c hapter twenty-three modern industry and mass politics, 1870–1914

CHAPTERTwenty-three

Modern Industry and Mass Politics, 1870–1914

Introduction

• Marinetti and futurism• A radical renewal of civilization through

“courage, audacity, and revolt”• The beauty of speed• The heroic violence of warfare

Introduction

• A radically new world• Second industrial revolution• New demands in the political arena• Socialist mobilization of industrial workers• White suffragists demand the franchise

• The challenge of the twentieth century

New Technologies and Global Transformations

• New technologies• Steel

• Between the 1850s and 1870s, the cost of producing steel decreased

• Steel industry dominated by Germany and the United States

• Electricity• Alternators and transformers produce high-

voltage alternating current• Edison invented the incandescent-filament lamp

in 1879


• New technologies• Chemicals

• Efficient production of alkali and sulfuric acid• Transformed manufacture of paper, soaps, textiles, and

fertilizer

• British led the way in soaps and cleaners and in mass marketing

• German production focused on industrial uses—synthetic dyes and refining petroleum

• By 1914, most navies had converted from coal to oil• Discovery of oil fields in Russia, Borneo, Persia,

and Texas• Discovering the potential for worldwide

industrialization


• Changes in scope and scale• Technology as cause and consequence of

the race toward a bigger, faster, cheaper, and more efficient world

• The rise of heavy industry and mass marketing

• National mass cultures• Watched as Europe divided the globe• Feats of engineering mastery


• Changes in scope and scale• Changes

• Population grew constantly• Food shortages declined• Populations less susceptible to illness, lower

infant mortality• Advances in medicine, nutrition, and personal

hygiene• Improved housing and sanitation


• Changes in scope and scale• Credit and Consumerism

• The appearance of the department store• Modern advertising• Credit payments

• New patterns of consumption were decidedly urban


• The rise of the corporation• Economic growth and demands of mass

consumption spurred the reorganization of capitalist institutions

• The modern corporation appeared• Limited-liability laws

• Stockholders would only lose their share value in the event of bankruptcy

• Demand for technical expertise• Undercut traditional forms of family management• University trained engineers

• The white‑collar class consisted of middle-level salaried managers, neither owners nor laborers


• The rise of the corporation• Consolidation would protect industries from

cyclical fluctuations and unbridled competition

• Vertical integration• Industries controlled every step of production

• From acquisition of raw materials to distribution of finished goods

• Horizontal integration• Organized into cartels• Companies in the same industry would band

together


• The rise of the corporation• Dominant trend was increased cooperation

between government and industry• Appearance of businessmen and financiers

as officers of state


• International economics• Search for markets, goods, and influence fueled

imperial expansion• Trade barriers arose to protect home markets

• All nations except Britain raised tariffs

• An interlocking, worldwide system of manufacturing, trade, and finance

• Near-universal adoption of the gold standard• Most European countries imported more than they

exported• Relied on “invisible” exports—shipping, insurance, and

banking• London as money market of the world

Labor Politics, Mass Movements

• Changes in the European working class• The “new unionism”

• Organization across whole industries• Brought unskilled workers into the ranks• Gave labor power to negotiate wages and

conditions of work• Provided the framework for the socialist mass

party


• Changes in the European working class• Karl Marx

• Published first volume of Das Kapital in 1867• Attacked capitalism in terms of political economy• A systematic analysis of production

• The Marxist appeal• Provided a crucial foundation for building a democratic

mass politics• Made powerful claims for gender equality• The promise of a better future


• The spread of socialist parties—and alternatives• Marxist socialism spread to social

democratic parties• Disciplined, politicized workers’ organizations• Aimed at seizing control of the state for

revolutionary change


• The spread of socialist parties—and alternatives• The model of all socialist parties was the

German Social Democratic Party (SPD, founded 1875)

• Strove for political change within Germany’s parliamentary system

• Eventually adopted an explicitly Marxist platform


• The spread of socialist parties—and alternatives• Before World War I, the Social Democrats

were the best organized workers’ party in the world—explanations:

• Rapid and extension industrialization• Large urban working class• A national government hostile to organized labor• No tradition of liberal reform


• The spread of socialist parties—and alternatives• Britain

• Labour Party (1901)• Remained moderate

• Anarchism• Opposed to centrally organized economics and

politics• Advocated small-scale, localized democracy• Conspiratorial vanguard violence• The assassination of Tsar Alexander II (1881)


• The limits of success• Socialist parties never gained full worker

support• Some workers retained loyalty to older parties• Others were excluded• What constituted the working class?

