Freeman ch. 1

what is a factory?

• a large workforce engaged in coordinator production using powered machinery
• "mill" is the traditional British word for factory
  
• South Carolina photos of workers
  

Derby silk mill is part of a prehistory--silk is easy to work (very long fibers) but supply of raw material and demand were both limited

• but in the 18th century people liked imported cotton from India
• British merchants looked for ways to make it in England using imported fiber
• cheap cotton led to a mass market
  

steps in making cotton
spinning mule
more on the industrial revolution in England

"the rise of the factory system, with its association with modernity, was utterly dependent on the spread of slave labor." (p. 5) for the raw cotton

inventing machines was not easy

• James Hargreaves invented the Jenny in 1764
• Richard Arkwright invented the water frame in 1768--made strong coarse yarn with water power
• Samuel Crompton invented the spinning mule, made finer (thinner) yarn
• powered machinery sped up production and allowed more hiring of women and children

but why organize these into very large mills?

• helped inventors keep control of their patents
• economies of scale and grab market share
  
• makes supervision easier
  
• capital was available from increasing international trade based on production (sugar, cotton, tobacco) by slaves
• social status from a large factory similar to owning land

how did this change people's lives?

• having to start at a fixed time was new
• close supervision--much more so than workers were used to
  
• pace set by the machines
• how did it compare to agricultural work?
  

the metaphor of slavery for factory labor

• wage slavery--a way of objecting to that new level of supervision
• factory owners are constantly trying to find ways to get more work for less money
  
• the hymn Jerusalem
• at the time mostly used by men about women and child workers
• often pro-slavery: invoked the racist attitude that white people should not be treated like that
  
• chattel slavery was a very different thing
• factory workers had the right to leave even they couldn't afford to
• getting paid, buying their own necessities
• slaves had no rights at all
  

Poor conditions and worker protest

• more on conditions in cities
• Luddite movement--beginning in 1811, a few gangs of home textile workers burned factories and smashed machines because they saw that the factories were putting them out of work.  This pretty much disappeared after the "Frame Breaking Act" of 1812 made smashing machines a capital offense.  One of those executed was a 12 year old boy named Abraham Charlson.
• regulation
• fight for the right to vote and therefore get more favorable regulation
  
• improvement