Bismarck and Disraeli launched social welfare legislation to counter socialist pressures
Evidence
Bismarck put through legislation providing for sickness and old age pensions; Disraeli denounced certain of the worst excesses of mid-Victorian capitalism in his novels, and his ministry (1874-80) limited the working day for women and children, passed the Combination Act of 1875 giving limited recognition to trade unions, and put through the Public Health Act and the Artisans’ Dwelling Act in the same year, etc. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 2349
Categorization
- SEED: Gramsci flags conservative ruling classes adopting working-class reform as a co-optation move — angle: welfare-state origins as ruling-class strategy against revolution, not altruism.
- XREF: connects to: Bismarck’s welfare state aimed to undermine Social Democracy, not just relieve poverty — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 498; Social welfare legislation was adopted by Tammany as good politics — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 566
Related
- Nineteenth-century conservative elites pioneered social welfare legislation to preempt radical demands (similarity 0.88)
- Bismarck’s welfare state aimed to undermine Social Democracy, not just relieve poverty (similarity 0.83)
- Social welfare legislation was adopted by Tammany as good politics (similarity 0.80)