Working Conditions Improve

As you have read, working conditions in the early industrial age were grim and often dangerous. Gradually, Parliament passed laws to regulate conditions in factories and mines. In 1842, for example, mine owners were forbidden to employ women or children under age 10. An 1847 law limited women and children to a 10-hour day. Later in the 1800s, the government regulated many safety conditions in factories and mines—and sent inspectors to see that the laws were enforced. Other laws set minimum wages and maximum hours of work.

Labor Unions Expand

Early in the Industrial Revolution, labor unions were outlawed. Under pressure, government and business leaders slowly accepted worker organizations. Trade unions were made legal in 1825 but it remained illegal to go on strike until later in the century.

Despite restrictions, unions spread, and gradually they won additional rights. Between 1890 and 1914, union membership soared. Besides winning higher wages and shorter hours for workers, unions pressed for other laws to improve the lives of the working class.

When some jailed English suffragists went on hunger strikes, prison officials force-fed them to keep them alive. The suffragists used posters like this to gain popular support for their cause.

Other Social Reforms

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, both political parties enacted social reforms to benefit Britain's citizens. Disraeli sponsored laws to improve public health and housing for workers in cities. Under Gladstone, an education act called for free elementary education for all children. Gladstone also pushed to open up government jobs based on merit rather than on birth or wealth.

Another force for reform was the Fabian Society, a socialist organization founded in 1883. The Fabians promoted gradual change through legal means rather than by violence. Though small in number, the Fabians had a strong influence on British politics.

The Labour Party Emerges

In 1900, socialists and union members backed the formation of a new political party, which became the Labour Party. (Labour is the British spelling of labor.) The Labour Party would quickly grow in power and membership until, by the 1920s, it surpassed the Liberal Party and became one of Britain's two major parties.

In the early 1900s, Britain began to pass social welfare laws modeled on those Bismarck had introduced in Germany. They protected workers with accident, health, and unemployment insurance as well as old-age pensions. One result of such reforms was that the Marxist idea of a communist revolution gained only limited support among the British working class. The middle class hailed reforms as proof that democracy was working.

Women Struggle for the Vote

In Britain, as elsewhere, women struggled against strong opposition for the right to vote. Women themselves were divided on the issue. Some women opposed suffrage altogether. Queen Victoria, for example, called the women's suffrage struggle “mad, wicked folly.” Even women in favor of suffrage disagreed about how best to achieve it.

Radicals Take Action

By the early 1900s, Emmeline Pankhurst, a leading suffragist, had become convinced that even more aggressive tactics were necessary to bring victory. Pankhurst and other radical suffragists interrupted speakers in Parliament, shouting, “Votes for women!” until they were carried away. They collected petitions and organized huge public demonstrations.

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