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

The Origins of European Socialism 563

Yet, even in Britain, the most industrial nation, major impediments lim­
ited working-class militancy. Methodism (see Chapter 9), which won thou­
sands of converts among workers, preached discipline and the acceptance of
one s fate on earth. More important, solidarities within specific trades
remained stronger than those that cut across trades. Furthermore, unskilled
workers lacked the organization and resources of craftsmen, some of whom
continued to do very well, the English “aristocracy of labor.” Gradually, too,
the utopian vision of rebuilding British political life while bringing social
justice faded. Many if not most workers came to accept capitalism as
inevitable, while demanding a fairer share of its benefits.
French and German artisans were more militant than their British coun­
terparts, who accepted the tradition of the politics of reform. German crafts­
men desperately struggled to try to protect their trades from being flooded
by newcomers. Many French workers, now seeing themselves as members of
a “confraternity of proletarians,” struck against employers in the 1830s and
1840s. They also supported bourgeois republicans in their push for electoral
reform, in the hope that a republic would enact reforms on their behalf.

The Origins of European Socialism

As large-scale industrialization gradually transformed economy and society

in Western Europe, the 1830s and 1840s brought lively discussion, heated

debate, and startling transformations in thought. The rapid increase in wage

labor influenced the emergence of new political forces that, proclaiming the

equality of all people, sought dramatic social and political change. One of

the most salient results of the growing preoccupation with the condition of

workers was the birth of the movement known as socialism.

Utopian Socialists

Utopian socialists, most of whom were French, provided an original critique

of the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution. Their ideas were in

part shaped by their reaction against the social consequences of economic

liberalism. The name “utopian” reflectes their dreams of creating a perfectly

harmonious way of life. But their importance comes not from their some­

times quirky theories, however intriguing they may be, but from the fact that

many workers found an explanatory power in the critical reaction of the

Utopians to liberalism and capitalism. This accentuated their determination

to put forward demands for social and political reform.

Utopian socialists agonized over the living conditions of the laboring poor.

The “social question” was the miserable living conditions of many if not

most workers. Rejecting the “egotistic” individualism of the spirit of acquisi­

tion, utopian socialists envisioned a gentle world of cooperation. In some

ways children of the Enlightenment, utopian socialists were ajso optimistic