcible substitution of a new ruler or form of government” as a social and political expression. If we look it in a Marxist sense, it is caused by the class struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat and this struggle leads to the downfall of capitalism, so, the legislative power passes to proletariats and capitalism is replaced by communism. Marxists describe revolution with this sentence. But in a general sense, for societies, revolution was a great power for making social and political changes, and it is. It gives the power to the majority in a society to capture the management and set a new government. Knowing the probability of a revolution, governments should and do govern the country well not to be posted to the hell with a revolution. Since it

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is a threatening force for all the governments, they make reforms to make the society happy. In this sense, reform is a precious medicine that extends governments’ lives.

We, now, know what these words mean, so, we can consider the meaning of “Industrial Revolution”. At the first look, we can readily say that it was a change, which is made by the majority in the society, against the sovereign in the country. But this was a different type of revolution. It was a radical change in industry. We readily know that it was a change (because the word “revolution” is used), but what kind of change it was? Was it a negative change, or positive? Here comes the definition: “The Industrial Revolution  is a sustained period of economic growth and change brought about by the application of mineral energy and technological innovations to the process of manufacturing. It took place during the century between 1750 and 1850, first in England.” (Kishlansky, Geary, O’Brian, ch.21, p.706)

There were several characteristics of Industrial Revolution but some of them are the most significant ones: Machine was used as a new source of power; village life became town life and there occurred a migration from rural areas to urban places (bourgeoisie came to scene); woman and children started working on hard jobs and big factories; manufacturing surpassed agricultural production; industrial production in towns became popular instead of subsistence

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farming in small villages. The characteristics, reasons and the results were written by the intellectuals of the age. Many thinkers and authors wrote about these changes. We will focus on the “Manifesto of the Communist Party” which is written by Karl Marx, who is a youngster at the age of 29, and Friedrich Engels, a youngster at the age of 27.

According to Marx and Engels, the most significant characteristic (also a result) is the reality of the occurrence of classes. They say, “Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes, directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat”(Marx & Engels, Manifesto of The Communist Party, ch.1). The Industrial Revolution produced capitalists and capitalist captured the management and became a great power. They were a big force over working class, proletarians.

With a focused look, one can see that Marx and Engels claim that bourgeoisie had a revolutionary role in world history. When bourgeoisie captured the sovereign in a country, it killed the patriarchy and destroyed the natural relations that people in the society have. By this sense, Marx’s thoughts looks like J. J. Rousseau’s, who is a Swiss thinker, and thinks that being civilized breaks the natural relations between people and makes them rude and opportunist. Marx, surprisingly, resembles John Locke, a famous British thinker known as the father of political liberalism, while

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considering human’s natural rights. But Marx strictly opposed individual’s right of ownership. So, he concluded his ideas differently (means different from Locke and Rousseau) and came up with a new idea, “Communism”. Vladimir Ilyic Lenin, the head of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917, describes Marx’s communism as follows: “Communism is the control of goods and services (commodities) through a government that produces only to serve the people. It is total equality. Communism is abolition of private property, meaning that resources (minerals, coal, oil, ect.) and production (factories, plants, refineries, ect.) are owned in common by the people.” According to Marx; with industrial revolution, human freedom is replaced by commercial freedom, and he orders all workers to unit, at the last sentence of the manifesto. Because the proletarians were being exploited by capitalists who were so greedy and wanted more capital, more money and more labor. That was the reason why women and children began working harder. Needless to say that hard-work caused many injuries and was harmful, especially for the children who were at the age of growth. Marx and Engels must have been affected by these realities because there are some evidences in their book: They say “Do you charge us with wanting to stop the exploitation of children by their parents? To this crime we plead guilty.” and “The bourgeois clap-trap about the family and education, about the hallowed

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co-relation of parent and child, becomes all the more disgusting, the more, by the action of Modern Industry, all family ties among the proletarians are torn asunder, and their children transformed into simple articles of commerce and instruments of labor.” They also mention women’s rights and say “The bourgeois sees in his wife a mere instrument of production.”

