WORKING CLASS.

Whether the term working class has great value in historical analysis has long been a contentious issue. This has been in large part due to its use in Marxist writing, the worst of which has equated membership of the class with innate revolutionary sympathies. However, for many other historians it has been a description of a social reality—that in industrialized and urban societies there are large numbers of men, women, and children who depend on the paid labor of one or more of the family. Furthermore, many writers have assumed that to be working class involved employment involving manual labor. As a wide range of people, including agrarian laborers, depend on wage labor and they have differing priorities, some have preferred to write of "working classes."

DIFFERING OUTLOOKS

In many industrialized societies there has been a notable decline in the proportion of the labor force in manual employment, and hence much writing on the decline of the working class. In Britain, for instance, in 1951 some 72 percent of the workforce were manual and some 7 percent professional, whereas in 1981 the equivalent percentages were 57 and 15. Table 1 gives some indication of the sizes of the working class in several countries.

There has also been much awareness by historians of fragmentation. If the concerns of white males were once seen as a norm, there has been greater awareness among historians of different work experiences and concerns of female workers and of nonwhite workers. Similarly, there has been less of a tendency to equate the working class with the organized labor movement, with recognition that a notable aspect of fragmentation has been between union and nonunion labor.

Such awareness of fragmentation has moved authors away from simple presumptions that the working class (or classes) usually acted together "in solidarity." While a feature of much twentieth-century European history has been displays of solidarity, such as in the defeat of the right-wing Kapp putsch in Germany in 1920 or support for the coal miners in Britain during the 1926 general strike, historians in recent years have rightly pointed to the limits of solidarity even among such groups as Europe's coal miners.

In much of Europe, especially eastern and southern Europe, until the second half of the twentieth century there remained a substantial agricultural sector. Some of the workforce was wage labor and so can be deemed agricultural working class, but most was farmed by peasants or smallholders. Hence the urban or industrial working class was notably geographically limited in parts of Europe in the first half of the twentieth century. Table 2, for all the limitations of such statistics (especially given

the changing national territories, underrecording of women's employment, and generally for comparative purposes), provides a good indication of the size of the economically active agrarian population. It clearly shows the diminished significance of the agrarian sector in such relatively early industrialized countries as the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands and its more general erosion during the "golden age" of the international economy (1950–1973).

As a result of the geographical limits on industry, there were deep fissures in many countries between the industrial working classes, often concentrated in large cities and a limited number of other areas, and the seas of peasants that surrounded them. In Russia before World War I much of its industry was in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Kiev, with mining and metallurgical industries in the Ukraine, coal in the Donets Basin, and oil in Baku, Azerbaijan, while some 60 percent of the male workforce was on the land. Similarly, in Austria after World War I, "Red Vienna" was distinct from the agrarian provinces beyond. There were similar patterns elsewhere, such as in Italy, with Milan and Turin; in Hungary, with Budapest; and in Spain with Barcelona, Madrid, and iron and steel centers and mining in the northern Basque provinces and the Asturias. Even in the advanced industrial countries of Europe such as Germany and Britain there was notable rural hostility to the radical urban centers. In Germany in 1914 the urban working class resented the high food prices stemming from tariffs, while the rural beneficiaries resented the urban working class enjoying state social welfare.

The industrialized working class of Europe worked in a variety of different-sized workplaces in 1914 and for the next six decades or more. In many countries there were notable large employers such as the Putilov works in St. Petersburg, the Krupp works in Essen, and Schneider's works in Le Creusot. There were also towns with big factories ringing the residential areas, such as Sesto San Giovanni, a suburb of Milan, with steel, machinery, and electrical equipment, or Loughborough (England), with heavy engineering and textiles around its southern and eastern sides. There also were many urban areas where there was a range of small-scale workshops, as in Birmingham (England).

While higher living standards and relatively cheap public transport enabled people to live farther from their work, there were still many working-class people who lived within walking distance or a short bus or tram ride from their workplace. In a large city such as London until well into the twentieth century, labor markets were localized, with many working people keeping to an area, such as south London, where they both lived and worked.

