Revolutions of 1848
From ancient times until well into the nineteenth century, people were often considered subjects (not citizens) of their states and countries. The people wanted to see a change, which is why socialism was discovered. Socialism focused its aim on economic, political, and social justice for all people. The possibility of achieving these aims was first envisioned in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. It was a time of extraordinary social and political upheaval. Socialism grew out of the French Revolution and its intellectual growth and demand for equal rights, absolute democracy, and the redistribution of property. Socialism was first developed because of the revolutionary impact capitalism had on the European society. Capitalism first emerged late in the Middle Ages throughout the Industrial Revolution. Capitalism (or the market economy) broke all the social bonds that had been seen during the Middle Ages. The class structure, in which everyone had a fixed position and individual responsibilities in society, was demolished. For the first time, a large class of factory workers came forth whose livelihood depended on wages. They were considered to be deprived of property because they owned no means of production. The value
Karl Marx's The Communist Manifesto discusses how a revolution could come about. Ever alert to ironies, Marx observes that it was the Industrial Revolution itself that had been organizing the workers most effectively. History, of course, presents a long and depressing story of the suffering of the poor and even of their futile attempts (German Peasant Revolutions of the Middle Ages) to change their condition. In the Middle Ages, the mass of workers were dispersed across the countryside and could not effectively join together with their allies. In addition, the form of work did not coordinate the activity of thousands of workers as was now the case in industrial work sites. The Industrial Revolution, however, had created an industrial army with highly coordinated tasks. Thousands of workers were being gathered into a single work site and trained to work together. The industrial city brought together the workers of many factories, a dangerous gathering of forces were they ever properly organized to confront their masters. Added to this, workingmen's associations had been providing more formal education in basic literacy but also in such topics as economics and history and in the skills of organizing. Marx, and many others of his time, could imagine the revolutionary possibilities as imminent. The Revolutions of 1848, however, had very few immediate effects. By spring of that year, many revolts had begun to die down. The revolutionaries all agreed that they wanted to get rid of the old governments, but they disagreed about what to do next. These disagreements resulted in
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Approximate Word count = 1064
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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