Essay: the Industrial Revolution

 

The term “Industrial Revolution” was first used by the English historian Arnold Toynbee to describe the great change England underwent at the end of the 18^th century.

According to Toynbee, with the Industrial Revolution the ancient medieval regulations were substituted by free competition and this meant a complete revise of the laws of production and distribution of wealth. Moreover, the Industrial Revolution did not only affect the economic sphere, but it also paved the way to the development of two great systems of thought: Economic Science and Socialism.

Several economists wrote essays about the important changes the economy was experiencing, analyzing them from different points of view. In 1776 Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of Nations, where he stated that only a system of free competition may increase the wealth of the State; in 1798 Malthus formulated his theory of population, where he linked society and economy. In the following years the problem of wealth distribution was more deeply analyzed: Ricardo, in his Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, distinguished for the first time the laws of production from the laws of distribution of capital, while John Stuart Mill, in 1848, tried to solve the problem regarding how money should be distributed. Indeed, after more than 70 years from the publication of Adam Smith’s work, it was clear that a fair society could not be built on free competition alone.

The most evident fact which occurred during the Industrial Revolution was the rapid increase in population. However, while urban population grew, there was a fall in agricultural population. This event was mainly due to three factors: the disappearance of the common fields, the system of the enclosures and the consolidation of small farms into larger ones. Common fields were grounds where peasants could grow the vegetables or raise the cattle they needed to survive. Nevertheless, great landlords started to close these lands to use them for intensive cultivations. As a consequence, most peasants lost their job and they had to move to the towns, hoping to get a job in the new factories. Still these radical changes brought also some positive effects: the land was now more productive because of mechanization, better irrigation and new cultivating techniques (such as rotation).

On the industrial side, the events which increased production were the great inventions of the period: the spinning-jenny by Hargreaves, the water frame by Arkwright, the self-acting mule by Crompton, the steam engine by Watt and the power loom by Cartwright. These new machines needed iron to be constructed, and so iron production was improved by using revolutionary techniques such as blast furnaces and smelting by pit coal. Coal had a primary importance, since it was used as fuel for the steam engine, and industries were often built near coal mines (which were located in Northern England).

A larger production required better transportation, and thus new canals, roads and railroads were opened (the locomotive had been invented in 1825 by Stevenson).

All this led to large scale production, with his pros (cheaper goods) and cons (periodical crises of over production and subsequent depressions): the old domestic system, where the worker owned the goods he manufactured, had disappeared; it had been substituted by the modern factory work. This shift brought good effects in the countryside, and dramatic effects in the industrial towns.

Indeed, if in the countryside farmers shared the prosperity of their landlords, in the industrial towns workmen worked several hours a day, in bad conditions, with lower and lower wages, while the price of bread was increasing. Furthermore, the human bond between worker and master had been broken and replaced by a cash-nexus, where only earnings were important. Trade Unions acquired the right to fight for workers, but they often had to confront industry owners’ opposition. It was clear that wealth does not always correspond to well-being.

 

  

Activities

 

Complete the following notes. They will give you an outline of the information contained in the passage. The main points, relations of cause-effect, illustrations etc. are clearly indicated in the text by logical connectors. Look out for them. 

 

•  (par. 1) The Industrial Revolution       

 is the substitution of competition for the mediaeval regulations which had previously controlled the production and distribution of wealth. It

led to growth of two systems of thought:        

 

1) Economic science                      2) Socialism

 

a)Adam Smith

b)Malthus

c)Ricardo

d) John Stuart Mill

 

 

 • (par. 2-3) Facts of Industrial Revolution. 

1)Greater rapidity in the growth of population

2)Decline of agricultural population

 

 

• (par. 4) Decrease in rural population.

causes:     1) destruction of the common-field system of cultivation

     2) enclosure, on a large scale, of common and waste lands

     3) consolidation of small farms into large ones

• (par. 5) Agricultural advance.

cause — more scientific approach:

e.g.  

breed of cattle improved

rotation of crops

steam-plough invention

agricultural societies

• (par. 6-7) Growth of industry.

causes;

1) mechanical inventions in textile industry

e.g.  

the spinning-jenny, by Hargreaves in 1770

the water-frame, by Arkwright in 1769

The mule by Crompton in 1779

Self-acting mule by Kelly in 1792, but not brought into use till Roberts improved it in 1825.

most important:

steam engine

power-loom

 

2) mechanical revolution in iron industry

e.g.  

invention of smelting by pit-coal

application of the steam-engine to blast furnaces

3) improved means of communication

e.g.  

canal system

Improvement of roads and turnpike roads

railroad

 

results:   1)  extraordinary increase in commerce

     2) substitution of factory system for domestic system.

 

• (par. 8) Revolution in distribution of wealth:

rise in rents caused by

1) money invested in improvements

2) enclosure system

3) consolidation of farms

4) high price of corn

social changes in country life: farmers shared the prosperity of their landlords

• (par. 9) Social changes in manufacturing world: The new class of great capitalist employers made enormous fortunes, they took little or no part personally in the work of their factories, and their hundreds of workmen were individually  unknown to them

consequences:

 1)  old relations between masters and men disappeared

2)  a "cash nexus" was substituted for the human tie

3) class conflict.

• (par. 10) Misery of working people often caused by:

 

1) a fall in wages together with the rise of prices

2) the conditions of labour under the factory system

3) sudden fluctuations of trade

 

Conclusion:

The effects of the Industrial Revolution prove that free competition may produce wealth without producing well-being. We all know the horrors that ensued in England before it was restrained by legislation and combination.

 

The Industrial Revolution demonstrated that the rise of production and wealth does not always coincide with a better standard of living for the people (or for all the people). So the “free competition” must be controlled through laws to ensure the respect of workers’ rights.