HOUSING

Many of the basic industrial revolution industries—iron (and later steel), shipbuilding, textiles, and coal mining—generated communities around the workplace. Some of the early-twentieth-century housing was provided by paternalist employers, such as on the Ruhr (Germany), many industrial locations in Derbyshire (England), and at "Schneiderville," Le Creusot (France). Other housing often was built crowded together, in near-uniform terraces. In many towns and cities big factories had a dominating presence, quite literally looming over the houses. This

was so in the case of woolen mills in Bradford, Halifax, and Huddersfield, or a major employer, such as Brush (Switchgear) in Loughborough. In many rural and urban areas mining villages were overlooked by huge spoil tips, with tragic consequences at Aberfan in 1966, when one slipped and engulfed a school and other buildings, killing 144 people, 116 of whom were children. Such stark industrial backdrops became less common across Europe in the last quarter of the twentieth century with the decline of many such industries and greater mobility of many working people.

While much English, Welsh, Scottish, and Irish working-class housing was in grim surroundings and, until the 1970s, often had outside toilets and sometimes no bathrooms, there was even worse housing in eastern and southern Europe. Some textile workers in Russia, especially where the factories were in predominantly rural areas, had to live in barrack blocks notable for overcrowding and poor facilities shared by large numbers. In Germany many of the industrial working class continued to live in small towns and areas with a rural character. In many of the big cities such as Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich, many working-class families lived in small flats in four- or five-story tenements, often having only one bed and able to afford heating in only one room; many families added to their income by taking in a lodger. In Lyon (France) there were some company houses, but until mid-century many workers lived in single-room flats or even lean-to shacks. In Paris there was a range of housing, from private enterprise apartment blocks for the blue- and white-collar working class, to cheap, poorly built housing amid muddy streets around the outskirts of Paris. Other cities, such as Vienna, had tenements, cellar flats, and other very poor quality housing.

After the First World War, there was a great expansion in housing provided by municipalities. In Vienna, between 1919 and 1934, 58,667 apartments and 5,257 one-family houses were built, thereby accommodating roughly 10 percent of the population; but many of the working class still lived in very poor conditions. In Britain between 1918 and 1939 more than 4.5 million houses were built, of which more than a quarter of those in England and Wales and two-thirds in Scotland were built by the local authorities. As a result British cities and towns had large areas of working-class housing, known as council estates. While the quality of the housing and of the upkeep varied, it was mostly of a better standard than much of the working class's rented private accommodation.

LEISURE

In Germany, Austria, and elsewhere the crowded tenement flats encouraged a male working-class culture of leaving wives and children in the home in favor of bars and clubs. As a large part of working-class politics was linked to such environments, it was anything but welcoming for women. This was true of all or most of Europe. Yet in the Germany of 1914 those working class in the socialist party (German Social Democratic Party, SPD) had formed a distinct subculture, much of it involving "respectable" activities, from choral societies to cycling. In Britain the Labour Party as a whole had not such a developed culture, though there was a substantial culture of the cooperative movement, which by the end of the First World War was predominantly Labour rather than Liberal in its sympathies. To a lesser extent, in the north of England, the Independent Labour Party and the Clarion Cycling Clubs shared some of the cultural features of the SPD.

Across Europe there was mass support for football (soccer). In Britain it was well-established in the Midlands and the north of England as well as Scotland by 1914. With more working-class people working a five-and-a-half-day week in the interwar years, there were huge crowds going to football matches across Europe. In the first half of the twentieth century the spectators were predominantly, but not exclusively, male; larger numbers of women attended after World War I. There were sizable crowds for other sports, such as horse racing. Many working men gambled on horses, greyhounds, and (in the form of the "pools") on the outcome of football matches.