• Conflict over strategy and tactics reached its climax in the years before World War I

Demanding Equality: Suffrage and the Women’s Movement

• Women’s rights• By 1884, Germany, France, and Britain had

enfranchised most men• Women relegated to status as second-class

citizens• Women pressed their interests through

independent organizations and forms of direct action


• Women’s organizations• Middle-class women founded clubs,

published journals, organized petitions• Feminism and socialism• Britain

• Women’s movement exploded in violence• Emmeline Pankhurst and the Women’s Social

and Political Union (1903)• Militancy and civil disobedience• Martyrdom of Emily Wilding Davison (1913)


• Redefining womanhood• Campaign for women’s suffrage helped

redefine Victorian gender roles• The increasing visibility of women• Middle-class women and work

• Worked as social workers and clerks, nurses and teachers

• Women, politics, and reform• Poor relief, prison reform, temperance

movements, abolition of slavery, education


• Redefining womanhood• The “new woman”

• Demanded education and a job• Claimed the right to be physically and intellectually active• The new woman as image

• Few women actually fitted the image created by artists and journalists

• Opposition• Never exclusively male opposition

• Mrs. Humphrey Ward—women in politics would sap the strength of the empire

• Christian commentators criticized suffragists for moral decay

• Others argued that feminism would dissolve the family

Liberalism and its Discontents: National Politics at the Turn of the Century

• Late-nineteenth-century liberalism• Mass politics upset the balance between

middle-class interests and traditional elites• The government’s response was a mixture

of conciliation and repression• What was required was a distinctly modern

form of mass politics


• France: The embattled republic• Franco-Prussian War (1870) as humiliating

defeat for France• Government of the Second Empire

collapsed• The Third Republic

• Triumph of democratic and parliamentary principles

• Class conflict


• France: The embattled republic• The Paris Commune (1871)

• Paris refused to surrender to the Germans• Paris proclaimed itself to be the true government

of France• Government sends troops to Paris in March

1871• Twenty-five thousand were executed, killed in

fighting, or consumed in fires


• The Dreyfus Affair and anti-Semitism as politics• French anti-Semitism—a new form of radical right-

wing politics (nationalist, antiparliamentary, and antiliberal)

• Édouard Drumont (1844–1917)• Successful anti-Semitic journalist• Attributed all of France’s problems to a Jewish conspiracy• An ideology of hatred

• Jews in the army subverted national purpose

• Mass culture corrupted French culture

• La Libre Parole (Free Speech, 1892), the Anti-Semitic League, and Jewish France (1886)


• The Dreyfus Affair and anti-Semitism as politics• The Dreyfus Affair (1894)

• Dreyfus convicted of selling military secrets to Germany• Sent to Devil’s Island• The verdict was questioned and documents proven to be

forgeries (1896)• Émile Zola (1840–1902) backed Dreyfus

• Blasted the French establishment in “J’accuse!” (I Accuse)

• Dreyfus eventually freed in 1899 and cleared of all guilt in 1906

• Consequences• Separation of church and state in France• Republicans saw church army as hostile toward the republic


• Zionism: Theodor Herzl (1860–1904)• Considered the Dreyfus Affair to be an

expression of a fundamental problem• Jews might never be assimilated into European

culture

• Endorsed Zionism—building a separate Jewish homeland outside Europe

• Zionism as a modern nationalist movement• The State of the Jews (1896)• Convened the first Zionist Congress in

Switzerland in 1897


• Germany’s search for imperial unity• Bismarck united Germany under the banner

of Prussian conservatism (1864–1871)• Sought to create the centralizing institutions of a

modern state• Safeguarding the privileges of Germany’s

national interests• Executive power rested solely with Wilhelm I

(1797–1888), king and kaiser (emperor)• Cabinet ministers answered only to the kaiser


