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MODERN HISTORY SOURCEBOOK
CRIB SHEET
Socialism, Marxism, and Trade Unionism
[Note: Crib Sheets are meant as review aids for a particular
period/theme. They are not complete overviews!]
Origins of Socialism
- French Revolution - theory and organization necessary
for change
- Industrial Revolution:
-the oppression of the working class
-a new possibility - that poverty might be abolished
-Creation of class consciousness
- Judeo-Christian ideas of Justice
Utopian Socialists
- Count Claude Henry de Saint-Simon (1760-1825)
- Charles Fourier (1772-1837) - phalansteres (cf. Kibbutzim
in Israel]
- Louis Blanc (1811-1882)
- Pierre Joseph Proudhon
Early English Socialism
- Robert Owen (1771-1858) - New Lanark
- Chartism
- The Grand National Consolidated Trade Union
Socialist Philosophy - Marx and Others
- Karl Marx(1818-1883)
- Fredrich Engels(1820-1895)
- The Communist Manifesto 1848
- Das Kapital 1867
Origins of Marxism
- German Philosophy - [Hegel] - for analysis of historical process
- English Economics [Smith, Riccardo] - for importance and mechanics
of economic
- French Politics - [repeated revolutions - for means of social
change
Dialectical Materialism
Thesis - Antithesis
|
Synthesis - Antithesis
|
New Synthesis
In sum - History has meaning
Marx's Application to European History
Feudalism - creates bourgeoisie
|
Capitalism
Capitalism - creates proletariat
|
Will create Socialism
In sum - a "scientific" approach to history
Alternatives to Marx
Philosophies:
- Edward Bernstein (1850-1932) - Revisionism
- Fabianism 1884
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
Sidney (1859-1947) and Beatrice Webb.(1866-1946).
Trade Unions:
- Craft Unions
- General Unions
Socialist Parties
- Needed universal or mass male suffrage: Arrives in late 19th
century
Britain 1867, 1884 (not quite universal)
Germany 1871
France, 1871
Switzerland 1879
Spain 1890
Belgium 1893
Netherlands 1896
Norway 1898
Italy 1912
- German Social Democrat Party [SPD]
founded 1875 by Ferdinand Lasselle.
- Labour Party in Britain
Keir Hardie first socialist MP - 1892
Independent Labour Party - 1901
Taft Vale Decision - Unions can be sued for damages
Trades Union Congress launches Labour Representation
Committee
Labour Party 1906.
© 1997, Paul Halsall, halsall@murray.fordham.edu