Describe the origins and aims of labor movements and socialist politics in the late nineteenth century
What will be an ideal response?
ANSWER:
A combination of industrialization and revolutionary ideology produced both the labor movement and socialism. Both movements were reactions to social changes created by industrialization and urbanization, and both sought to improve conditions for the working masses, though primarily the male working masses. Laws in Europe and America increasingly allowed workers to form groups of mutual assistance, which were most often known as unions. Workers used these labor organizations to demand better pay, conditions, and hours, as well as vacations, pensions, and insurance against illness and disability. Socialism began as an intellectual movement and is perhaps best illustrated by Karl Marx. Marx argued against the capitalist system and decried employers who extracted "surplus value," which was the difference between workers' wages and the value of the goods they produced. Socialists believed that workers created value through their labor, labor that was exploited by the wealthy (idle) class. Labor organizations and socialists both established their own political parties throughout Europe and the United States with varying degrees of success. These groups, along with traditional political parties, strove to address workers' needs, especially after universal male suffrage became a reality in the 1870s and 1880s. Ultimately, most workers supported the existing political system, rather than trying to overthrow it.
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What will be an ideal response?
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