Lecture 6 - Workshop and Factory

The Industrial Revolution in France is often said to have been entirely overshadowed by British industrial development. This analysis is inaccurate because it ignores the significance of domestic and other non-factory occupations. Indeed, it was the class of artisan workers, rather than industrial factory workers, who were first responsible for the organization of labor movements. One of the great innovations of the factory was the imposition of industrial discipline, against which many workers rebelled, often in the form of strikes. **Reading assignment:** Sowerwine, Charles. France since 1870: Culture, Politics and Society, pp. 57-87.