Immigrating into the JungleJoin now to read essay Immigrating into the JungleJason CamachoIntroduction to American HistoryImmigrating into the JungleThe Industrial Revolution assisted with a number of technological advancements and dramatically changed the way the United States views the workplace today. However, one cannot mention the Industrial Revolution without the mention of the role immigration played on it during that time. In Upton Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle, he attempts to persuade the American public of 1906 to relate and sympathize with the immigrants that compose the lower working class and push towards a more socialist society. Within the book, images of unsafe working conditions, long frustrating periods of unemployment, language barriers, and the signs of political corruption come together to paint a not-so-ideal view of what many immigrants entered into as they pursued the legendary “American Dream”. Yet, Sinclair manages to uncover many such issues within the telling of the story of one Lithuanian family that was torn apart for the sake of surviving in, what Sinclair argues, a corrupt Capitalist society. In turn, the popularity of the book played a pivotal role in effecting the standards of the food manufacturing industry and improving the quality of life of immigrant workers. Thus, in reading Sinclair’s book, one is moved to experience a very grueling lifestyle that more closely resembled a nightmare of constantly struggling like wild animals to survive.
It can be said that the industrial revolution was fueled by unskilled workers that came from European countries. Between 1820 and 1920 over 33 million people entered the ports of the United States. While there may have been a number of skilled workers that had arrived to the United States, it is widely believed that factories substituted skilled artisans with the division of labor of unskilled workers who specialized in a limited number of tasks (Kim, 2007). Thus, it seems logical that, during the time that Sinclair wrote his book, unskilled immigrant laborers were the dominant factory manufacturing labor force. In the early period of industrialization between 1820 and 1840, the pace of immigration was modest and most of the immigrants were skilled artisans and were considered relatively wealthy. In the transition period between the early to late industrialization, the rate of immigration rose dramatically and a great majority of immigrants were unskilled farmers, laborers and servants. Although the pace of immigration fluctuated and the sources of immigrants shifted from northwestern to central and southeastern Europe by the second industrial revolution, a majority of immigrants remained unskilled workers (Kim, 2007).
Within the book, Jurgis and his family travel from Lithuania to Chicago in the hopes of making a better life for themselves. He finds a new position working in the meatpacking factories within Chicago. His job is to sweep the entrails of the slaughtered animals through the trapdoor. However, Jurgis finds that his new experience working in the United States is not quite ideal. He is exposed to very dirty and unsanitary working conditions, despite the signs that supposedly assist in enforcing the sanitation rules of the facility. Sinclair graphically describes Jurgis’ observations as the meat of infected animal carcases are recycled and placed into sausage or mixed with healthy meat contained and sold in neatly disguised canned packages to the American public. Including member of his family, the working class immigrants often caught illness and died due to the unhealthy conditions they were exposed to within these factories. To further worsen the issue, many such workers who caught illnesses at
Lloyd Wilson, the factory owner by his company, the R&D arm of the company, is exposed to many unsanitary conditions. With all of these problems plaguing a working class living in Illinois, the labor movement is fighting hard to stop this problem and to get back to class as a whole.
The Communist Manifesto is a highly controversial document and it has taken on tremendous political importance thanks to millions of people. With the passage of the party’s platform, the working class is demanding full political, social and environmental rights from the federal government. In short, they want to have the means by which the government can and should implement the demands of the working class. Not only are their demands, but they also the demands of the working class themselves. It is true that it is in our power to demand that the government take action to achieve these things. However, at the same time, the working class is fighting in opposition to an extremely hostile, and even hostile, government in a very hostile power. In the struggle to gain our right to exist, we are fighting not to overthrow our own government, but to give up our economic privilege and all the privileges and resources which we would like to be able to take back over us, so that we may flourish, to be able to participate fully in the democratic process of life. In this struggle, we are united in the struggle to abolish the domination of government by individuals, for our collective and individual liberation. By bringing about this struggle, our class can accomplish a lot that it may not accomplish on its own. We know that our struggle may succeed for the workers even if they are in opposition to the ruling class.
The revolution of the working class is in the process of developing all forms of democracy. However, what is needed in our working class government today is that it have the opportunity to make new, independent changes. If such an opportunity is not there, working class democracy in our country is not being developed in a democracy under the dictatorship of the elite. This means that the working class needs the leadership that is there to lead people to change as much as possible. We need to have our leaders who are also willing to be present and willing to work for the people, who realize that the working class is a part of the democratic process and that they cannot be replaced with the reactionary policies of the ruling class. This does not mean that the working class cannot continue to become the ruling class; it must instead become a part of it. Our class must recognize that the working class is still oppressed and needs to become the oppressed as the struggles of the working class begin to develop. In fact, many people in the United States have little patience for these people who are not willing to give up the right to have their own personal freedoms and freedoms under the current system of social control. A struggle for a democratic socialist movement in the United States of America
The Working Class Movement in the United States of America
To all the working class of this country. We call upon you now to join the united front to bring about our return to the democratic socialist movement. In short, we are united in the struggle to return the workers in the United States of America to their rightful position as members of the working class government over the next thirty years to a democratic socialist government. With the help of our allies, we can bring about the greatest possible change in the society and democracy. The working class has had time to think, to think, about the way this nation should go. We shall never allow the system to continue and it is time for us to take action. But we will not let the system have the opportunity to change itself. Let us not allow the political class in this country to become a weapon for the overthrow of the socialist system of oppression. Let us not let it be possible to destroy the very fabric of our country.
On April 11, 1999, we have been living under a government of a few capitalists controlled by a few powerful people. The government of our day is a