Chapter 323: Chapter 188: The Rise of Chaos (Part 3)
As the saying goes, where there is a policy from above, there is a countermeasure from below. The exploitation of workers by capitalists is something that can never truly be eradicated. The Spanish Government’s labor laws set forth regulations on workers’ hours, requiring that their daily work not exceed 11 hours, and not surpass 70 hours a week.
Yet, capitalists find various ways to coerce workers into excessive labor, and ultimately, Spanish workers’ hours still exceed 11 hours daily.
If it weren’t for government and Royal Family enterprises implementing a ten-hour workday, the average work time for Spanish workers might exceed 12 hours.
Yes, it’s that exaggerated. This is the dark era, an inevitable topic for the industrial construction of European countries.
It isn’t just Spain; other powerful countries like Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and Austria are the same.
The rise of Western industrialism involved not only colonial exploitation around the world but also the burgeoning capitalism’s oppression of domestic workers and citizens.
The industrial history of the West is a history of blood and tears. It is precisely through the exploitation of tens of millions of people that Europe became the world’s jewel of this era, the most developed, advanced, and prosperous region.
Of course, as time advanced, workers’ conditions in various countries gained a certain level of guarantee. At least Spanish workers’ hours would not exceed 12 hours, a baseline established by Carlo and Prime Minister Prim.
Capitalists are allowed to exploit within a certain range, but treating people inhumanely is not permitted. As long as it doesn’t exceed the baseline, the government turns a blind eye to the capitalists’ exploitation.
After all, such actions can indeed improve factory production efficiency, promoting Spain’s industrial and economic development.
In a generally improving environment in Spain, the conflict between capital and workers, though intense, isn’t a powder keg.
However, for these rebellious nobles, nothing is unusable. If they could ignite the long-standing issue of capitalist exploitation of workers, they could plunge Spain into greater chaos.
In muddy waters, opportunities abound. A large-scale protest would surely catch Prime Minister Prim’s attention. When Prime Minister Prim is focused on the massive demonstrations, he will naturally lower his guard against the rebellious nobles.
At that point, an unexpected assassination would plunge Spanish politics into disarray. The nobles could then step in, gaining the favor of the public and workers by criticizing the capitalist class before taking control of a Spain without Prim. Everything would seem justified.
On the afternoon of November 2, several newspapers in Spain published articles about capitalists excessively exploiting workers in their factories. Even with government mandates that worker hours not exceed 11 hours daily, they still pushed workers’ hours close to 12 hours.
It seemed as if someone was pushing this narrative. These newspapers, originally small in scale, lacked the capacity to distribute their papers throughout Spain.
However, once the news was published that day, the newspapers quickly appeared on the streets of Madrid and in several surrounding cities.
Thanks to the Spanish Government’s literacy education efforts, more than half of the Spanish public was literate, at least able to comprehend most Spanish words.
Because of this, the report sparked widespread discussion in Madrid and its neighboring cities, fueling further hatred of capitalists among workers.
The public tends to follow blindly. Whether or not they themselves have been exploited and oppressed by factory owners, upon reading such reports, they cannot help but empathize and intensify their animosity and hostility towards the factory owners.
At that time, there were hardly any unions in Spain, leaving the workers without an outlet for their grievances, which could only fester in secret.
When such reports appeared in the streets of Madrid, they immediately drew Prime Minister Prim’s attention. Of course, Prime Minister Prim understood who was behind this, as the capitalists certainly weren’t foolish enough to distribute such reports throughout the streets of Madrid.
"A bunch of damned scoundrels! For their own interests, they’ve ignored the country’s well-being." Prime Minister Prim sat in his office, looking grimly at the news reports.
"Perhaps His Majesty is right. These parasites must be eradicated to prevent them from harming Spain’s reforms in the future. The achievements of Spain’s reforms must not be corroded by these parasites." Prime Minister Prim sighed, more admiring of Carlo’s decisions.
A young king, brave enough to risk his life to draw out the enemies, deserves respect.
Confronted with rebellious nobles, Carlo seems adept, making Prime Minister Prim marvel at Carlo’s maturity and his capability to be a remarkable king.
"It seems it’s time to return power to His Majesty the King." Prime Minister Prim looked at the map of Spain hanging on the wall, unable to resist caressing every inch of Spanish territory, as if making a determined decision.
Within Madrid City, workers’ anger had no outlet, eventually turning into gatherings and mutual dissatisfaction discussions.
Pushed by a certain force, small-scale protests quickly erupted. The protests caught the attention of some more workers and soon escalated into larger strikes and demonstrations.
In just half a day, over a third of the factories surrounding Madrid experienced worker strikes, with more than ten thousand workers participating in the protests.
Workers gathered spontaneously, holding up makeshift, rudimentary banners and slogans, marching along the bustling streets of Madrid.
The large-scale protests quickly garnered the attention of the security forces, but the police were powerless. Protests involving tens of thousands of people are beyond the capacity of the police unless a large number of officers can be mobilized.
However, given Madrid’s chaotic situation, the security department lacked the time to deploy enough police; currently, the only entity seeming capable of suppressing such large-scale protests was the military.
