18th and 19th Century Analysis

In the late 18th and early 19th century, the upper elites of different countries had idealistic beliefs of how the country should be run. Capitalism was a way create mass production with the opening of new jobs. It bred new and innovative ways to make farming less laborious and created factories. As population grew so did the need for factory workers. This ended up reducing the demand for small business seeing as in mass production of an item was on the rise. The working conditions and wages were undesirable which lead to the workers starting a revolt. Karl Marx saw this and allowed for the new idea of Communism. Without these certain ideological thought of certain elites, the up and coming countries would have never been established to what they have become to be today.

When you look at how the Industrial Revolution came to be you can’t help but refer to Capitalism. It was the idea of privately owned companies running and regulating the factories and workers within. Mass production of agriculture was allowing people to work in factories. There was a downside to this new way of work. “Labor unrest over unsafe working conditions, strict work discipline, and periodic cycles of devastating unemployment led workers to organize.” (Duiker 2015) People started to voice their opinion on how it was unfair for a certain type of elite to have all the wealth while they worked under these unlivable conditions. This formed the idea of Socialism and Communism. Socialism was the way of everything being done as a community and not privately owned by one person or company.

This is when Karl Marx became a known name to people. He wrote, with the help of Friedrich Engles, “The Communist Manifesto”. The two of them “predicted the outbreak of a massive uprising that would overthrow the existing ruling class and bring power to a new revolutionary regime based on their ideas” (Duiker 2015). His idea of how communism was going to be the one that ruled all over the world was a critical way of thinking that never came to be during that time. Not many people like the idea of everyone being paid the same wages even though they might have more skills that the person next to them. At this time Capitalism was evolving.

Politics were put into place and the working class organized unions on their behalf which allowed for better working conditions and better wages.In Conclusion the question of if the elites Ideologies were lies to get people on board is kind of a yes and no answer. In the beginning it seems that the elites didn’t care what people thought as long as they worked and were profiting off of it. As politics formed and the working class found a way to organize a union, the elite found a way to still be profitable while being fair and listening to the working class and improving on the needs of the workers. Hence why Capitalism still plays a big role in society today.