Essays On Socialism (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt From Essays On Socialism The General Result Of The Act Was To Throw Political Power Into The Hands Of Manufacturers And Capitalists, In A Phrase To Enfranchise The Middle Classes The Direct Influence Of The Working Classes Was, If Anything, Slightly Diminished By The Act, Since It Disfranchised A Few Places In Which They Had Previously Possessed The Suffr.Age It Struck A Fatal Blow At The Privileges Of The Possessors Of Hereditary Authority, And Gave Representation To The Com Mercial Interests Of The Nation. One Striking Proof Was Given That The Class Which Then Won Political Power Was Not Unworthy Of The Freedom It Had Gained. One Of Its First Reforms Was The Introduction Of A Factory Act To Pro Teet The More Helpless Of The Operative Class, And It Ought Never To Be Forgotten That Effective Legislative Interference With Employers Was Due To A Parliament Elected Principally By That Very Same Bourgeozs Class Which It Is Now The Fashion To So Unsparingly Denounce. In 1801 The First Act Limiting The Hours Of Labor Was Passed, And By This It Was Forbidden That Apprentices Should Work For More Than Twelve Hours A Day; In 1819 Sir Robert Peel Was Defeated In A Bill Which Proposed To Limit The Working Day For Young Persons Under Sixteen Years Of Age To Eleven Hours And A Half, And The Act Of 1801 Appears To Have Been Systematically Evaded. When The Reformed Parliament Met In 1833, A Bill Was Intro Duced In The Preamble Of Which It Was Stated That It Has Become A Practice To Employ A Great Number Of Children And Young Persons Of Both Sexes An Unreasonable Length Of Time, And Late At Night, And In Many Cases All Night. About The Publisher Forgotten Books Publishes Hundreds Of Thousands Of Rare And Classic Books. Find More At This Book Is A Reproduction Of An Important Historical Work. Forgotten Books Uses State-Of-The-Art Technology To Digitally Reconstruct The Work, Preserving The Original Format Whilst Repairing Imperfections Present In The Aged Copy. In Rare Cases, An Imperfection In The Original, Such As A Blemish Or Missing Page, May Be Replicated In Our Edition. We Do, However, Repair The Vast Majority Of Imperfections Successfully; Any Imperfections That Remain Are Intentionally Left To Preserve The State Of Such Historical Works.