The Rhine River flows across Germany, Austria and continues to stretch as far as The Balkans. More importantly this river has been involved with the political aspects of Germany since the 1800s. During the 1848- 1849 time frame the Rhine river has been a political melting pot between the democratic movement and the revolution of 1848-1849. Jonathan Sperber discusses in his article, "Rhineland Radicals: The democratic movement and the revolution of 1848-1849", how the social conflicts within the Rhineland are contributed by the political aspects during 1848-1849. Jonathan Sperber mentions several examples of three types of social conflicts reflected in the Rhineland which are market (economy), state power and religious conflicts. The social distress of the market caused many conflicts amongst the people in Rhineland during Vormärz. The Vormärz is the time period of rallying and questioning leading up to the revolution in 1848. The people of Germany did not have steady work and were questioning political intents for the markets. Jonathan Sperber writes about specific social conflicts within the market revolving around manufacturers. "Conflict centered around the terms of access to the market at a time when market-oriented production was on the increase. Found on the crafts and agriculture, such conflicts were most common in manufacturing outworking", this quote found in Jonathan Sperber's article explains how conflict in the market is a head to head battle between manufacturers and outworkers. One example of conflict is the issue of paying higher wages to the outworkers in the market. Jonathan Sperber discusses how manufacturers would rather be involved with "manufacturing tribunals" than pay higher wages. He states in his article, "The tribunals were a form of industrial mediation, designed to avoid the expense and delay of the civil courts, using lay judges empowered to resolve disputes and enforce their decisions by imposing small fines and handing out jail sentences of up to three days", which illustrates support to how manufacturers would rather be involved with the tribunals than pay the higher wages. This major conflict between manufacturers and outworkers in the market caused many social problems within the Rhineland.
*I finished this post but when I tried to publish it, I had been logged out and lost the other half.*
I appreciate your efforts to bring out Sperber's connection between political and economic issues in the Rhineland (ie how he tries to show that changing economic conditions and the state's reaction to those conditions influenced people's perception of the state). Don't be afraid to put your own opinions in the post-- part of the goal of the assignment is to get to see what you guys think.
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