Did the industrial revolution of the 19th century lead to a significant deterioration in the working conditions of laborers? Why did workers accept to work in miserable conditions?

Question

Why couldn’t they immediately unite to demand better conditions or stop working otherwise and return to traditional jobs from the pre-industrial era if conditions were supposedly better then?

In: 5

Answer 1

Early efforts at forming unions to demand safer conditions/better pay were met with violence. Corporations, police, and even military forces were historically used to beat and kill workers in an effort to break the union/force them back to work. Eventually these methods were seen as too extreme so other methods were used and continue to be used to this day to legally and illegally fight unionization and keep workers compliant. Higher safety standards and better compensation for workers means less profit for corporations, so you can understand their motivation.