Little Conflict example essay topic

How far do the sources support the conclusion that, during the period 1780-1914, the economy and society of Britain was transformed, and with remarkably little conflict? During the period 1780-1914 Britain witnessed an industrial revolution that put it head and shoulders above other developing countries in Europe as well as the Americas. However, was this transformation the one Karl Marx had predicted, one of a series of steps towards the establishment of the Communist state? If this were true, then the period of 1780-1914 will show transformation with a series of revolutions and wide conflict between the social classes as the growth of the proletariat. However, the liberal view suggests that regardless of all the new innovations and advancements in industry and social structure, there will be little conflict, mostly of opinions only. So how revolutionary was the industrial revolution?

This brings us to the subtext of the question, whether this transformation was more liberal or Marxist. Through analysis of the sources, this essay will argue the issue and come to judgement at the end. Eric J. Svedenstierna, the author of Source 1 describes Manchester as a town at the forefront of the industrial revolution, mainly due to its cotton manufactures and spinning machines. His positive description of the city shows that not only is he impressed with the advancements evident, but is favourable towards the nature of that advancement and therefore can be inferred that his view of the situation was relatively sophisticated and calm. This therefore supports the belief that the transformation was with remarkably little conflict, a contradiction of the Marxist view.

However, it can be argued that the revolution was not like the French political revolution in 1789 which took place suddenly, but was a process that took over 50 years. The source is dated at 1802, which was a period that saw relatively slow growth in comparison with the years 1815-1821, where the Corn Laws were introduced and a trade recession created unemployment, poverty and unrest. Marxist historians such as E. J Hobsbawn and Friedrich Engels will argue that it is at this point where revolutionary ideas grow among the workers. Yet Source 1 suggests that there was no conflict of any kind and therefore agrees with the conclusion. Source 2 also takes a more liberal approach in terms of the advancement in industry, describing the mills' conditions as 'exceedingly favourable', and 'toil is not very great nor is it incessant. ' This clearly suggests that in terms of social conflicts between the bourgeois and the proletariat, it agrees that there is remarkably little conflict.

This judgement can be made through the quality of the work places that the middle classes create for the proletariat and the kind of labour they are put through. However, there is a conflict of opinion seen in this source. W. Cooke Taylor was an anti-Corn Law lecturer who was writing articles on the state of the textile industry during the trade depression of the late 1830's and early 1840's. It was at this point where the Anti-Corn Law league was founded in Manchester, in the year 1837. This could be interpreted as a kind of revolutionary act, in protest of the Corn Laws that sought to protect farmers' incomes by prohibiting the import of foreign wheat until prices reached 80 schillings per quarter of wheat. Improvements to the land combined with favourable weather conditions meant that farmers got good harvests and prices remained very low with wheat in excess. This meant that debts and money borrowed to improve land were hard to repay and, as described in Source 2, a reduction of wages were made and workers as well as farm owners held the governments Corn Laws responsible.

With a Marxist interpretation, this could be seen as the beginning of a workers' uprising in protest to redundancies and lower wages, however Source 2 clearly shows that it was only a conflict of opinions, pro / anti Corn Law. This again agrees that the transformation was with little conflict, only of opinions (that were dealt with immediately with the abolishment of the Corn Laws), during the 1837-42 depression, the most serious one in the nineteenth century.