The Industrial Revolution, sometimes called the Industrial Revolution, refers to the early process of capitalist industrialization, that is, the stage in which capitalist production completed the transition from factory handicrafts to machine-based large-scale industry. It was a production and technological revolution in which machine production gradually replaced manual labor, and large-scale factory production replaced manual production in individual workshops. It later expanded to other industries. This evolutionary process is called the Industrial Revolution.
Some people believe that the Industrial Revolution had begun around 1750, but until 1830, it had not really begun to flourish. Most opinions believe that the Industrial Revolution originated in the Midlands of England. In the mid-18th century, after the Englishman Watt improved the steam engine, a series of technological revolutions caused a major leap from manual labor to power machine production. It then spread to England, the entire European continent, and North America in the 19th century.
The industrial revolution is determined by the objective requirements of capitalist economic development. (1) The bourgeois revolution abolished the feudal system and eliminated various constraints that were not conducive to the development of capitalism, creating important political prerequisites for the industrial revolution; (2) The elimination of the feudal system and small peasant economy in agriculture created a basis for capitalist large-scale industry The development of capitalism provided sufficient labor force and domestic market; (manifested in the British Enclosure Movement) (3) The process of capitalist primitive accumulation provided a large number of free labor forces and huge amounts of money capital (colonial) necessary for large-scale capitalist industry; (4) The long-term development of capitalist handicraft industry has prepared the technical conditions for the emergence of large-scale machine production.
It is generally believed that steam engines, coke, iron and steel are the four main factors that contributed to the accelerated development of industrial revolution technology.
Before Watt improved the steam engine, the power required for the entire production relied on human and animal power. With the invention and improvement of the steam engine, factories are no longer built along rivers or streams. Many jobs that previously relied on manpower and manual work have been replaced by mechanized production since the invention of the steam engine. The industrial revolution is a huge change that is incomparable to general political revolutions. Its impact involves all aspects of human social life, causing huge changes in human society. It plays an irreplaceable role in promoting the modernization process of mankind and pushes mankind to a new stage. of the steam age.
The Industrial Revolution also had an important impact on the scientific development of the 19th century. In the past, scientific research was rarely used in industrial production. With the development of the industrial revolution, the boundary between engineers and scientists has become smaller and smaller, and more engineers are immersed in scientific research. In the past, most scientists were the children of nobles or wealthy people, but now many children from industrially developed areas and the working class have become scientists. They became more interested in chemistry and electricity, which also promoted the development of these subjects.
This term was first proposed by Engels, referring to the technological and economic changes from manual production to large machine production that occurred in the United Kingdom from the late 18th century to the early 19th century, and later gradually spread to countries around the world. The Industrial Revolution was an important stage in the history of capitalist development. It achieved important changes from traditional agricultural society to modern industrial society. The Industrial Revolution was a change in production technology, and it was also a profound change in social relations. In terms of production technology, it enables machines to replace manual labor; factories replace manual workshops. In terms of social relations, it clearly split society into two opposing classes - the industrial bourgeoisie and the industrial proletariat. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the victory of the bourgeois revolution in Britain, France and other countries cleared the way for the development of productive forces. The development of capitalist factory handicrafts and the invention of science and technology prepared the conditions for the transition to large-scale machine industry. As the market expanded, the factory handicraft industry based on manual technology could not meet the needs of the market. In pursuit of profits, the bourgeoisie widely adopted new technologies. The Industrial Revolution began in the United Kingdom in the 1860s, starting with the cotton textile industry, and further developed in the 1880s with the invention and use of the steam engine. Following the United Kingdom, France, the United States and other countries also completed the Industrial Revolution in the mid-19th century. It has greatly promoted the development of social productive forces, consolidated the emerging capitalist system, caused changes in social structure and East-West relations, and had a significant impact on the course of world history. Later, some scholars also proposed the theory of "multiple industrial revolutions", such as the second industrial revolution in the late 19th century and the third industrial revolution in the second half of the 20th century. Economic crisis refers to the continuous contraction (negative economic growth rate) of one or more national economies or the entire world economy for a relatively long period of time. It is a crisis of overproduction that breaks out periodically in the development process of capitalist economy. It is the decisive stage in the economic cycle. Since the first general economic crisis broke out in Britain in 1825, the capitalist economy has never been immune to the impact of economic crises. Economic crisis is an inevitable result of the capitalist system. Due to the characteristics of capitalism, there are certain rules for its outbreak.
An economic crisis means that the economic system does not generate enough consumption value. That is the crisis of overcapacity. Some scholars divide economic crises into two types: passive crises and active crises.
The so-called passive economic crisis refers to a situation where the country's macroeconomic management authorities experience a severe economic recession or a substantial currency depreciation without preparation, triggering a financial crisis and then evolving into an economic crisis.
If the nature of the crisis is of this passive type, it is difficult to think that this currency will rebound after the crisis. The crisis process is actually a process of re-seeking and confirming the value of the country's currency.
Active crisis refers to the result of policy actions taken by macroeconomic management authorities to achieve a certain purpose. Crisis is fully anticipated by management, and a crisis or recession can be seen as an opportunity cost of reform. The economic crisis may be caused by ★Economic policy errors
★Raw material shortages, especially the crude oil crisis
★Natural disasters
★The consequences of globalization
★Financial policy errors
The main reason for the economic crisis is the disparity between rich and poor. Another reason why this crisis is so serious is that China’s foreign exchange reserves are too high! The specific analysis is as follows:
1. Consumption share
All commodities on the market are like a big cake. Everyone has his corresponding consumption share, and your share is yours income.
If the demand is insufficient and the total volume of goods is not sold well, there is only one reason: that is, someone has not taken away their share of consumption from the market! Why didn't you come to get it?
2. Precipitation of demand
Commodity and currency always convection in opposite directions at the same time. Therefore, if the commodity does not move, there must be a group of people who have stored the corresponding currency, regardless of the money. Wherever it is now, one thing is for sure, it is not flowing!
Because capitalism has its own unresolvable contradictions, this contradiction is the contradiction between private ownership and the consumption power of capitalists; possessing the means of production is to possess more means of consumption. Can you consume them all if you possess them? ? Therefore, capitalism always has the problem of insufficient demand! ! Every production cycle will produce demand accumulation, and if it accumulates too much, it will be a crisis!
During the crisis, the poor suffered, and the rich slowly consumed the excess, and production resumed again; this cycle is as endless as epilepsy.
Now use the theory of capitalist underconsumption to explain some important phenomena.
1. Assets have shrunk: Where have they shrunk? Mainly through merchants' discounts and promotions, it flows into the pockets of ordinary people, which in disguise increases the purchasing power of workers' money and transfers the consumption share that capitalists cannot consume to ordinary people's consumption, thus easing the crisis; this is a natural phenomenon of economic fever. That is to say, if the boss does not raise wages for workers in the company, then it will go to the market to raise wages for workers! Asset shrinkage is God making a bank transfer.
2. Credit consumption: This is a huge scam! Workers have no money to consume because the allocation is too little. In order to sell their products, the capitalist group says that they must use future money and dare to take loans for consumption! This is the rich deceiving the poor, but this deception is incompatible with the Chinese tradition; therefore, the development of capitalism in China will be much more difficult culturally.
3. High debt in the United States: The essence of this is that the U.S. government borrows money from capitalists to buy their products so that production can continue; how does the government use the money? Mainly fighting.
4. Low growth: How much growth can we expect every year if we only rely on the rich to eat?