Socialism argued for the replacement of capitalism through the collective ownership of, factories, the means of production. Profit was not inherently good but was based on the exploitation of others. Robert Owen in the United Kingdom developed a model factory that limited people to ten hours of work per day, ensured that children went to school, and later encouraged the development of consumer owned businesses.

Socialism quickly devolved into a debate between reform socialism and revolutionary socialism as well as communism. Sensing the growing power of the state to suppress any attempts at rebellion, reform socialists sought to keep the capitalist system, but wanted to limit its excesses. They championed the improvement of the working conditions, increased pay, and limiting the working hours. They also advocated for the acceptance of labor unions, as collective bargaining was very anti-liberalism, and radical reforms such access to insurance, old-age pensions, and unemployment benefits.

Figure 11: Karl Marx

However, to their more extreme revolutionary socialist brethren, they were seen as sellouts who encouraged the development and continuation of capitalism rather than endeavoring to overhaul the entire system. In contrast, revolutionary socialists advocated for the immediate elimination of capitalism. Largely led by the ideas developed by the German thinker Karl Marx, revolutionary socialists were more extreme in their views and ideas against capitalism, along with their proposed actions. Noting the failure of the Revolution of 1848, Marx developed the theory referred to as Marxism. This new theory inspired, by putting into practice, communist parties around the world. Marx viewed history as a series of conflicts between the haves and the have-nots. These two groups represented the privileged and the economically and thus politically excluded members of the society. He created a phases of history which followed this order: Primitive Communism, Slavery, Feudalism, Capitalism, Socialism, Communism.Simply, wealth determined culture and politics and those that controlled the means of production also controlled the state. This theory removed history from the center of the inter-class conflict; thus, new groups and new methods of production were developed. Marx argued that to bring out the final stage of history, communism, a conflict would develop between those that controlled the factories and the state and the workers. Furthermore, industrialization pushed more and more people away from the middle class and into lower class, alienating them from the product of their labor. People would overcome any false consciousnesses that prevented them from seeing their exploitation. As people became increasingly poor and the rich, although fewer and fewer, even richer, capitalism would collapse. The weight of numbers would favor the poor to overcome any technological limitations and the fact that they did not control the police and army.

Anarchism is the agitation to overthrow the exploitative capitalist system and return to a simple, idealized past. It is defined as a political philosophy which considers the state-or any form of authority-undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful. Basing on the unsuccessful efforts of reform socialists to achieve any meaningful change, anarchists connected property with power and strove to eliminate both.Anarchists mostly came from areas, such as in Spain and Russia, were the state was asserting its power more and more upon the citizens. People were forced to pay taxes, register their wills, send their children to school, and deal with state police. Others were inspired by the past anarchists and by them witnessing the power of the state to protect the money and property of the rich. The most common strategy used by the anarchists was the “propaganda by the deed”.This involved planning one or two highly publicized and dramatic actions, often killing as many people as possible. This would be followed by a severe and harsh crackdown by state authorities which will in return inspire more people to act against the state. One anarchist, Peter Kropotkin wrote: “A single deed is better propaganda than a thousand pamphlets.” Although their visions of the future were much debated and many struggled to define how these visions would form part of any potential society, the goal remained to replace the capitalist state by voluntary cooperation with no law or higher authority necessary. People would work and contribute to society because they wanted do and in a manner that would avoid any forms of exploitation. There would be enough goods for everyone to live and thrive on.

Pierre Proudhon of France and Michael Bakunin of Russia were the first major anarchists whose writing and actions inspired others, with the movement reaching its height in the 1880s and the 1890s. Between 1870 and 1910, anarchists managed to assassinate the Spanish Prime Minister Canovas de Castillo, Empress Elisabeth of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, American President William McKinley, King Umberto I of Italy, and Tsar Alexander II of Russia. To their disciples, such as Emile Henry, who used new inventions such as dynamite and chemicals to blow-up their targets, any member of the middle class was a legitimate target whose killing was justified. However, most of the anarchists ended up dead and with little lasting political accomplishments. This is because the idea of that the state could be overthrown and capitalist system replaced was an attractive idea only to the working class. The consequence was largely a stronger police presence and state that was increasingly incapable over being overthrown.

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon wrote in 1865: ”To be governed is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-drive, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, checked, estimated, valued, censured, commended by creatures who have neither the right nor the wisdom nor the virtue to do so. To be governed is to be at every operation, at every transaction noted, registered, counted, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed ,licensed, authorized, admonished, prevented, forbidden, reformed, corrected, and punished.

Person in History: Emile Henry

Figure 12: Emile Henry Being Detained After Bombing the Cafe Terminus

Emile Henry was a French anarchist who actions had been inspired by the ideologies of leading anarchists like Pierre Proudhon and Michael Bakunin. He strongly believed in the “propaganda by deed” approach. Emile acted on his beliefs when he detonated a bomb at Cafe Terminus in 1894. His action led to the death of one person and injuries to about twenty people. Even though his attempt did not have much of the intended impact, he inspired many younger revolutionary anarchists. Emile had been born and raised in a liberal aristocratic system. He saw his father exiled from France for his Communism ideologies. Earlier on, his brother had passed the written college entry exams but failed the oral tests. Hence, he had been denied the chance to proceed to college, instead ending up as a menial worker in a draper’s shop. All these two events contributed to the anger that was boiling inside of this young man. Nevertheless, he was rattled by the execution of Augustine Valiant, another anarchist. In his mind, the system had become totally unfair to him and all the vulnerable members of the society. The cafe was an easy target for him because it represented the bourgeoisie. His plan was to kill as many people as possible so that the government could react harshly. He anticipated that the cruel response from the government would inspire more revolutionaries to rise. This idea is captured in his last words before hanging, “courage comrades”.