Whether or not the husband spent his leisure outside the home or not, the working-class mother organized the home and children. Often she was helped by her mother, especially in the cases of working mothers. In many industrial towns, such as the textile areas of Lancashire, England, many families lived within a few streets of grandparents and other relatives, and these often undertook vital child-care tasks.

SECURING EMPLOYMENT

In France, Germany, Britain, and other countries working-class sons often followed their fathers in employment. In many mining communities, especially those not close to cities or large towns, it was even expected that they would. This was also so in towns where one or a few big companies dominated, as in Le Creusot, France. In the industrial cities sons and daughters often worked locally, rather than move away from home into apprenticeships or service. Working-class families with many daughters often moved to areas of higher female employment, such as the hosiery towns of the East Midlands in England.

Children very often secured employment through relatives', friends', or neighbors' connections. This was attractive to employers as it gave a likelihood of good character and probably slower labor turnover. Where working-class people traveled afar, they usually went to areas near the main railway route from their home; hence migrants from the southwest of England often lived and worked in the southwest of London. Also migrants went where relatives, friends, or neighbors had gone before. This was also true of immigrant workers, who in the case of former rural workers from southern Europe, Africa, or Asia frequently joined others from their village in a European urban area.

The growth of female employment, both in the interwar years and from the 1960s, contributed to a lessening of male domination of their lives for many. Paid employment gave younger women a greater opportunity to enjoy leisure activities. This had occurred earlier, in such areas as Lancashire, England, where women in the cotton industry had earned relatively high wages. For married women, whose work was unpaid and domestic, their leisure was more often focused on the family and the home. In several countries some young workers' real earnings rose sufficiently to give them some consumer power in the 1930s as well as the 1950s onward, when "teenagers" became a notable group. Nevertheless, for many working-class young people an early start to work remained crucial to their family's budget. This was very frequently the case where the main adult earner was a manual worker or was unemployed. In large families where the mother worked, eldest daughters took on child care and household management roles as if deputies for their mothers.

POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT

Many of the unskilled working class in Europe in at least the first few decades of the twentieth century lived close to poverty, or in poverty. Their situation depended not only on the labor market but on their stages in the human life cycle and the size of their family. With large young families they were likely to be close to poverty; poor health and old age also brought very hard times, unless family networks provided support. Bad housing, poorer quality food, and manual labor all contributed to a proneness to worse health and higher mortality patterns. For instance, in the case of infant mortality rates, the average rate per thousand live births for England and Wales in 1928–1932 was 66.2, but in Stockton-on-Tees (in the north of England), where the average was 78.8, in two poor working-class districts the rate was 117.8 and 134.0. There were similar, and even worse, figures for other British industrial cities, as well as for other European cities and towns. Yet, even in the early twentieth century, through thrift clubs and other savings organizations, unskilled working-class families managed to afford day trips to the seaside or longer stays. In factory towns there were annual closures of factories for a week.

The unskilled workers also were most likely to suffer unemployment in bad economic times and to have less savings to fall back on. The European countries, like economies elsewhere that were much involved in the international economy, were badly hit by the recessions of 1921–1922 and 1931–1933. In these years the industrial workforces were hard hit. The old staple industries were suffering serious decline, in some cases because of overcapacity brought about by World War I and the postwar boom, and more generally by increased competition, as other countries had expanded their production (such as the United States and to a lesser extent Japan). There was further heavy unemployment in the 1980s and afterward as many Western European industries, and then former communist manufacturing, collapsed in the face of global competition.

In Britain the 1921–1922 recession had a big impact, with wages falling substantially after prices fell. In 1922 15.2 percent of trade unionists were unemployed there, while in Norway 17.1 percent were. In Belgium and Denmark, where the unemployed figures were for workers covered by insurance, the peak figures were 11.5 and 19.7 percent in 1921. The major exception was Germany, where high inflation delayed unemployment until 1924–1926 (with 18 percent of trade unionists unemployed in 1926). In 1933–1933 Britain suffered, but as its economy had not enjoyed a boom in the 1920s, unlike Germany and the United States, it had less far to fall. Nevertheless, the percentage of the unemployed out of insured workers peaked at 22.5 percent in 1932. In contrast unemployment was more severe in Germany, with the registered unemployed being 30.1 percent of the labor force. The level was even higher, 31.7 percent of insured workers, in Denmark in 1932, 33.4 percent of trade unionists in Norway in 1933 and with the registered unemployed as 32.7 percent of the labor force in the Netherlands in 1936.

