Robert Owen
Uploaded by Slickest Nicca on Sep 20, 2006
Robert Owen grew up poor but his intelligence brought him riches and made an impact on the industry of England. Owen’s strong thinking and honest behavior helped him make something in his life and gave the world many new and impressive ideas.
Having such intelligence helped him make one of the few successful Utopian societies, New Lanark. Building the once neglected and filthy village into a half-decent place seemed impossible. But Owen was not overwhelmed, in just one decade he made New Lanark into the guide for a Utopian society.
Owen’s major accomplishment was New Lanark. All the theories he had concocted were tested here. For example, the idea to have your workers happy so you’re work is done smoother. These ideas ties in with the idea that no one should be punished, except for the drunks and such. Also, only children over the age of ten could work and furthermore they worked only ten hour days. Other great theories pertained to children. There was a schoolhouse where they learned grammar, and played and sang. The young women who taught them were told to answer all the questions the children asked, and that no child was to be physically punished and that children would learn more from example than chastise. These ideas seem to be used in schools in this country.
Many corporate ideas that were used had an impact on the working class of England. The ideas of producers’ cooperative and consumers’ cooperative seemed most effective. As a result, the Rochdale Pioneers grew to be the great sources of strength of the Labor Party in Great Britain. With great success come a few flops as well. One such flop was New Harmony in America. Many things lead to the flop. There was no planning, no precautions against fraud, and rival communities. Another project the world did not take was the Grand National Moral Union. Local unions could not control their members and local strikes weakened the total union.
Robert Owen has made an impact that is visible to anyone. In the nations in which young children are not in factories, where there are public schools for all, in which poverty and vice are lessened, in which the average work day is eight hours. His ideas have had the most impact on working class and Unions more than any other person.
There is hardly a labor reform Owen’s original theories are not used