The completion of the industrial revolution and a series of major economic changes caused by the industrial revolution, especially the extensive use of machinery and the great development of railway construction at home and abroad, directly promoted the rapid development of British industry in the 1950s and 1960s. During the twenty years from 1850 to 1870, the number of cotton textile mills in Britain increased from 1932 to 2483, and the number of wool textile mills increased from 65438 to 65438, and the export of wool textiles also increased by 1.5 times. Coal production increased from 49.8 million tons to1120,000 tons, pig iron production increased from 2.3 million tons to 6 million tons, and cotton consumption increased from 590 million pounds to 108 billion pounds. 1870 steel output reached 220,000 tons. In addition, the industrial technology in this period has also developed greatly. For example, there are many blast furnaces as high as 80 feet, with a daily output of 450-550 tons of pig iron; Bessemer steelmaking process (1856) and Siemens-Martin steelmaking process (1867) appeared successively. In shipbuilding, Britain also used steel instead of wood to build ships, and gradually replaced wooden sailboats with iron boats made by machines.
1850—— 1870 The British industrial boom was also a period when American and German industries developed rapidly and caught up. But until the 1970s, Britain still ranked first in world industrial production and world trade. In industry, it produces most of the industrial products needed by all countries in the world. In foreign trade, the proportion of Britain and its colonies in the total world trade has increased by nearly a quarter, almost equivalent to the sum of France, Germany and the United States. It also has the largest tonnage merchant ships in the world, about the sum of France, Germany, the United States, the Netherlands and Russia, which makes Britain a veritable "world factory".
/kloc-In the middle of the 0/9th century, Britain became the factory of the world, not only because it completed the industrial revolution at the earliest, but also because it occupied an extremely vast colony in the world. From the beginning of19th century, Britain carried out a large-scale colonial expansion policy. By the 1970s, Britain had occupied the largest colony in the world, with a total area of over 22.5 million square kilometers and a population of over 250 million, nearly/kloc-0.00 times that of the mainland (240,000 square kilometers). This provides an inexhaustible source of raw materials and a broad product market for the development of capitalism, and accelerates the development of British industrial level and quality. By the early 1970s, Britain's industrial population had accounted for 62.8% of the total population, making it the first industrial country in the world.
With the rapid development of industry and the enhancement of economic strength, the British industrial bourgeoisie gradually expanded its own strength and gained political dominance. Its main symbol is the implementation of free trade policy. Corn laws was abolished in Britain as early as 1846, and the navigation law was abolished in 1849. With the rapid development of industry, after the 1950s, the bourgeoisie further demanded the implementation of a free trade policy, the reduction of import taxes on grain and raw materials, and the abandonment of import restrictions and tariff protection systems in other European countries. Thus, from 1860 to 1865, Britain successively signed treaties with France, Belgium, Italy and Austria. 1846—— 1848, the British parliament cancelled import duties on more than 200 kinds of goods, and so on. Countries signed trade treaties, prompting them to reduce import duties on British goods. Therefore, the free trade policy is actually a policy of economic aggression. It marks the realization of free trade.
During the 1950s and 1960s, the bourgeois liberal party was in power in Britain for a long time, and implemented a free trade policy economically, which was the main feature of British political life during this period, reflecting the development of British industrial capitalism and the enhancement of political and economic strength at that time. This situation is reflected in politics, which is the realization of "liberal" rule. At that time, the powerful industrial bourgeoisie held the vast majority of seats in the British parliament and controlled the real power of the country. Under their auspices, bourgeois democracy has been fully reflected in Britain. At the same time, the government also allows more democratic freedoms in political life, such as freedom of speech and publication, freedom of assembly and association, and allows foreign exiles to take refuge in Britain. Therefore, since 1849, both Ma and En have lived in Britain and made London the seat of the first international general committee (1864- 1872). In addition, in 1858, restrictions on the political rights of Jews were also removed. The rule of "liberalism" is the manifestation of the great development of British capitalist economy and the relaxation of domestic class contradictions.
