Industrialization and Now

The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair illustrates a very clear, grueling, true-to-life picture during the Industrial Revolution, and shows the suffering that was brought on by unregulated capitalism and the deceit of commercialism. The book caused a public uproar and unintentionally started a demand for food and drug laws to be enforced, even though Sinclair’s original intention was to reveal the horrible working conditions inside of a factory and injustice toward immigrants. In Sinclair’s words “I aimed at the public’s heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach.” The Industrial Revolution was a time of great advancements, but this was only possible through fueling greed with desperate souls kindling the flames for the next generation. In The Jungle, Ona and Jurgis’ family were enticed to buy a house as this was part of the American dream. They all eventually lost their jobs due to various reasons, and were unable to pay for the house. This closely resembles America today; upholding materialism and letting the working class suffer, and with people being controlled through bills, hidden costs and fines. Because of this idea of the American Dream, commercialism and capitalism have become our identity. We have laid our foundation with capitalist control, consumerism, and the bills and fees that cage those seeking to advance. It was said we must study history or we are doomed to repeat it. Will we continue with this system of consuming corruption? (Nardinelli)

To help understand Sinclair’s view on capitalism and industry one must understand the early history of industry.  In England, what spurred industrialization and capital investment was the invention of the “Spinning Jenny.” This invention allowed textile industries to churn out cheaper textiles in a more efficient way, lowering costs and increasing output, it was an investor’s dream come true. But what of those who still made textiles by hand? They couldn’t keep up with machines, nor could they sell their wares cheaper for they would not have enough to live off of. Out of frustration, poverty and diminishing morale they protested by breaking into factories to smash machines. These people came to be known as Luddites. For example, when you buy clothing from the tailor, you get them for $3. But when the factory produces them, it takes less time, and less work so it is $1. But they need workers to operate and maintain those machines, so even if the total amount of work adds up to less than $1, it does not diminish the value. Instead of making that $1 ten times a day, they can increase that 100 fold while maintaining that profit. The surplus created from adding the value of the work to the product is what the investor/capitalist gains, and that money does not belong to the worker because the machines displace that money. Any opposing companies would have to copy this or go out of business, so this new method would become the normal method, and would lower the normal amount of work for that product in turn lowering the cost. The employed and unemployed actually benefit the common capitalist, the employed are put under pressure to adhere to wage cuts and strict rules or they might be fired for someone who is unemployed. And the employed can be taxed to support the unemployed; it is also more profitable to give overtime than to hire excess workers, because if that same worker adds to the work given, the surplus increases. Subsequently, if you have two different sources of work on one product and reduce the work needed, surplus gets cut. and if that balance tips, and if there are not enough employed to tax to support the unemployed and capitalists are not making enough profit, trying to compensate by cutting expenses, we have a perpetual cycle of fear and poverty, (i.e. a Depression.)According to Marx, workers have to accept wages lower than the value of their work in order to destroy values to get the market going again. Today, the news is that companies are still hesitant to hire, and the cycle continues. (Kilcullen, 1996) (Sinclair, 2003)