Ceccantini Aurora, Giribaldi Federico,
Tuesday, January 15, 1795
THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
THE EXPLOITATION OF CHILD LABOUR
With the Industrial Revolution a new type of exploitation is born. The new
machines, which don't require heavy manual work, can also be controlled by
children: they are preferred to adult worker because their pay is lower.
CHILDREN WITHOUT A FUTURE
Children at a very young age are
employed in cotton mills: many
of them, gathered in the
workhouses of London and
Westminster, are transported en
masse, as apprentices, to
masters who are hundreds of
miles away, where they serve
unprotected, unprotected and
unprotected. and forgotten by
those to whom nature or their
legacies had entrusted them.
These children are generally
forced to work too long indoor
environments, often all night
long: the air they breathe is
poisoned by oil and other
substances used in cars and
little attention is paid to their
hygienic conditions, while the
frequent passages from the a
warm and dense atmosphere to
a cold and rarefied are the cause
of disease and disability and in
particular that epidemic fever so
common in these factories. The
question often arises whether
the way in which these children
are used during their early years
is not to the detriment of
society. Usually at the end of
their apprenticeship they are
neither resistant to work nor
able to undertake any other
activity. Females are completely
unaware of knitting, sewing and
other domestic occupations
which are essential to making
them hard-working and sparing
wives and mothers.
Longo Sofia, Montaldo Laura
THE TRAGEDY OF CHILD
LABOUR IN THE FACTORY
"I was seven years old when I
started working in Bradley's
factory. The job was wool
spinning. Work hours were from
5 a.m. to 8 p.m., with only half an
hour to rest. We had to eat our
meals as we could, standing or
otherwise. I had 14 and a half
hours of actual work a day when
I was seven! There were 50 boys
in that factory about my age -
Here are the testimonies of they were always indisposed
some of them and sick. The boys were
strapped to work. The overseer's
"My name is Kate, I'm twelve chief occupation was to whip
years old and I get up at 4 in
boys, to force them to do
the morning to work on the excessive work."
mechanical chassis. I suffer
the cold of the factory and I
always have leg pains..."
"My name is Steve and I'm
seven years old: I follow my
father to the factory and I
work near him for sixteen
hours a day, screwing small
bolts to an iron structure of
which I don't understand the
function. I often fall asleep
from exhaustation so my
father must wake up me
before the overseers discover
me..."
THE WORK RHYTHM
DEPENDS ON THE HERE IS A GIRL INTENT ON TYING THE WIRES TO A MECHANICAL FRAME
MACHINE
 THE SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF INDUSTRIALIZATION
A GROUP OF WORKERS WORKING IN A TEXTILE FACTORY
Industrialization has
enormous social and human
consequences. The spread of
machines and their use in the
factory completely change the
organization of work.
Previously, in factories or in
handicraft workshops, each
worker produced the product
entirely with his own hands
and tools; hence he could
determine his own pace of
work. In the factories, on the
other hand, work is divided
into several phases; each phase
involves the operation of a
special machine, entrusted to
a worker, who thus specializes
only in that phase of the work.
The rhythm of work depends
on the machine and no longer
on the worker; it's the latter
who has to adapt to the speed
of the machine, not the
machine to the worker.
Moreover, the fruit of the labor
is solely the property of the
master.
THE
WORKING
CLASS IS
BORN
The factories attract many
people from the countryside
to the city. The fences of
large estates compromise
the ability of farmers to
cultivate the land around
the villages; moreover, the
improvements introduced
by large landowners make
their products more
competitive than in the past.
those of the small owners.
As a result, many peasants
move to the cities in search
of work in factories. At the
moment there are about 1.7
million English employed in
agriculture and nearly 1.5
million workers in factories
and mining. A new social
class is being formed by the
workers. Their lives are very
difficult: paid just enough to
survive, they work non-stop
no less than 14 hours a day,
in poor hygienic conditions
and with a very high risk of
accidents at work.
Around factories and mines
new industrial cities are born
and developed, which
completely transform the
geography of England. On the
outskirts of the old city centers
arise large working-class
neighborhoods. However, the
houses reserved for the
workers are merely falling
catapeches, devoid of air and
light. Many factories even
equip themselves with huge
dormitories, where the men
and women workers can find a
lasting rest at night without
even being able to return to
their homes.
LESS AND LESS
ARTISANS
Decreases importance of
artisans: most of thei products
are now made in factories, in
larger quantities and at lower
costs.