Two. Congress and civil service reform in 1867;
In the congressional reform movement of 1832, the industrial and commercial bourgeoisie won and was able to join the state power, while the workers, petty bourgeoisie and peasants still did not have the right to vote and stand for election. Therefore, in the 1930s and 1940s, they launched a vigorous charter movement, trying to win universal suffrage, but ultimately failed. After the 1950s, the broad masses of workers, including the middle and small bourgeoisie, participated more actively in the struggle for parliamentary election reform led by bourgeois radicals. 1865, under the leadership of bourgeois radical leaders Cobden and Brett, the "National Reform Alliance" was established. Since then, the struggle for parliamentary election reform has been launched vigorously all over Britain. 1August 866, John of the Liberal Party? Russell's cabinet proposed a reform bill to Congress. Although it only increased 400,000 voters, it was opposed by most members of the House of Commons and lost the election. This caused strong protests from people everywhere. More than100000 people protested in London, Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham and other cities. Finally, it forced the Liberal Party cabinet to fall. 1In July, 866, the Delbout Cabinet of the Conservative Party came to power. The following year, the Cabinet submitted a reform bill to Congress. 1867 was approved by the National Assembly and the Queen Victoria's Procuratorate, and came into effect on August 5, 2007. This is the second parliamentary reform in British history. The reform bill of 1867 readjusted the electoral districts, canceled the seats of 46 declining towns in the lower house and transferred them to new industrial cities. The bill also lowered the eligibility limit for election and expanded the electorate. In cities, all homeowners who pay the poor relief fund and tenants who pay more than 10 a year and live for not less than one year have the right to vote. In rural areas, people who earn more than 5 pounds a year from private land or domestic workers who pay 12 pounds rent also have the right to vote. In this way, the number of candidates increased from 6.5438+0.35 million to 2.45 million. Farmers, agricultural workers and miners still have not gained political rights in this reform. Obviously, there is still a big gap between this reform and the universal suffrage system that the working class strives for. But after all, it expanded the scope of voters and further consolidated the dominant position of the industrial bourgeoisie.
Around the second parliamentary reform, Britain also carried out the reform of the civil service system.
Prior to this, there was serious confusion and fraud in the appointment of officials in Britain. /kloc-In the mid-9th century, liberals representing the interests of the industrial bourgeoisie began to demand the reform of the official appointment system. After hard struggle, the reform began with 1855. First of all, civil servants are appointed through examinations among candidates. By 1870, the Privy Council promulgated the Order on Civil Service Reform, which stipulated that except for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, internal ministries and some senior civil servants, most civil servants were selected through public examinations and competition. Since then, this system has been constantly revised and supplemented, and gradually formed a system of selecting civil servants through public examinations and competition. The reform of the civil service system has greatly improved the quality and efficiency of officials, ensured the stability and continuity of state-owned policies, and strengthened the rule of the industrial bourgeoisie.
In the 1970s, the industrial production of America, Germany and other emerging capitalist countries advanced by leaps and bounds on the basis of a lot of advanced science and technology. Britain, an old capitalist country, has experienced more than 100 hands of industrialization and outdated machinery and equipment. Capitalists are unwilling to give up these equipment and spend huge sums of money to update them, which seriously hinders the progress of industry and the development of production.
Second, the high profits of foreign capital in Britain are far more than domestic investment, which leads to a large outflow of funds. Through capital export, mainly usury, an extremely large rentier class was formed in Britain, which reached as many as one million before the First World War (when the total population of Britain was 20 million). At this time, the people of the Commonwealth, who were famous for their "enterprising spirit" in modern history, gradually lost their enterprising spirit with the emergence of the rentier class. Large areas of cultivated land have become hunting grounds and rich horse farms, and the service industry and unproductive industries have increased greatly, leading to the decline of industry and agriculture.
Third, in the process of foreign trade, British goods are increasingly unable to compete with cheap goods from the United States, Germany and other countries. Britain's long-term free trade policy has caused a large inflow of foreign goods and generated huge trade. Coupled with the economic crisis of 1878- 1879, the British market was depressed and agriculture declined. Thus directly affecting the speed of industrial development.
All these make Britain inevitably lose its position as an industrial monopoly.
After the 1970s, in order to make up for the loss of industrial hegemony, the British ruling class further intensified its plunder of the colonies and desperately opened up new financial resources and markets. In 1860, Britain had 2.5 million square miles of colonies, which increased to 7.7 million square miles in 1880, and further increased to 1300 in19/4. It accounts for a quarter of the world's land area, half of the total number of colonies plundered by imperialist powers, more than 100 times that of Britain (300,000 square kilometers); The colonial population exceeded 393 million, nine times that of the British mainland (46.5 million).
1At the end of the 9th century and the beginning of the 20th century, Britain, like other capitalist countries, began to transition to the imperialist stage. Of course, the formation and development of British monopoly capitalism has its own characteristics. Because it occupied a vast colony, the British monopoly organization was first formed in the colony. Germany appeared in11990 s? Bierce monopolized the diamond and gold mining industry in South Africa. Since then, monopoly organizations have been established in metallurgy, chemical industry, coal, shipbuilding, cement and other industrial sectors. In particular, emerging monopoly organizations in chemical and cement industries have developed faster. By the beginning of the 20th century, 1902, there were 75 trusts and other types of monopoly organizations in Britain.
Britain is a country with a very developed financial industry. In banking and finance, Britain's concentration and monopoly far exceed Germany and the United States. 1865 There were 250 joint-stock banks in Britain. By 1900, the remaining 98 banks were reduced to 19 13, and the number was reduced to 6 1, of which 2 1 bank concentrated 85% of the total national deposits. 19 14, the five largest banks in London, namely Midland Bank, Westminster Bank, Lloyd's Bank, Barclays Bank and National Local Bank, owned 40% of the total bank deposits in China. Highly concentrated banks not only dominate the financial markets of Britain and its colonies, but also affect the financial markets of the whole world. Britain's largest banks and large enterprises have also infiltrated and combined with each other by buying stocks, forming a handful of financial capitalists. They control the national economy and the political lifeline of the whole country. In this way, in the 20th century, Britain has become an imperialist country.
