Nineteenth-century conservative elites pioneered social welfare legislation to preempt radical demands

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

Category: Factual Claims

• XREF: This is the historical raw material for Gramsci’s later claim about the ‘passive revolution’ and ‘transformism’ — that conservative ruling classes co-opt radical programs. Will connect directly to the Islamophobia readings where the state absorbs and neutralizes anti-racist / Islamophobic critique.
• ADDENDUM: Relates to ‘On Sacrifice’ only loosely, but strongly to the scaffolding of how elites stabilize stratified societies by conceding limited reforms rather than brute force.

Related

• Bismarck and Disraeli launched social welfare legislation to counter socialist pressures (similarity 0.90)