19th-Century Labor Movements: Origins and Ideologies
Key Movements and Organizations
Ned Ludd: Name associated with protests involving the destruction of machinery and raw materials, often used to sign threats or claims of responsibility.
Grand National Consolidated Trades Union: Founded in 1834, it united more than half a million workers, both agricultural and industrial.
Chartism: A mass political movement demanding rights such as universal suffrage.
AIT (First International): Founded at a rally held on September 28, 1864, in London. Exiles played an influential role in the AIT. Its motto was “Proletarians of all countries, unite!”, the same sentence that concludes the *Communist Manifesto* of 1848. The statutes established stable local sections and national federations.
Luddite: Refers to the violent rejection by textile industry workers of new machines.
The Paris Commune
The Commune of Paris was a patriotic uprising against the clauses of the peace treaty that ended the Franco-Prussian War. Karl Marx believed the Commune was defeated because it lacked a program and unified direction. Bakunin, however, positively valued its spontaneous and popular character. It was decided to expel Bakunin and move the Council of the AIT to New York. Following this decision, a new anti-authoritarian international based on Bakunin’s anarchism was formed.
Ideological Foundations of the Labor Movement
The main ideologies were:
Utopian Socialism
The first socialists denounced the misery and hardship of the proletariat. Marx called them “utopian.” Utopian thought was based on the following ideas:
- Sought an ideal and perfect society.
- Advocated for peaceful social change.
- Emphasized solidarity, philanthropy, and brotherly love.
- Defended industrial progress.
Among its main ideologues, three stand out:
The Count of Saint-Simon
He believed that society should be based on industry. Owners and workers should be led by the most capable, democratically elected individuals, forming a “technocracy.”
Charles Fourier
He hated industrial enterprise, seeing it as the cause of exploitation, misery, and monotony. He proposed the formation of cooperatives called “phalansteries.” Although they ultimately failed, he also advocated for equality between men and women.
Robert Owen
A textile manufacturer, he implemented measures to improve the living conditions of his workers, including higher salaries. He founded an ideal community called “New Harmony.”
Marxist Socialism
It was developed by Marx and his friend Engels. Together, they published the *Communist Manifesto*, a summary of their social and political doctrine. Marxism attempted to analyze the contradictions of the capitalist system. For Marxists, class struggle was the engine of social change. In his time, the capitalist mode of production was developing. Marx’s most important work was “Capital.” Marxist socialism advocated for the transformation of the bourgeois state into a dictatorship of the proletariat, to reach a communist society. Marxism was the ideological basis of revolutionary movements of the second half of the 19th century and the entire 20th century.
Anarchism
The word anarchy means “without authority.” Bakunin was its main theorist. He defended revolt against capitalist society and the state. Its objective was the complete and immediate destruction of the bourgeois social order and the state. Anarchists opposed the Marxist’s authoritarian and centralist views. These ideological differences caused confrontation within the First International.