In the early 1930s in Germany those unemployed suffered more than in Britain, as provision for the long-term unemployed had broken down more and benefit cuts were greater. The high levels of job losses created tensions between workers trying to retain their positions; for example, older males called for women and younger men to be laid off first. In Germany, unlike Britain, the United States, and Australia, high unemployment was accompanied by rising support for communism and fascism.

The quality of life of skilled workers and their families was better. They lived in better houses and could afford better food. They also were able to afford more than day outings as holidays, with many British, French, and other factory towns losing much of their population for those days. After World War II, holidays with pay in Britain became widespread, with manual workers also gaining them; and by the early 1950s the entitlement was commonly for a fortnight's holiday.

WORKING-CLASS POLITICS

The fragmentation of the working class (or classes) was very apparent in politics across Europe. In Germany, while the SPD polled 4,250,000 votes (34.8 percent) in 1912 and became the largest party in the Reichstag, there remained sizable working-class groups it largely failed to attract. This situation was even more pronounced in France, although the Socialists secured 1.4 million votes. In Britain before World War I the Labour Party was little more than an auxiliary party to the Liberals. Until after the First World War the largest section of the working class supported the Liberals, while the Conservatives also gained substantial working-class votes.

The fragmentation was partly on religious lines. In Germany the SPD was strongest in the Protestant north, and much weaker in the Catholic south. In Germany, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and elsewhere, Catholic parties gained very substantial working-class support. In Britain there was a strong "Orange" vote, of anti-Catholicism linked to hostility to Irish immigrants in Liverpool, elsewhere in Lancashire and Glasgow, and in Northern Ireland, which was separated from the rest of Ireland in 1922. There were also parties, backed by Protestants, that had working-class support, including in the Netherlands.

There was also fragmentation on ethnic or nationalist lines. For instance in Germany in the 1912 Reichstag elections, 33 candidates were elected who represented Poles, Danes, Guelphs, and Alsatians, polling 706,000 votes. In 1928 these and the regional Bavarian party secured 23 seats and 956,000 votes. In Belgium there were the major divisions between the French-speaking Walloons and Dutch-speaking Flemings, which was the cause of much rioting and led to three regional parliaments eventually being established in 1982. In Spain there were bitter divisions between the majority and the Basques, a people with their own language, culture, and political party. The Basques' sense of separate identity was strong enough to foster a separatist terrorist organization (Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna, ETA) in the 1960s. In 1980 the Basques established their own parliament. In Cyprus there were constant divisions between the Greek and Turkish populations, which worsened after independence in 1960, with a civil war in 1963–1964 and a Turkish invasion and then control of a third of the island in 1974 (when the Turkish people feared union with Greece). In Northern Ireland the working class has been divided on religious lines, with the Catholic working class divided since 1970 between the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and Sinn Féin and the Protestant working class fragmented between the Ulster Unionist Party, the Democratic Unionist Party, and other, often short-lived, Protestant bodies.

In addition there have been divisions linked to minorities of recent or older immigrants. The early part of the twentieth century was marked in many countries by working classes and other classes displaying hostility to Jews. In Britain, in the East End of London, Leeds, Manchester, and elsewhere the Jewish people were often refugees from Russia and were seen as rivals for unskilled jobs and cheap housing. Later in the century there was similar hostility to immigrants from the former British Empire, including from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the West Indies. There was similar hostility to postimperial migrants in France, Spain, and the Netherlands. In post–World War II West Germany, and later the reunited Germany, there were was also much hostility to Turkish "guest workers."