• Germany’s search for imperial unity• Three problems

• Divide between Catholics and Protestants• Growing Social Democratic party• Divisive economic interests of agriculture and

industry

• Kulturkampf (cultural struggle)• Bismarck unleashed an anti-Catholic campaign• The campaign backfired


• Germany’s search for imperial unity• Social Democrats as the new enemies of

the empire• Bismarck passed antisocialist laws in 1878

• Social welfare• Workers guaranteed sickness and accident

insurance• Rigorous factory inspection• Limited working hours for women and children• Old-age pensions


• Germany’s search for imperial unity• Social welfare legislation did not win the

loyalty of workers• Wilhelm II (1859–1941, r. 1888–1918)

• Suspended antisocialist legislation


• Britain: from moderation to militance• Problems

• Liberal parliamentary framework began to show signs of collapse

• Labor protest• Irish radical nationalists began to favor armed

revolution• Sinn Féin and the Irish Republican Brotherhood• Home rule tabled (1913)


• Russia: The road to revolution• Internal conflicts and an autocratic political

system• Threatened by Western industrialization and

Western political doctrines• Russian industrialization (1880s–1890s)

• State-directed industrial development


• Russia: The road to revolution• Alexander II (1818–1888, r. 1855–1881)

• The “Tsar Liberator”• Set up zemstvos, provincial land and county

assemblies (1804)• Curtailed the rights of zemstvos, censorship of

the press• Assassinated by a radical


• Russia: The road to revolution• Nicholas II (1868–1918, r. 1894–1917)

• Continued these “counterreforms”• Advocated Russification to extend the language,

religion, and culture of Greater Russia

• The Populists• Russia to modernize on its own terms, not those

of the West• Based on the ancient village commune (mir)• Overthrowing the tsar through anarchy and

insurrection


• Russia: The road to revolution• Russian Marxism

• Organized as the Social Democratic Party• Concentrated on urban workers


• Russia: the road to revolution• Social Democratic Party split (1903)

• Bolsheviks (majority group)• Called for a central party organization of active

revolutionaries• Rapid industrialization meant they did not have to

follow Marx

• Mensheviks (minority group)• Gradualist approach• Reluctant to depart from Marxist orthodoxy

• Lenin• Leader of the Bolsheviks while in exile• Coordinated socialist movement• Russia was ripe for revolution


• The first Russian Revolution (1905)• Causes

• The Russo-Japanese War• Rapid industrialization had transformed Rusia

unevenly• Low grain prices resulted in peasant uprisings• Student radicalism• Russian inefficiency• Radical workers organized strikes and

demonstrations


• The first Russian Revolution (1905)• Bloody Sunday (January 22, 1905)

• Two hundred thousand workers led by Father Gapon demonstrated at the Winter Palace

• Guard troops killed 130 and wounded several hundred

• The protest grew• The autocracy had lost control


• The first Russian Revolution (1905)• Nicholas II issued the October Manifesto

• Guaranteed individual liberties• Moderately liberal franchise for the election of a

Duma

• Nicholas failed to see that fundamental change was needed

• Nicholas revoked most of the promises made in October (1905–1907)

• Deprived the Duma of its principal powers


• The first Russian Revolution (1905)• Russian agriculture remained suspended

between emerging capitalism and the peasant commune

Nationalism and Imperial Politics: The Balkans

• Rising nationalism divides the disintegrating Ottoman Empire

• The Turks ceded territories to rival European powers, especially Russia and Austria

• The Ottoman Empire as “the sick man of Europe”

• Uprisings in Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Bulgaria (1875–1876)

• Reports of atrocities against Christians• Led to the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)• The great powers intervened

