Manchester capitalism
With Manchester capitalism an economic historical phase during which the industrial revolution in Britain called. In general, the term describes the effects of an economic policy that is primarily oriented towards the interests of entrepreneurs, prevents state regulation and excludes social problems. Manchester capitalism is the epitome of exploitation and greed for profit.
The Wirtschafts-Ploetz, edited by Hermann Schäfer and Hugo Ott , defines the concept of Manchester capitalism as an " extreme form of liberalist capitalism, especially of the first half of the 19th century ... propagates the free economy without any state control while at the same time completely neglecting the social question ".
At the present time, Manchester capitalism (alternative spelling Manchester capitalism ) is used synonymously for great social inequality.
Friedrich Engels describes in his work " The Situation of the Working Class in England " numerous grievances of "wild capitalism":
- Child labor ,
- long working hours of often 12 to even 14 hours,
- arbitrary treatment,
- Starvation wages or exploitation ,
- Vulnerability to accidents at work,
- Poverty of the old, the sick and the weak.
The impoverishment gradually disappeared as the workers fought for collective or minimum wages, contractual guarantees in the event of illness, accidents at work and unemployment, and old-age and disability pensions.
Legally, the workers' situation improved due to the factory laws passed by the English Parliament on August 29, 1833 (Althorp's Act or Factory Act). The factory laws served to protect workers from the arbitrariness of the entrepreneurs and for the first time limited the working day for children.
The Factory Act of 1847 stipulated that women and young people between the ages of thirteen and eighteen were allowed to work only 63 hours per week from July 1, 1847, and only 58 hours per week from May 1, 1848, which corresponds to a daily workload of 10 hours per day (10 hours per working day, 8 hours on Saturday).
The hope triggered by the free trade movement that the general living conditions of factory workers would be affected by the abolition of trade barriers, e.g. B. Improving it with the abolition of the Corn Laws in 1846 was not fulfilled, food prices did not fall. One reason for this, however, could also be the significant increase in the population during this time, which, however, was offset by a significant increase in agricultural yields. Although the average income in Great Britain in 1850 was quite high compared to other European countries, the impoverishment of the working class was also more pronounced.
Impact history
- The social situation of the working class found numerous expressions in contemporary literature, e.g. B. Charles Dickens
- The impoverishment stimulated numerous intellectuals, e. B. William Lovett , JR Stevens , Feargus Edward O'Connor , Etienne Cabet , Pierre Leroux , Phillipe-Joseph Buchez , Louis Blanc , Filippo Michele Buonarrotti , Giuseppe Mazzini , Babeuf , Pierre-Joseph Proudhon , Ferdinand Lassalle or Saint-Simon . They developed proposed solutions, often of a utopian or romantic nature, or suggested legislative initiatives.
- Socialist movements or the labor movement and trade unions emerged in response to the social hardships of the working class.
- The Catholic labor movement and Christian trade unions emerged . The Catholic state parliament member Joseph von Buß demanded labor protection legislation in the Baden state parliament in 1837. A famous champion for the labor movement was the Mainz Bishop Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler, a member of the Frankfurt National Assembly, who vehemently advocated property rights as a mere right of use. Numerous Catholic workers 'associations were founded (Württemberg, Baden and others), as well as the Catholic workers' movement (KAB) and the Catholic journeyman's associations founded by Adolph Kolping .
- Bourgeois social reformers such as Georg Heinrich Sieveking , Caspar Voght or Robert Owen tried to counteract the general impoverishment of the workers with numerous, sometimes utopian, ideas.
literature
- Konrad Winckler : Entrepreneurs in the political theories of citizenship: organization of rights and duties in the economy in region, nation and Europe . LIT Verlag Münster - Berlin - London, 2016. ISBN 3643134045 .
- Hermann Schäfer , Hugo Ott : Ploetz economic history of the German-speaking countries from the early Middle Ages to the present . Freiburg Würzburg, 1989. ISBN 3876403707 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Markus Hesselmann: [1] , Der Tagesspiegel from March 15, 2008. Retrieved on December 6, 2019.
- ↑ Christian Jansen: [2] , tagesschau.de of May 5, 2018. Retrieved on December 6, 2019.
- ↑ Dieter Sattler: [3] , Frankfurter Neue Presse from August 21, 2018. Accessed December 6, 2019.
- ↑ Joachim Frank: [4] , Frankfurter Rundschau of October 13, 2017. Retrieved on December 6, 2019.
- ↑ Jan Sternberg: [5] , Hannoversche Allgemeine from November 25, 2017. Retrieved on December 6, 2019.
- ↑ Hanns Ostermann / Martin Schulz: [6] , Deutschlandfunk Kultur, January 17, 2008. Accessed December 6, 2019.
- ^ Friedrich Engels: The situation of the working class in England . In: Karl Marx - Friedrich Engels - Works . tape 2 . Dietz Verlag, Leipzig 1845 ( mlwerke.de ).
- ^ A b Hans-Peter Schwarz: Manchesterkapitalismus , Welt online from July 13, 1996. Accessed December 6, 2019.
- ^ Eddie Crooks: The Factory Inspectors: A Legacy of the Industrial Revolution. Tempus, 2005, ISBN 978-0752435695 , p. 16.
- ^ CW Cooke-Taylor: The Factory System and the Factory Acts , p. 88
- ↑ Federal Agency for Political Education: 1848-1949, a century of German history. Bibliographisches Institut & FA Brockhaus AG, Mannheim 1997 (CD-ROM).