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

Part of the Industrial Revolution was also an agricultural one. Machines were developed that cut the labor force needed significantly so people flocked to cities because they had no options rurally. Because so many people were in the city, there was a labor surplus that disgusting factory owners exploited. There wasn’t a trick in the book too dirty to screw their workers. Look up the Triangle shirt factory fire or the tactics Henry Ford and Henry Bennet used.