The nineteenth century was a time of blossoming economic ideas and opportunity in European society. As enclosure in the countryside rose, so did the need for industrial workers and an urbanized class was born. Working class citizens realized their common hardships and consolidated their arguments to make an impact politically as well as economically. The ideas of socialism, which advocated government control on the economy, while conservatives favored laissez faire ideas that included as little interference as possible. A guiding principle for both sides was women’s rights, which argued to vastly improve society for the common people.
One important argument was the radical idea of socialism, or a government controlled economy. Socialists believed that help from the lawmakers was necessary to guarantee economic safety in the working class. Saint-Amond Bazard, a French social theorist, disbelieved in the success of a laissez faire style economy and asked “…what do we do with the thousands who are starving?”(Doc 3). Knowing this speech would be heard by the public, the importance of the starving thousands is increased. Working and middle class citizens wanted true equality and a break from their never-ending work cycles. Louis Blanc stated in the introduction to The Organization of Labor, “in the regime of inequality within which we are all vegetating, there are weak persons who need a social force to protect them…” (Doc 7). This reveals his socialist tendencies in politics and hints to his belief of laws that control the economy for the greater good, much like the ideas of Jeremy Bentham. This working-together, Socialist mentality collaborates with nationalism in The Workers’ Program by Ferdinand Lassalle, “A state ruled by the working class … would make this moral nature of the states its mission.”(Doc 9). Overall, the belief of a government-ensured economy would