The Industrial Revolution

I'm going to write a short essay about the Industrial Revolution, starting from an extract taken from Arnold Toynbee's "The Industrial Revolution", a very important book published in 1884.

The Industrial Revolution is a process: it means that it is something dynamic and implies a transformation of the existing reality of the whole world.

"The essence of the Industrial Revolution is the substitution of competition for the medieval regulations which had previously controlled the production and distribution of wealth". In this process, England was the main actor, but in a few time the Industrial Revolution meant consequences for all Europe.

Owing to the Industrial Revolution, two new systems of thought were born: Economic Science and Socialism. The former hints at liberal ideas, allowing people or organizations a lot of political or economic freedom. The latter refers to an economic and political system in which large industries are owned by the government and taxes are used to take some wealth away from richer citizens and give it to poor citizens.

The development of Economic Science in England has got four chief landmarks:

• The publication of "The Wealth of Nations" in 1776 by Adam Smith. He investigated the causes of wealth, analysing them in a country. The objective of the book is how to increase the reaches and the power of a country.

• The publication of "Essay on Population" in 1798 by Malthus, which can be considered the product of that revolution. The writer direct his inquires to the causes of poverty.

• The publication of "Principles of Political Economy and Taxation" in 1817 by Ricardo. He tried to become aware of the laws that regulated the distribution of wealth and how you could produce wealth under a system of freedom (before the Industrial Revolution, economy was regulated by families).

• The publication of "Principles of Political Economy" in 1848 by J.S. Mill. He demonstrated the differences between the laws of production and distribution. The problem that the writer wanted to analyse was the way that wealth ought to be distributed. A very important point was his effort to show what was not inevitable on a system of competition between industries. The spirit of Mill's book is different from the others political/economical books: he came across that the distribution of wealth is the result of particular social arrangements.

One of the most important facts of the Industrial Revolution is the rapid growth of population because of the improvement of the quality of life: people lived better and their living conditions increased. People moved from countrysides to cities because the majority of industries were situated in the nearness of the cities and because a very important revolution took place: the Agrarian Revolution. It meant a renovation in the way people exploit the land and caused a decrease in rural population owing to:

• the destruction of the common-field system of cultivation

• enclosure

• the consolidation of small farms into large.

These changes brought a distinct improvement in agriculture: they signified the substitution of scientific for unscientific culture:

• the breed of cattle

• rotation of crops

• introduction of the steam-plough

• institution of agricultural societies.

Moving to manufacture, you can notice the replacement of factory system for the domestic system by reason of the mechanical discoveries of the time. Five great inventions have to be considered:

• the water-frame

• Crompton's mule

• the self-acting mule

• the steam-engine

• the power-loom

Further more, the expansion of trade and the great advance made in the means of communication contribute to the growth of the factory system and commerce: the canal system was being rapidly developed throughout the country, the roads were improved, the first rail-road was opened and turnpike road was upgraded.

In addition one of the most significant features was a change from independence to dependence: people were gathered under a factory system, instead of a domestic one, and they have no right and no property in the goods they manufacture. It implies a revolution in distribution of wealth, too: rents rose enormously. It was due to the money invested in improvements, to the enclosure system, to the consolidation of farms and to the high price of corn.

All these factors contributed to a social revolution: capitalists employers took little or no part in the work of their factories. As a consequence old relations (master-men) disappeared, "cash nexus" was introduced and workmen gathered in Trade-Unions.

Richness was not distributed homogeneously: workers were very poor by reason of a fall in wages, rise of rents and conditions of labour under the factory system; but capitalists lived in luxury and without any difficulties.