Debates over democracy also became more important as states needed to define who was to be given a voice in the government and who was to be excluded. Initially, racial minorities, in places such as the United States, the working class, and women were all denied a voice in the ever growing government. Traditionally, in Britain, many powerful landowners used the “rotten” borough system to ensure the election of who they wanted. The Reform Bill of 1832 eliminated pocket boroughs and redistributed parliamentary seats to newly urbanized areas. The middle class urban worker and the larger farmer both received the right to vote. This new number added up to about 20% of the male population who would make up the population of the eligible voters. Once a debate was started, it was difficult to contain. Across the United Kingdom, reformers advocated for a “People’s Charter”. This agitation led to the emergence of the Chartist movement that quickly collected over six million signatures due to its simple demands that included universal male suffrage, annual elections, and the use of secret ballots. Chartists sought to redefine the notion of citizenship to include working class men.The result was profound. By 1846, the Corn Laws that guarantee a specific price for corn, to protect the elite, by limiting the importation of food were abolished. Still, the right to vote remained limited.

The middle and working class still wanted an expansion of the voting rights. The 1867 Reform Act increased male electorate to roughly one-third of the male population. British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli wanted his party to receive the credit from a thankful population for giving them the right to vote; thus, he supported this act. Furthermore, he made nationalism and imperialism part of the Conservative Party’s core ideology, a strategy that appealed directly to the working class. The 1884 Reform Act gave the right to vote to 2 million more men.Only those still living with their parents or without a fixed address and domestic servants could not vote. Women’s rights increased gradually over the second half of the 19th century. In 1870, laws were passed allow married women the legal right to keep their own earnings and in 1882 could maintain property separate from their husbands. In 1880, the first three women to graduate from university received their degrees from the University of London. In 1856 women could divorce their husbands on the grounds of adultery and move the proceeding to civil rather than divorce court. Furthermore, women’s rights in Britain expanded as demonstrate by their roles in the local institutions. Women served on school boards as as poor law guardians. By 1907, over 2000 women served on parish and district councils as well as Poor Law Boards. To further advocate for the right to vote, National Union of Women’s Suffrage Society (NUWSS) and Women Social and Political Union (WSPU) were founded in 1897 and 1903 respectively and Emmeline Pankhurst became a national figure fighting for the right to vote.

The right to vote in Britain was a process characterized by dramatic events. Between three and four thousand women marched despite a downpour in 1907. Many women refused to pay income tax. The more violent suffragettes committed violence against property including throwing bricks through windows. 60,000 women showed up to pressurize the House of Commons with one woman making into the House while others disrupting public meetings. Women went on hunger strikes leading to a cat-and-mouse game in which women would be arrested and then force fed or released due to the hunger strikes only to be arrested again.

Arguments against giving women the right to vote included the ideology of separate spheres which stipulated that men and women are essentially different. Others argued that women would not understanding the complexities of the modern state, including its finances and industries. Another argument was that voting would bring disagreement into the house, that it was a dangerous experiment not worth the risk, and that women might be easily influenced. In addition, there was no need to grant this right since women were already represented by men.

In 1910, women of the WSPU attempted to reach Parliament, leading to the arrest of 115 women and men and the death of 3 women. In 1911, many women boycotted the national census and participated in another march. After Parliament failed to pass a women’s suffrage bill in 1911, suffragettes caused a great deal of damage, including breaking the windows of over 400 shops and at the Prime Minister’s residence. Over one thousand women were arrested . Emily Wilding Davison scarified her life for this course.Motivated by the desire to help women obtain this right, she ran onto the racecourse in the midst of the Epsom Derby and grabbed at the bridle of the King’s horse which struck her while galloping at full speed, killing her.

By 1911, in Britain, the most progressive of European countries, 7.9 million men were parliamentary voters, representing about six out of every 10 males over 21 women. In 1919 the electorate comprised 78 percent of the adult population. This number rose to 90 per cent and 97 per cent by 1929 and 1939 respectively. Women received the right to vote thanks to their participation in World War One, although until 1928, the right was restricted to females over 30 before being lowered to 21. Much of Europe granted female suffrage during the interwar era, although in France female voting as not allowed until 1944 and 1946 in Italy. The United Nations eventually started this right although some countries, such as Saudi Arabia, denied this right until the last decade. Overall, both the working class and women demanded the right to vote which various European governments granted over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Conclusion

The 19th century society was marked a sense of optimism and faith in European progress. More people obtained the right to vote in Western Europe (while they continued to be denied this right in Eastern Europe). An exploitative capitalist system continued (despite the wishes of many) but the bluntness of the system was lessened through the gradually implementation of better working conditions, better pay and (eventually) health insurance and pensions. Attempts at large scale reform and revolutions failed but changes were implemented.