ABSTRACT
In agriculture, the length of the working day is variable, depending on the seasons and the tasks at hand. In the new manufacturing enterprises the working day grew to fourteen, sixteen, and even eighteen hours per day. The emerging industrial working class dwelt in a world of slums and factories new to England that was not served by educational, cultural, and religious institutions. The American and French revolutions profoundly affected the working class movement in England and the rest of Europe. For the working class liberty, equality, and fraternity meant the emancipation of every man from the domination of others, equality of material condition, and a community of equals. Direct working-class challenge to the political rule of the rich came to a head in the Chartist movement. In the 1820s and 1830s working-class struggle also turned to a number of experiments designed to extricate the working people from the capitalist system altogether.