Colonies are the lifeline of British imperialism. It not only provides Britain with a market for dumped goods, a source of cheap labor and raw materials, but also provides a new place for capital export. The British monopoly bourgeoisie exported most of its capital to the colonies. In 1850, British overseas investment was 200 million pounds, increased to1400 million pounds in 1875, and increased to 4 billion pounds in 19 13, equivalent to a quarter of British national wealth and half of the total foreign investment of imperialist countries. More than half of them were put into colonies and semi-colonies. With the increase of capital export, the number of bank branches in colonial and semi-colonial Britain has also developed rapidly. There were 2,279 companies in 1904, and by 19 10, the number had increased to 5,499. Britain's capital export ranks first in the world, making it the biggest international exploiter and plunderer. Colonial plunder became the greatest feature of British imperialism, so Lenin called it colonial imperialism.
The British bourgeoisie squeezed huge profits from the colonies through a large amount of capital export. From 65438 to 0899, the income of British foreign investment reached 90 million to 1 100 million pounds. In this way, there appeared a huge profit-seeking class in Britain who lived by "cutting the total votes". It can be seen from the appearance of this extremely decadent parasitic class that Britain has changed from a typical industrial country to a typical profit-seeking country at this time, and the parasitism and decay of British imperialism are very obvious here.
2. The Liberal Party and the Conservative Party take turns to govern;
Since the 1960s, Britain's two major bourgeois political parties, the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party, have been in power alternately. In the process of transition to learning nationalism, with the change of Britain's economic status, the differences between the two parties are narrowing and the policies are becoming more and more consistent. In essence, both parties are representatives of bourgeois interests, but after entering the imperialist class, the two sides can't argue about details and steps such as how to maintain British industrial hegemony, how to deal with the growing democratic movement, and what methods to adopt for overseas colonization.
From 185 1- 1874 for more than 20 years, except for a short period, it was almost a period when the liberal party monopolized the political power. During this period, Britain still maintained its position as the world's industrial hegemon, with relative uncertainty at home and a strong democratic atmosphere. The ruling class does not need a powerful state machine to maintain its rule. During this period, most of the British troops were stationed in overseas colonies, and there were few domestic troops and police. The liberal ruling style is naturally implemented.
In the 1970s, with the loss of industrial hegemony, domestic stability was gone forever, and the British bourgeoisie changed the ruling style of liberalism and strengthened the state machine. The power of congress has been weakened, while the power of cabinet has been greatly enhanced. In the 1980s, there was a split within the Liberal Party, and the opposition of the Liberal Party was in Joseph? Under the leadership of Zhang, he turned to the Conservative Party, demanding to strengthen the state machine, establish an imperial economic system exclusive to Britain, protect the British market with high tariffs, prevent foreign competition, and maintain Britain's industrial monopoly position. In foreign policy, they advocated pursuing the imperialist aggression policy and expanding the colonies of the British Empire, while at home, they urged strengthening the suppression of the workers' movement.
In this case, conservative forces have risen. 1874- 19 15 During the forty-one years, the Conservative Party was in power for 23 years and the Liberal Party was in power for 18 years. It was also during this period that the differences between the two parties were narrowing. In terms of internal affairs, the two parties are almost identical on major issues, but the Conservative Party demands to further strengthen centralization. In the policy of confrontation, especially in the colonial policy, the difference between the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party mainly lies in the naked use of violence or the hidden use of violence. Since 1970s, the power of the leaders of the two parties has been greatly strengthened, which indicates that British politics has turned from democracy and freedom to autocracy and reaction.
In the 20th century, with the sharp contradiction between Britain and Germany, both the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party actively promoted the policy of expanding their troops and preparing for war. The Conservative Cabinet finally abandoned the traditional policy of "glorious isolation" and formed anglo-japanese alliance in 1902. 1904 concluded the anglo-French agreement, 1907 signed the agreement with Russia. Since then, the Cabinet of the Liberal Party has reiterated the so-called "two strong standards" put forward by the Conservative government in 1889, that is, for every warship built by the German navy, Britain will build two. The British fleet will always maintain its joint strength with the naval fleets of two other countries in the world. At the same time, the British government kept increasing its military budget, from 1905 to 1907, with an average of 59.8 million pounds per year. During the period of1911913, it increased to an average of 73.3 million pounds per year. Caused a new upsurge of the workers' movement.
References:
Heqi: World history? The first volume of Modern History, edited by Higher Education Press and Liu Youchang. General history of the world? Modern Volume People's Publishing House