Figure 1.--Here we see a French boy involved in agricultural labor. The photograpgh was taken in 1889. |
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Child labor in Europe was a major problem, but contrary to the popular modern belief, it was not a creation of the Industrial Revolution. Child labor was basically universal in medieval Europe and Rome as wll as the ancient civilizations that preceeeded the medieval era. In these agricultural societies almost all children from a very early age worked with the exception of the narrow elite class. With the industrial Revolution as capitalism made Eurpean countrues grew richer, the rising middle class began to see child labor as a social poblem. And it was the most important capitalist countries of Western Europe that first began to outlaw child labor while child labor continued to be prevalent in the more afarian and less indiustrialiZed countries of Eastrn and souithern Europe. Here the history is somewhat complicated because agrrain interests (often meabning large land owners) continued to have enormopuis influence, even in heavily industrialized countries like England and Germany. We have been able to find information about child labor on some countries, but still have limited information on many European countries. We would be interested in any information that readers can add concerning child labor in their countries.
Czechoslovakia was created at the end of World War I (1918). Czechoslovakia was established as a parliamentary democracy. Much of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's industrial capacity was located in Czechoslovakia, much of it in Bohemia--the modern Czech Republic. We do not yet have full details, but the Austro-Hungarian Empire had passed child labor laws before World War I and the new Czechoslovakia thus had child labor laws before the state came into existence. As a result, you do not see a lot of Czech boys involved in industrial labor as was common in the 19th century.We do not yet have details on the laws or additions to them by the new Czech Parliament. Many children left school after primary school at about 13-14 years of age and entered the labor force to some degree. Middle-class children entered secondary schools. Following the German model, quite a few working-class boys became apprentices. This was more true of boys than girls. Working class girls were more likely to go into domstic service. We believe that many of the working class boys in inter-War Czechoslovakia were boys in rural areas. Outside of Bohemia, Czechoslovakia was a largely agrarian country. Slovakia lagged far behind the industrialized Czechs in Bohemia. Thus there was child labor in rural areas. This was a common pattern with agricultural labor often exempted from child labor laws to varying degress. After World War II, the Communist Government outlawed child labor and significantly expanded the educational system so that most children attended secondary schools and thus began working at a later age, even in rural areas. At the same time many opportunities were closed off the Czechs as a result of the nationalization of private enterprises.
England as far as we know was the first country to address the problm of child labor. This is understandable as it was in England that the Industrial Revolution began. Child and women workers played a major role in the Industrial Revolution. Charles Dickens had a major role in prmoting the movement to limit child labor. Parlimentary investigations exposed the abuses, but influential English capitalists committed to laiisez faire government claimed that governmental restrictions were an infringement of their rights. Here Dickens and news accounts of abuses gradually swung public opinion to governmental action to protect children. Finally Parliament began limiting child labor, the initial laws were very minor restrictions.
Developments in France are also very important, but we have little information at this time. We do not yet have much information about French boys working. France in the 19th century had the same problems associated with child labor as oyher countries as they industrialized. These are best known in England because of Charles Dickens, but similar problems were experienced in other countries such as France. We are not familiar yet, however, with the efforts in France to regulate child labor. We believe that the problem was addresses sooner in Franced than in Britain and America, but do not yet have the historical details. The French children most likely to work in the 20th century were children in rurral areas who worked on family farms. Hopefully French readers will provide us some details about child labor in France.
German boys in the medieval era mostly worked on fedual estates. Very few boys received a formal education. As in the rest of Europe, some boys worked as aprentices under the guilds which became an major institution in economic and social life. We do not yet have information specifically on German apprentices, although some information is available on guild appretices in general. After the decline of the guilds, boys continued to work as aprentices, although the arrangments were less regulated. Other boys were sold into indentured servitude. With the advent of the industrial revolution, many German boys as elsewhere in Europe worked in the factories that appeared in the growing cities. Their maegre earnings were often required to support the family. The conditions were described by Dickens and other English authors. Presumanly German authors also addressed the topic of child labor and urban slum life, but I am not familiar with the German literature. One institution that seems uniquely German is the Schwabenkinder. This began before the industrial revolution, but continued into the 20th century.
We have little information about child labor in Italy. As a relatively pooe country until After World war II and European integration, there was presumably a serious child labor problem. Southern Italy was especially poor, almost feudal. This meant that child labor was largely rural labor. We notice many children selling items like matches and gum n the street. One Italian artist, Ettore Roesler Franz, specialized in painting humble people of the steet in Rome.