Nationalism and Imperial Politics: The Balkans

• The Congress of Berlin (1878)• Bessarabia to Russia, Thessaly to Greece• Bosnia and Herzegovina under Austrian control• Montenegro, Serbia, and Romania become

independent states

• Turkish nationalism• The Young Turks

• Forced the sultan to establish a constitutional government in 1908

• Launched effort to “Ottomanize” all imperial subjects• Tried to bring Christian and Muslim communities

under more centralized control• Spread Turkish culture

The Science and the Soul of the Modern Age

• Darwin’s revolutionary theory• An unsettling new picture of human biology,

behavior, and society• Jean Lamarck (1744–1829)

• Behavioral changes could alter physical characteristics within a single generation

• New traits could be passed on to offspring


• Darwin’s revolutionary theory• Charles Darwin (1809–1882)

• The Origin of Species (1859)• Five years aboard H. M. S. Beagle• Observed manifold variations of animal life

• Theorized that variations within a population made certain individuals better adapted for survival

• Drew on the population theories of Thomas Malthus (1766–1834)

• Malthusian competition led to adaptation and ultimately survival

• Darwin used natural selection to explain the origin of new species

• Applied theory to plant and animal species as well as to man

• The Descent of Man (1871)• The human race had evolved from an apelike ancestor


• Darwinian theory and religion• Sparked a debate on the existence of God• For Darwin, the world was not governed by

order, harmony, and divine will but by random chance and struggle


• Social Darwinism• Herbert Spencer (1820–1903)

• Applied individual competition to classes, races, and nations

• Coined the expression “survival of the fittest”• Condemned all forms of collectivism—the

individual who “fit” was all-important


• Social Darwinism• Popularized notions of social Darwinism

were easy to comprehend• Integrated into popular vocabulary• Justified the natural order of rich and poor• Nationalists used social Darwinism to rationalize

imperialism and warfare• Also used to justify racial hierarchy and white

superiority


• Early psychology: Pavlov and Freud• The irrational and animalistic side of human

nature• Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936)

• “Classical conditioning”• A random stimulus can produce a physical reflex

reaction• Behaviorism

• Eschewed mind and consciousness


• Early psychology: Pavlov and Freud• Sigmund Freud (1856–1936)

• Behavior largely motivated by unconscious and irrational forces

• Unconscious drives and desires conflict with the rational and moral conscience

• An objective (scientific) understanding of human behavior

• Anxiety over the value and limits of human reason


• Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) and the attack on tradition• Middle-class culture dominated by illusions

and self-deceptions• Rejected rational argumentation• Bourgeois faith in science, progress, and

democracy was a futile search for truth• Ridiculed Judeo-Christian morality for

instilling a repressive conformity• Themes of personal liberation


• New readers and the popular press• Facilitated the spread of new ideas• Rising literacy rates and new forms of

printed mass culture• Journalism

• Advertising• “Yellow” journalism—entertainment,

sensationalism, and the news


• The first moderns: innovations in art • Modernism

• Questioning the moral and cultural values of liberal, middle-class society

• Characteristics• Self-conscious sense of rupture from history and

tradition• Rejection of established values• Insistence on an expressive and experimental

freedom


• The revolt on canvas• Modernism defined itself in opposition to the

past• A rejection of mainstream academic art• Artists begin to turn their backs on the visual

world• New focus on the subjective,

psychologically-oriented forms of self-expression


• The revolt on canvas• French Impressionism

• Attempted to objectively record natural phenomena

• Captured the transitory play of light on surfaces• The legacies of Claude Monet (1840–1926) and

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919)• Paved the way for younger artists to experiment more

freely• Impressionist artists organized their own independent

exhibitions


• The revolt on canvas• Post-Impressionism

• Paul Cézanne (1839–1906)• Reducing natural forms to geometric equivalents• Emphasis on subjective arrangement of color and

form

• Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) and Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890)

• Explored art’s expressive potential with greater emotion and subjectivity

• Henri Matisse (1869–1954) and Pablo Picasso (1881–1954)


• The revolt on canvas• Cubists, vorticists, and futurists

• Embraced a hard, angular aesthetic of the machine age

• The uncertainty of the future

Conclusion

• Progress and the forces of change

• Decline and the forces of change

This concludes the Lecture PowerPoint for Chapter 23.

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/wciv_16e/brief

c hapter twenty-three modern industry and mass politics, 1870–1914

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