A History of Modern Europe - From the Renaissance to the Present

Social Change 763

other people they met along the way to know that they owned virtually noth­
ing to carry. Tens of thousands of Jews moved westward to European capitals,
such as London, where they lived in the East End. Most Jews retained their
cultural traditions and religion and spoke Yiddish as their first language.
They were considered outsiders by many people in Vienna, Berlin, Budapest,
Paris, and other cities (even in some cases by assimilated Jews). The Zionist
movement for the establishment of the Jewish homeland in Palestine
emerged partially in response to the rising tide of anti-Semitism in Europe.
The movement’s founder was Theodor Herzl (1860-1904), a gifted journalist
and German-speaking Jew from Budapest who had moved to Vienna.
Although many families left together for overseas destinations, many
married men went alone, hoping either to send for their families when they
could afford to do so, or to return after saving some money. In new homes,
migrants forged new collective identities, a process shaped not only by
their own ethnic backgrounds and solidarities but also by conditions in
their new homelands. Many never saw their families again. Migrants to the
United States from southern Italy were the most likely to return perma­
nently, with almost two-thirds eventually going back.

The Changing World of Work

By 1900, more than half of all industrial workers in Britain, Germany, and

Belgium were employed in firms with more than twenty workers. Artisans,

skilled workers, and unskilled workers often found themselves in the same

factory. Most industrial workers came from proletarian families and grew

up with few or no illusions about finding a more secure way of earning a

living. But “proletarian” was also a state of mind. Many workers took pride

in their work and in their social class. “I was born in the slums of London

of working-class parents,” a contemporary recalled, “and although I have

attained a higher standard of living, I still maintain I am working class.”

Yet enormous differences in skill, remuneration, and quality of life contin­

ued to exist among workers.

Mechanization eliminated or reduced demand for some trades. Skilled

glassworkers were no longer needed when the Siemens furnace, which per­

mitted continuous production, was adapted to the production of bottles in

the 1880s. Porcelain painters lost their jobs to unskilled female laborers

when factory owners started using decals that could be applied to plates and

then baked on. Steam laundries left many washerwomen without clients.

New professions brought some workers higher status. Engineers, capable

of designing, overseeing, and repairing machinery, became fixtures in facto­

ries. In the 1880s, some engineers still had received training as apprentices,

but by the first decades of the twentieth century, many had received univer­

sity training in their chosen profession.

Women’s work remained closely tied to their stage of life. Many young,

unmarried women became servants upon arrival in the urban world, trying to