ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author reflects upon the (non)integration of the British, German, French, Italian and Russian working classes in general during the period 1871–1914. Non-integration can have two ‘ideal-typical’ forms. The first one is internationalist non-integration deriving from conscious attempts of a working class to overcome the limitations of the nation-state. The second form of non-integration can be called pre-national non-integration, and refers to a working class living and thinking only in the small world of their locality or region. The formation of interregional connections may have strongly furthered national integration in general and working-class integration in particular. Armies played an important role in the process of working-class integration in two ways: first through the direct consequences of military service; and, second, through general societal influences exerted by the apparatuses of violence. While the prestige of the army may thus have furthered integration in Germany and Britain, fiscal pressures and strike-breaking will have hampered integration in all countries.
