Industrial Revolution and Capitalism and Socialism Chapter Notes | History Class 9 ICSE PDF Download

Step into the whirlwind of the Industrial Revolution, a game-changing era that transformed Europe and the world from the late 18^th century. This period swapped handcrafted goods for machine-made marvels, reshaping economies, societies, and ideas. From the clatter of James Watt’s steam engine to the rise of bustling factory towns, it sparked both prosperity and challenges. These notes dive into the causes, impacts, and the birth of capitalism and socialism, revealing how this revolution fueled debates about wealth, labor, and fairness that still echo today.

Industrial Revolution

• Series of changes shifting from hand production to machine production.
• Moved from small-scale to large-scale production, handmade to machine-made goods.
• Occurred gradually, not suddenly.
• Brought major political, social, and economic changes to people’s lives.

Causes of the Industrial Revolution

• Renaissance and Reformation awakened European thinking.
• British inventions revolutionized industries:
  • James Hargreaves’ Spinning Jenny (1769) sped up spinning.
  • Richard Arkwright’s Water Frame produced stronger yarn, introduced factory system.
• England’s colonial empire supplied cheap raw materials (e.g., cotton from India) and markets for manufactured goods.
• Abundant raw materials like iron and coal in England; strong navy imported more via ships.
• Moderate climate aided textile industry growth.
• International trade profits expanded industries; Napoleonic Wars spared Britain, ensuring peace for industrial growth.
• Decline of feudalism left unemployed peasants, providing factory labor in cities.
• Improved transport: charcoal and tar roads; George Stephenson’s locomotive engine (1804); steam-powered railways (1813).
• James Watt’s steam engine invention sparked the Industrial Revolution.
• Protestant artisans from Spain and France migrated to England, escaping persecution; their skills, supported by government aid, boosted industries.

Impact of the Industrial Revolution

• Transformed human thinking, living conditions, and global economy.
• Key effects: rise of capitalism and socialism.

Capitalism

• Industrial Revolution led to capitalism, where money (capital) is invested to generate more money.
• Capitalists own capital; capitalism is an economic-political system where private owners control trade and industries for profit.
• Capitalists fund machines, tools, and raw materials, driven by profit motive.

Factors Leading to the Rise of Capitalism

• Industrial Revolution boosted national wealth, improving purchasing power.
• Better income enhanced healthcare, increasing population.
• Rural-to-urban migration for jobs; fewer wars and diseases (e.g., plague) reduced death rates.

Growth of Towns:

• New cities and factories located near coalfields or raw material sources.
• Urban growth fueled capitalism.

Mass Production:

• Machines enabled large-scale production in factories.
• Rural workers moved to towns for jobs, allowing capitalists to amass wealth.

Disappearance of Small Farmers:

• Big landlords took small farmers’ lands, forcing them to work in factories.
• Abundant factory labor supported Industrial Revolution.

Impact of Capitalism

• Urban migration ended traditional jobs; women spinners and skilled laborers lost work to machines.

Exploitation:

• Factory workers faced harsh lives, paid minimum wages.
• Women and children hired for low wages, leading to criticism of exploitation.

Overcrowding:

• Low wages forced workers into cramped, overcrowded spaces, spreading diseases.
• Britain’s economy grew, but wealth gaps widened.

Longer Hours of Work:

• Workers exploited, working 12–14 hours daily.

Example: Capitalism during the Industrial Revolution allowed factory owners to profit by paying workers low wages for long hours, like children in textile mills working 14 hours daily for pennies, highlighting the wealth gap and exploitation that fueled socialist reactions.

Socialism

• Key outcome of Industrial Revolution, opposing Adam Smith’s non-interventionist economic ideas in Wealth of Nations.
• Economic system where means of production are controlled by state or community, not individuals.
• Aims for fair wealth distribution.

Based on:

• Opposition to private capitalism.
• Equal wealth distribution.

Early Socialists

• Early 20^th century thinkers like Babeuf, Saint Simon, and Robert Owen supported state-owned production.
• Robert Owen, a Scottish cotton mill owner, reduced workers’ hours and paid good wages.

Causes Leading to the Rise of Socialism

• Socialism emerged against capitalism’s exploitation.
• Industrial Revolution split society into capitalists (rich) and workers (poor).
• Capitalists forced long hours, low wages, widening wealth gaps.
• Socialists fought for workers’ rights.

Trade Union Movement:

• Formed post-Industrial Revolution to protect workers’ rights.
• Protests forced British government to recognize workers’ basic rights.

The Chartist Movement:

• From 1836–1848, workers’ conditions worsened in Britain.
• Demanded social and political freedom via a charter presented to Parliament.

Marxist Socialism

Karl Marx, with Frederick Engels, wrote Communist Manifesto (1848) and Das Capital.

Marx saw capitalist society divided into:

• Working class (laborers).
• Capitalist class (resource owners).
• Capitalists exploit workers, causing class conflict.
• Class struggle leads to capitalist system’s collapse; workers gain control of resources.
• Profits shared equally, forming Marxist Socialism.
• Socialism prioritizes human needs over profits, leading to communism.
• Bernstein advocated achieving socialist goals democratically.

Socialism in the World

• Russian Revolution (1917), led by Lenin and Trotsky, established socialism in Russia.
• China became communist on October 1, 1949, under Mao Tse Tung.
• In India, Socialist Party formed in 1934 by Narendra Dev, A. Patwardhan, Jayaprakash Narayan, and Dr Rammanohar Lohiya.
• Modern socialism focuses on uplifting working and depressed classes, promoting a just welfare state.
• India’s Constitution Preamble includes “Socialist,” aiming to support underdeveloped sections.