Life During the Second Industrial Revolution Imagine working in a dangerous dingy factory all day and then going home to small room you call your home with just a small paycheck in your pocket. For the working class this was the case in the Second Industrial Revolution. Technological innovations helped spark the Second Industrial Revolution, and made life a little bit easier. However, living conditions and work were still as horrid as it was in the first industrial revolution. Labor unions soon started popping up to fight for better pay and shorter days for the poor. This industrial revolution brought many changes in social life and economics in the early 19th century and 20th century. New innovations helped advance us into the next era …show more content…
Many of these groups were inspired by Karl Marx and his communist views, although not all agreed of a violent overthrow to change their lives. Labor unions all had different views on how to approach this, but they all wanted the same thing, which was a better work life. Employees would often negotiate together with the owner to try and get better working conditions. However if bargaining collectively failed, workers would go on strikes. Strikes meant people weren’t working and if people weren’t working the business would be at a standstill. Sometimes guards would be hired by the owners to shoot into the crowd of protesters, or the workers wouldn’t gain anything after. Despites this many unions still went on strikes, it became a preferred method among labor unions. The German government was the first to take steps to avoid revolutionaries from overthrowing them by introducing accident insurance and elderly insurance. Soon after, many European leaders followed lead by making laws to help improve worker’s lives; they hoped this would satisfy the people. Nevertheless, employees still continued to join these unions because for them this wasn’t