Bourgeoisie created capitalists who exploit the labor. With existence of capitalist class, as usual, there formed another class, proletarians, as it is described above. Formation of classes is mentioned in the book. Marx & Engels say that the history was the history of class struggles. The result may be either the existence of the stronger that makes the revolution or the common ruin of contending classes. Moreover, there is a good sentence that describes the formation of classes: “Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary re-constitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes.” (Marx & Engels, Manifesto of The Communist Party, ch.1) Marx and Engels also claim that capitalists are preparing their end with their own hands because, as a major power, proletarians will capture

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the government as soon as possible, when they unit. Then the government will be a worker-friendly one that is supported by this majority with revolution. Besides, he says that development in industry makes proletarians stronger. It means “more developed industry, stronger and united proletarians”. But this strength can get weak with an inevitable competition among workers. But the famous theory of Marx comes to help: struggle for a better community (or Dialectics in other words). This competition leads to a better and stronger proletarian class. So, they use their competitive power to get stronger.

Industrial Revolution struck a mortal blow to family and village life. In addition, the bourgeoisie has subjected the country to the rule of the towns. It has created big cities and made people to migrate to urban places. Consequently, the population increased in towns. This is, actually, what bourgeoisie means.

If there is bourgeoisie, there, always, is going to be a proletarian class. Marx & Engels describes the permanence of proletarians as follows: “Of all the classes that stand face to face with the bourgeoisie today, the proletariat alone is a really revolutionary class. The other classes decay and finally disappear in the face of Modern Industry; the proletariat is its special and essential product.” (Manifesto of The Communist Party, ch.1)

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As a conclusion, we can say that Industrial Revolution was a very important change in social and political life. It was useful for industrialization and technology, where it had many bad effects on human. These characteristics can be easily seen in the books of the thinkers of the Age of Industry. Marx and Engels mention and describe these characteristics, too, in their book Manifesto of the Communist Party, which consists of four chapters. They explain the Industrial Age with its bad affects. Development in industry made people to leave their villages and form a big and massive society in towns and big cities with many troubles. The population increased. So, much people mean much food. Thus, more and more industry was needed. This situation, called Bourgeoisie, produced capitalist class that is described greedy by Marx. The capitalist class produced a strong class which Marx and Engels called proletarians. Their theory of class struggle says that, there weren’t any place or any time where a struggle between classes didn’t occur. History means history of classes. The proletarians formed the strongest class because they are produced by industrialization itself. Other classes might lose the war against bourgeoisie but proletarians never. Industrialization had much harm on families, too. Women and children began producing. This weakened the family and its roots. He offers a system that suggest equality to all, named communism.

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Natural connections among humans and among nature can only be preserved by this way. Marx is important in this way. He comes up with an idea where the most of the thinkers don’t. Because of this, he calls other philosophers as observers. Differently, he offers a resolution to the bad and harmful situation he described. He expects analytic thoughts from philosophers and scientists of that age. That is the reason why he appreciated Charles Darwin and his book. It is worthwhile here to add that Marx is influenced the Theory of Evolution. “Marx viewed himself as an evolutionist who demonstrated that history is the dialectical struggle of classes.”(Kishlansky, Geary & O’Brian; II, ch.23, p.744)

Hence, Marx and Engels didn’t like the Industrial Revolution and its characteristics. Industrial Revolution is described by them but with its harmful ways, mostly. This means Industrial Revolution was not a revolution in a Marxist sense, because it is not caused by classes but it formed classes.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

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Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels; Manifesto of the Communist Party; 1848

Kishlansky, Geary & O’Brian; Civilization in the West II;1997

Oxford English Dictionary; Oxford University Press; 2nd Edition; 1989

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language; 4th Edition; Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company; 2000