A feature of the "working-class parties" in the twentieth century was their inability to secure 50 percent of the working-class vote. This was true of the SPD even at its height. In Britain the Labour Party failed to repeat its high working-class support of 1945–1951, even though it won large parliamentary majorities in 1966, 1997, 2001, and 2005. The parties were too often attractive to male skilled workers, with female, rural, ethnic group, and religious people far less likely to support them.

DECLINE OF THE WORKING CLASS?

An issue concerning the working class (or classes) that has caused much debate, especially among sociologists and political scientists, is whether it has evaporated, leaving the term with little meaning.

Whether or not the working class declined after 1945, there were certainly substantial changes in occupational structure in Western European economies. There was a growth of professional and white-collared jobs and a decline in the proportion of manual jobs. Many of the lower paid manual jobs were increasingly undertaken by workers from the ethnic communities or by women working part-time. Such labor was segregated from other work, still undertaken by the white male labor force. In much of Europe illegal migrant labor formed a source of especially cheap labor, unprotected by employment laws. In Britain this was highlighted in 2004 when twenty-three Chinese cockle collectors drowned in Morecombe Bay. By the very nature of unauthorized labor the numbers of people involved are only estimates. For the United Kingdom in 2001 it has been estimated that there were between 310,000 and 570,000 such workers.

Concern about poverty through low wages has seen statutory minimum wages established across most of Europe, in nearly all cases set at between a third and a half of average wages. In 2005 these operated in most European Union countries. The major exceptions in Europe were Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, and Sweden, countries with high levels of collective bargaining.

By the early 1960s there were suggestions by sociologists and other writers that the traditional proletarian imagery of the working class had weakened. This was believed to be due partly to greater affluence and greater mobility (including moving geographically away from the old working-class areas) and partly due to the decline of the old large-scale industries. In such literature there were claims that a process of embourgeoisement was occurring, by which was meant that affluent workers were adopting the values and lifestyles of the middle-class (or classes). According to such views, this new working class was not interested in class solidarity or community values, nor was it greatly involved in work itself, but was more concerned with personal and family advancement, was uninterested in community solidarity, and saw its work in instrumental terms, as purely providing money.

Such claims led to substantial analysis in Britain and other countries of "the affluent worker." John H. Goldthorpe, David Lockwood, Frank Bechofer, and Jennifer Platt published in three volumes The Affluent Worker (1968–1969), which examines in depth relatively well-paid mass-production manual workers and their families in Luton, an industrial town to the north of London. This and other studies found that the working class was still distinct from the middle class and still loyal to trade unionism and the Labour Party, but it was more instrumental in its attitude to work and more private or family focused in its leisure. However, historians of British labor could suggest that the sociologists unduly idealized the attitudes of industrial workers in the past including in regard to solidarity. Indeed, sociologists often argued that trade unionism was only sectional solidarity and was a notable aspect of working-class fragmentation, with the division between organized labor and nonunion labor.

Writing about the working class by historians and sociologists from the 1950s to the late 1970s paid much attention to identifying the working class not just by occupation but by shared cultural values and practices. With the cultural concerns of postmodernism there has been in more recent years a return to emphasizing the importance of cultural factors, with economic ones given less attention.

However, in much of Europe awareness of social inequalities remained strong and was still a political issue at the end of the twentieth century. In Britain, for instance, Inland Revenue statistics suggested that in 1989 the most wealthy 25 percent owned 75 percent of the marketable wealth, with the working class or classes(or most of them)left with the rest. Also, social surveys in Britain have repeatedly found that more than 90 percent of the population believed that social classes still existed. In the case of British trade unionism, while like other European trade unionism it has declined, it is notable that its membership is no longer dominated by male workers in the old large-scale industries and mining, but is nearer gender equality and even in 1979, at its peak membership, 40 percent of all members were white-collar workers. What constitutes "the working class" has changed over time, but the term continues in popular and academic usage.

See alsoBourgeoisie; Industrial Capitalism; Trade Unions.

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Chris Wrigley