We do not have much information on child labor in Poland. Perhaps our Polish readers can nprovide some details. Poland was a largely agricultural country until after World war II. Thus most child labor would have been agricultural. We know nothing about Government regulations regukationg child labor. Thus is complicated by the fact that most of Poland in the 19th century was part of the Russian Empire. (Smaller areas were German or Austrian.) The Russians freed the serfs (1861), but we believe serfdom was more of a Russian than a Polish problem. Napoleon abolished serfdom in the Duchy of Warsaw (1807). We are not sure what the Russians did when they regained control (1814). We do not have information on Tsarist Russian child labor laws, but believe that they were very limited. Nor so we know what child labor laws the new Polish Government passed after World war I (1918). We do know thst there was land reform, but this seemes to have been primarily aimed at Germans owning large estates than the Polish nobility oning estates. There were still many children om agrivultural estates and they tended to receive very limited education and often worked in various ways. Then a Communist Government was installed by the Soviets (1945). We suspect that the Communists implemented very strict child labor laws and with the nationalization of the large estates, the Comminists also moved to sharply reduce agricultural child labor.
Many Russians labored as serfs until freed by Tsar Alexander II (1861). Even afrer emancipation, the former serfs and their children continued living on a large agricultural estates.
Many Spanish boys worked until after World War II. Spain was a largely agricultural country with a large peasant population. Spain is a good example of the mind-bending ignorance prevalent concerning economic trends. Many people associate the industrial revolution and capitalism with poverty and child labor. Do an internet search on child labor and see how many sites begin the discussiion historically with the idustrial revolution. In relity it is the countries (like Spain) that did not participate meaningfully in the industrial revolution where chil labor was indemic. And it was the rich ndustrial countries (here Britain was a laggard) that create public school systems for children rather than having them work from an early age. Spain passed a law organizing the primary school system in Spain (1857). Attendance was made compulsory from 6 to 9 years of age. In 1939 a new law stated that the attendance would have been compulsory untill 12 years of age, but this rage limit was not enforced everywhere. Enforcement was especially lax in poor communities and rural areas. It was fairly common to see school-age boys working in Spain. The boys here in 1945 are a good example (figure 1). Large numbers of Spanish boys were involved in agricultural work. Girls were less likely to work, except as childhood servants. It is difficult to assess why Spain did not make greater progress against child labor. Left-wing authors will question the morality of conservative groups. Amother facor is that Spain was a poor, largely agricultural country with limited resources available to expand the education system. The efforts of workers to obtain basic rights was a major cause of the Civil War. Left-wing groups pushed for major reforms. Many were hostile to capitalism and property rights. The country's conservative Church, industrialists, and landowners were unwilling to concede, in part because of the fear of Communism and the terror directed against the church and properrty rights in the Soviet Union. The peasantry still highly incluenced by the Church were not as enthusiastic about radical reform as the the urban work force. Only after World War II did Spain pass a law that reorganized the Spanish primary school (1945). Attendance was made compulsory for children 6 to 12 years of age. And this time eforcement was more strict. [Galvez]
We do not yet have much information on child labor in Sweden. We do note reports of child auctions during the 19th century. There was an estanlished system of auctions placing children with families if their parents could not look after them. Child labor was primarily in agriculture. Boys in the towns and cities might be appreticed. This began to change with the the industrial revolution of the 19th century, although there continued to be child labor in the agricultural sector. Sweden and the Scandinavian countries in general were among the leaders in addressing the problem of child labor. The Government passed a law to limit the hours children worked and to provide for government payments to health insurance funds established by workers' groups. Regulations protecting women working in mines were ot passed until the turn-of-the 20th century. [Nordstrom, p.78.] Laws protecting women also had a direct impact on chidren as they were the primary csare givers for young children. The Government was hostile toward organized labor throughout the 19th century which impacted working-class children, both children to young to work and those entering the labor force. We are not sure yet when compulsory school attendance was introduced. This of course was a key step in limiting child labor.
Work was a major activity that modst children were involved in through the 19th century. This of course was the state of affairs throughout history. Only in the 19h-century did governments begin ensacting minimum age laws for employing children and compulsory school attendance laws which affected availability for employment. We have very few details at this time about Swiss legislation protecting children. Switzerlkand was striongly influenced by Germany trends. The Swiss economy was similar in many ways to the German economy, but was not as highly industrialized as the nearby Ruhr valley. Many Swiss boys as they ebtered their tennyears were involved in apprenticeship schemes. Much of Switzerland was rural and dominated by agriculture. Thus many boys were invoilved in agriculural work. Most of the contry's agricultural land was divided into small family holdings. This meant than many children were involved in farm work, often chores on the family farm.
Gálvez, Inmaculada Egido. "La evolución de la enseñanza primaria en España: organización de la etapa y programa de estudio," Tendencias Pedagógicas (1995), pp. 75-86.
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