Responses to Capitalism Dbq

Responses to Capitalism DBQ

Throughout the 19th century, capitalism seemed like an economic utopia for some, but on the other hand some saw it as a troublesome whirlpool that would lead to bigger problems. The development of capitalism in popular countries such as in England brought the idea that the supply and demand exchange systems could work in most trade based countries. Other countries such as Russia thought that the proletariats and bourgeoisie could not co-exist with demand for power and land, and eventually resorted to communism in the early 20th century. Although many different systems were available to the countries in need of economic change, a majority of them found the right system for their needs. And when capitalist societies began to take full swing, some classes did not benefit as well as others and this resulted in a vast amount of proletariats looking for work. Capitalists societies are for certain a win-loss system, and many people did not like the change from having there society changed to a government controlled money hungry system. On the other hand, the demand for labor brought the bourgeoisie large profits because they could pay out as much as they wanted for labor.

For those that had a hard time adapting to the change in the way the economy was ran, it did not become any easier when considerable profits were made by privately owned businesses. If one did not change his way of making money quickly, he/she could easily become a proletariat instead of staying in the wealthy middle class it was in when capitalist societies were not in sway. Doc. 2 explains how the wealthy merchant is the one who controls the circulation of trade. This sadly, gives no power to farmers nor the lower classes because they are not involved in heavy trade of raw material. Not only was capitalism seen as a system ran by the wealthy, but a system ran by the government as well such as Doc. 4 suggests. According to Doc. 4 the government can control and decide how commerce between countries will be handled. The government also has the power to regulate production and control wages which is what Doc. 5 discusses. When one worker will do a certain job for less it is easy to lower wages to a minimum. This is where the idea of minimum wage comes to mind, the idea of minimum wage wasn’t introduced till 1894 in New Zealand however, where it had no effect on the wages of European capitalist societies. However, Louis Blanc, being the author of Doc. 5 was a French politician and was most likely hoping to receive the poor vote with this statement. Although his argument may be genuine, his stature can fully discredit him of his honest opinion.

The way of capitalists was a way of professionalism and competition. This is evident when in Doc. 1, Robert Owen discusses the possibilities children have for an education when they do not have to be working on a farm from dawn to sunset. With more literate and educated future workers, the years to come seem bright for education. It is easy to see why Owen would agree with capitalist ideas when he himself is a manager at the Chorlton Twist Company at Manchester. Nonetheless, his ideas are for the future of the children and their potential to be fulfilled. For capitalism to work, many laws were needed to be written and followed such as Doc. 3 discusses what would need to be done to keep capitalist societies in function. Laborers must be treated equal and with respect as well because they are the ones who create the product. But with capitalism, jobs were given to those with the most ability. To contribute to the fairness, some companies gave out benefits to their employees just to