44 THE GREEN RISING 



ness organization on a large scale and the compel- 

 ling motive of profit-sharing on the part of the capi- 

 talist class. These influences produced a cleavage 

 between industrial labor and the capitalist class 

 which gained momentum almost continuously 

 throughout the nineteenth century. H. G. Wells, 

 in describing this movement, says: "Property, so 

 far as it was power, was being gathered together 

 into relatively few hands, the hands of the big rich 

 men, the capitalist class; while there was a great 

 mingling of workers with little or no property . ;./. 

 who were bound to develop a common class con- 

 sciousness of the conflict of their interests with those 

 of rich men." 2 This conflict of interests produced 

 profound effects, but in European countries these 

 influences were not sufficient to disturb greatly the 

 peace of mind of the rural dweller. 



Up to the last quarter of the nineteenth century, 

 the peasant farmer and the industrial laborer did 

 not recognize that they had anything in common. 

 But expropriations and economic handicaps gradu- 

 ally caused these classes to become more fully 

 aware that social injustice, as it applied to them, 

 resulted from similar causes. Socialistic literature 

 increased very rapidly after the middle of the nine- 

 teenth century. The writings of Karl Marx (1818- 

 1883), a part of which were done in the British 

 Museum Library in London, attracted the early 

 attention of the industrial population and gradually 



1 Outline of History (1920), Vol. II, Chap. XXXIX, p. 398. 



