Europe in the Belle Époque, 1871–1914521The German leadership of the second industrial
revolution was even more notable in chemical indus-
tries. Chemical engineering shaped late nineteenth-
century industrialization just as mechanical engineering
had shaped early industrialization. The initial impor-
tance of chemistry came in the textile industry: The
manufacture of cotton cloth required large quantities of
alkalis, sulfuric acid, and dyes, and the expansion of
textile manufactures necessitated expansion of chemical
industries. Many noted chemical industries, such as
Friedrich Bayer’s company in Germany, originated in
support of the textile industry. Bayer developed syn-
thetic dyes from coal tar to replace the natural dyes
used to color cloth; his aniline dyes permitted a vast
range of new, durable colors in clothing and became a
tremendous commercial success. Bayer and Company
soon diversified and developed other products, such as
the first aspirin, patented in 1899.
One of the consequences of this continuing indus-
trialization and urbanization was that the largest social
issue confronting governments was the question of the
working class. Most workers lived arduous lives and
had many valid grievances. Rapid urbanization had pro-
duced dreadful living conditions in working-class slums.
The importation of cheap food improved the diet of
most workers, but it also led to the depression of
1873–94 with periodic high unemployment. A study of
the London working class in 1887 found that 52.3 per-
cent of the population experienced short-term unem-
ployment and 30.1 percent of the population was
unemployed for twelve weeks or more. Governments
slowly emulated the Bismarckian welfare laws of the
1880s and offered workers some measure of unemploy-
ment insurance, accident compensation, health care, or
retirement benefits, but the welfare state was still in a
rudimentary form and provided limited security. Work-
ing conditions were deplorable in many occupations.
The coal miners and steel workers whose labor sus-
tained heavy industry had life expectancies ten years
less than other men; those who operated a Bessemer
blast furnace frequently died in their thirties. Most jobs
required a minimum of five-and-one-half ten-hour days
per week, and many expected six twelve-hour days (see
table 26.3). Minimum wage legislation, overtime pay,
and paid vacations did not exist.
Trade unions grew quickly under these conditions,
as a new wave of unionization spread from the skilled
crafts to less skilled occupations. By the early twentieth
century, the leading industrial states (Britain, Germany,
and the United States) each counted more than a mil-
lion union members (see table 26.4). In Britain, more
than 20 percent of the adult population belonged to
unions in 1913. Elsewhere, lesser industrialization and
restrictive legislation kept union membership smaller.
Spanish unions included only 0.02 percent of the popu-
lation in 1889 and 0.2 percent in 1910. Two patterns
were clear: Only a minority of workers belonged to
unions, but their numbers were growing significantly.
As their membership grew, trade unions called strikes to
win improved conditions. Turn-of-the-century France
experienced an average of nearly 1,000 industrial strikes
per year, reaching a peak of 1,319 strikes involving
509,274 strikers in 1906. A study of these strikes has
found that 56 percent sought higher wages, 15 percent
sought shorter working hours, 13 percent sought the
rehiring of fired workers, and 4 percent sought the
abolition of certain work rules. By the eve of World
War I, Britain, France, and Germany were each losing
nearly five million working days to strikes every year;
Europe was entering an age of mass participation more
direct than the trend toward democratization.
Governments responded to trade union militancy
with restrictive legislation and the use of force. In
Britain, the Masters and Servants Act (1867) made any
breach of contract a criminal instead of a civil offense;
the Criminal Law of 1871 created a new category of
crime—conspiracy—for acts committed by more than
one person and included collective acts that were not
crimes for individuals; and the Protection of PropertyOccupation Hours in Britain Hours in France
Bake r70 78–96
Brickmaker 54–69 96–108
Chemical worker 53–70 64.5–72
Construction 50–55 72–48
Foundry 48–72 72–84
Metalworker 54 63–66
Miners 42.5–55 51–60
Paper worker 66–78 63
Printer 53–54 60
Railway ticket agent 56–62 90–96
Railway guard 64–70 96–108
Restaurant waiter 96 101
Textile worker 56 66–72
Tailo r54–96 66–96
Source: Gary Cross, A Quest for Time: The Reduction of Work in Britain
and France, 1840–1940(Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press,
1989), p. 235. Used by permission of the publisher.TABLE 26.3The Average Workweek of the 1890s