1871-1919+(A)+Econ&Pol


 * 1871-1919** Economy and Politics - Anna and Calvin

Economy
 * Higher standard of living attributed to a feeling of being better off than non-Europeans and Europeans a century before
 * Two zones of Europe: Inner and Outer
 * Inner=all heavy industry; Great Britain, Belgium, Germany, France, northern Italy, western Australian Empire
 * Outer=agricultural; Ireland, Iberian/Italian Peninsulas, Europe east of Germany/Bohemia/Austria
 * All nations outside of European zones=third zone
 * Agricultural improvements/industrial revolution results in improved living conditions, decreased starvation
 * "New Industrial Revolution"
 * New valuable raw materials: electricity, oil
 * chemists work in laboratories together (increase in inventions)
 * communications improve through new technology
 * medical improvements
 * increased steal production
 * Industrial powers: **Britain***, Belgium, **Germany***, **US***, Italy, Russia, Japan, **France***
 * Rise of free trade, liberal economic conditions separate from state
 * Britain leading trend with repeal of Corn Laws 1846.
 * More imports than exports: needed food for people in urban centers and raw materials for industry
 * "Balance of payments" - greater imports balanced by invisible exports (shipping/insurance services, interest on loans/investments)
 * Export of European Capital
 * Wealthy countries invest income abroad to expand housing, industry, etc.
 * Caused a gap between the rich and poor as workers forwent better wages/living standards so business owners could use profits to build up other areas of the world
 * Recipients: first - Americas/less affluent European regions, then - Africa and Asia
 * Universal Gold Standard
 * Currencies were freely changeable - all worth the same value in gold
 * Led to multilateral trade (countries can sell to one country and then buy imports from any other country)
 * Negatives: hard on countries with less gold, prices fell 1870-1900 because supply of gold < expanding industrial/agricultural goods
 * London = center of world finances
 * Creation of a global market
 * goods traded with little regard to national boundaries
 * uniform world prices (traders follow prices around the world and buy where cheapest/sell where the most)
 * distant regions in competition for the first time
 * foundation of globalization
 * precarious situation, cycles of boom and depression (long depression 1973-1893)
 * insecurity combated by protective tariffs, business mergers, social insurances, trade unionism
 * after 1880 laissez-faire began to decline
 * Rise of big business
 * "limited liability" encouraged investment because of laws limiting individual investors personal losses to amount of their share in the stock
 * Corporate organization combined diverse processes under unified management
 * Vertical Integration - Corporations controlling services from all aspects of a products manufacture, from raw materials to finished products
 * ie: Relying on independents coal/iron ore producers was risky and inefficient for steel works corporations so they bought and ran their own mines instead. Some companies also began to produce not only the raw materials, but the finished products as well (like ships, railways, etc)
 * Horizontal Integration - a single corporation that controls multiple concerns on the same level of production to reduce competition (trusts/cartels)
 * ie: a company that produces steel for railroads combines with other railroad steel companies
 * Combinations stabilized ups and downs, but working standards were at the mercy of them - new private power
 * Centralized economic system placed large amounts of economic power in the hands of a few
 * After 1880 politics began to defend against this (Sherman Act of 1890)



Politics
 * France's Third Republic
 * 1871 - end of German siege of Paris - Bismarck inspires universal male suffrage to elect a National Assembly
 * Republicanism distrusted - monarchist elements brought in
 * Paris Commune - 1871 - republican, anti-German, anti-Assembly organization - massive casualties
 * Monarchist elements couldn't agree, so a republic won out
 * 1875 - constitutive laws adopted by assembly
 * 1877 - clarification of Parliament's dominant role in politics
 * 1880s - republican radicalism - conflicting views of the nation's future
 * 1894 - the Dreyfus Affair - Jewish army officer found guilty of treason - injustice found - pardoned in 1899 - exonerated 1906
 * Britain - Constitutional Monarchy
 * very stable generally
 * suffrage growing - 1884 - more to rural areas - 1918 - universal male suffrage
 * Liberals and Conservatives
 * Increasing codification of public services
 * Greater concern for the workers brought on by both Liberals and Conservatives - Gladstone, Disraeli
 * Welfare state grows after turn of century
 * Ireland kept down by Gladstone with Home rule - disestablishment of many traditionally independent Irish things such as the Church
 * Home rule suspended during the Great War
 * Germany
 * Bismarck!
 * Putting down socialism - it doesn't quite work...
 * William I dies 1888 - succeeded by Frederick III who dies soon after - he's succeeded by William II who runs things until 1918
 * Expansionist goals
 * Other Places
 * Tensions in Italy
 * Growing Democracy
 * Growing Suffrage
 * Political ideologies influenced heavily by economic ones
 * British Labour Party
 * Founded as joint effort between trade unionists and middle-class intellectuals
 * Less socialistic than many parties on the Continent - focused on preserving integrity of unions not radical changes
 * Unions threatened in 1901 by Taff Vale decision - implying union responsibility for losses during strikes
 * This decision united the unions and lead to the founding of the party
 * Rising European Socialism
 * Conflicts among socialists remained - Marx didn't like Bakunin, etc.
 * The Paris Commune of 1871 inspired socialists in the First International - a rebelion against France's National Assembly
 * The violence of the Paris Commune lead to the gradual dissolution of the First International after 1872
 * 1875 - Gotha Conference - founding of the German Social Democratic party - rapid growth, despite Bismarck's displeasure
 * By 1880 many socialist parties sprouted up all around Europe
 * In France many dis-unified groups existed until 1905 when they merged into one Socialist party
 * 1881 - they attempt to start up in Britain and fail - Social Democratic Federation
 * 1883 - Russian Social Democratic party - would grow up to become the modern communists
 * Second International founded 1889 and lasted until 1914
 * Different Brands of Socialism
 * Fabian Socialism - 1883 - English and non-Marxist - no class conflict - gradual progress towards socialist state
 * Parliamentary Socialism - Continental - goal was to get more out of the people's work for the people - more conventional
 * Revisionism - changing Marxism up some - 1890s - grew popular - take advantage of capitalism for socialist goals
 * Syndicalism - take advantage of trade union interests and infrastructure
 * Orthodox vs Revisionist conflicts