M1 History – Industrial Revolution
Switzerland
Why was Switzerland one of the first countries to
industrialise?
Mechanical Engineering
A second area of industrial innovation came with the
development of machine manufacture. As we saw in a
previous unit, France’s Continental Blockade attempted to
isolate Britain from European trade during the Napoleonic
Wars. In Switzerland, this meant that British industrial
machinery could not be imported. This provided the
incentive for Swiss textile manufactures to begin producing
their own machines. 1805 Escher, Wyss & Co. (Zurich) and
1810 Johann Jacob Rieter & Co. (Winterthur) were amongst
the first engineering companies to establish what became a
rich industrial tradition in the north-east of Switzerland.
The industrial revolution began in the 1760s in Britain, then
spread to the rest of Europe, first affecting northern France and
Belgium, Switzerland, around 1800-1820. On the surface, there
seem to be no obvious reasons why Switzerland should have
been early to industrialise. Unlike the other countries,
Switzerland has no obvious natural advantages. Mountainous
and cut off from the sea, Switzerland does not have easy access
to coal and iron reserves.
But Switzerland does have a geographically central location
close to markets and other industrial centres, access to the
Rhine, rivers to power factories and a culture of political
liberalism, socio-cultural freedom and the Protestant tradition
which had been important to the early develop of capitalism in
the Netherlands and Britain. Towns like Geneva and Basel had
long been renowned for their political and intellectual freedom,
centres of learning and enlightened thinking.
Watchmaking
The industry most associated with Switzerland is
watchmaking and as with textiles, its origins are to be found
in history that predates the industrial revolution. It was the
freedom and religious toleration of Geneva that encouraged
French Protestant (Huguenots) watchmakers to settle there in
the 16th century. By the late 18th century, watch making had
spread north to Neuchâtel. Around 1785 some 20,000 people
worked in the watchmaking industry of Geneva and produced
85,000 watches per year, another 50,000 watches were
produced in the region of Neuchâtel.
In Switzerland, feudal restriction had been lifted to allow free
movement of labour and self-governing urban centres existed
with merchant capitalists ready to invest their money in new
enterprises and technology. And perhaps most importantly,
Switzerland was already an advanced European centre for the
industry that kickstarted the Industrial Revolution: textiles.
Chemical and food industries
Textile industry
Eastern Switzerland had been an important centre for textile
(cloth) production since the end of the middle ages. In St. Gallen
the ‘domestic system’ had been introduced in the 15th century.
There was already a sophisticated division of labour with the
‘putting-out system’ where the work of skilled handloom
weavers was supplied and distributed by a merchant capitalist
class.
The production by machines in Switzerland began in 1801 in St.
Gallen with the import of the latest machines from Great
Britain. In Switzerland, hydraulic power was used instead of
steam-engines because in the mountains and hills there is
relatively easy access to waterpower. As early as 1814 the
machines had replaced textile production by hand completely.
(Below) Fabrique Neuve de Cortaillod in Neuchâtel. Opened in 1752,
in its time it was Switzerland’s most important textile factory.
Employing 700 workers and powered by water, it produced 45,000
cloths a year. It remained in operation until 1854.
The first chemical factory in Switzerland was founded by
Daniel Frey at Aarau in 1804. The industry started to become
important from the 1850s. In 1859 Alexandre Clavel, Louis
Durand and Etienne Marnas came from France to Basel to
produce synthetic colors. From 1884 their company was
known as Chemische Industrie Basel (CIBA). Basel is still
today a world centre for the chemical and pharmaceutical
industry.
Chocolate was produced in Switzerland as early as 1803 by
hand-crafted methods. In 1819 François-Louis Cailler
founded his chocolate factory at Vevey. Advertising by
Philippe Suchard (Neuchâtel 1826) made Swiss Chocolate
known to the world. Daniel Peter (from Vevey) invented milk
chocolate in 1875 and Rodolphe Lindt a new method to make
chocolate melt on the tongue (not a sandy texture) in 1879.
Industrialization created a market for products that could be
prepared and eaten quickly, sometimes even during work at the
factories. Maggi and Knorr were Swiss companies that created
instant soups in cubes or bags. Henri Nestlé invented a food for
babies based on milk, sweeteners and flour in 1866. His factory
at Vevey became in 1905 became one of the first multinational
food industries.
Swiss Labour Legislation
1815 Zurich: first factory act: ban of work of children less
than 10 years old in the factories with penalties for the
employer. It was necessary to verify the age of the child by
a certificate of the church (baptism records). The
maximum duration of work was limited to 12 hours a day,
starting not before 5 a.m. in summer, 6 a.m. in winter.
Railways
The development of the railways in Switzerland was relatively
late. In the 1840s, individual cantons still imposed tariffs and
tolls on people and goods that crossed their frontiers. The new
federal constitution of 1848 enabled the planning and financing
of railways and soon after there was rapid expansion with more
than 1000km of line built in a 10-year period. By the time the
federal government took over (nationalised) the railways in
1898, Switzerland had one of the densest railway networks in the
world.
Socio-economic consequences
The absence of raw materials meant that Swiss industry did not
concentrate in coal basins. There were no big industrial cities as
Swiss industries tended to disperse along rivers supplying
waterpower (ribbon development). Low wages and a less
protected workforce helped Swiss manufacture to continue to
compete effectively with the technologically advanced industry
of Britain. For a long time, Swiss workers remained much less
paid than in England and laws to protect workers were slower to
be enacted. (See table opposite) But the living conditions for
workers were relatively better, and prices and rents in
Switzerland were still much lower than in England.
Poor wages and child labour were two of the common features
of the Swiss industrial revolution. It wasn’t until 1877 that
federal laws were implemented to outlaw the employment of
children (under 14 years of age.) As in Britain, employers were
under no obligation to provide healthy housing or safe working
conditions. On average, a factory worker had a life expectancy
of 35 years, while wealthier citizens could live up to 55 years.
The response of the working class
The development of trade unions and political parties was a
gradual process and as in Britain it was opposed by employers
who feared a loss of their competitivity.
1815 Thurgau: act on the restriction of work of the
children.
1842 Aargau: the parliament decided not to limit the hours
of work of children.
(Above) The Swiss ‘Luddites’ of Uster destroy the factory in 1832.
Also, as in Britain, the first responses of the working classes to
the industrial revolution could be violent and targeted the
machinery that threatened their jobs. The most famous incident
took place in Uster, near Zurich in 1832. As in the north of
industrial England, qualified handloom weavers saw their newly
installed machinery forcing down the level of their wages. The
coordinated attack on the Corrodi & Pfister spinning mill
resulted in the destruction of the factory, 75 arrests and sentences
of up to 24 years in prison with hard labour for the organisers.
Although the first trade unions appeared as early in 1838, it was
not until the 1870s with the foundation of l'Union syndicale
suisse (USS) that real improvements in the conditions of work
were achieved. The 1877 Factory Act restricted the length of the
working day throughout Switzerland and safety measures were
compulsorily introduced in the most dangerous industries.
Workers wages increased four-fold in the second half of the 19th
century, although health insurance to cover accidents at work
was not introduced until 1912 and even then, it was not
compulsory.
Perhaps the key development in the history of the Swiss working
class was the foundation of the Social Democratic Party on 21
October 1888. The SP was a socialist party committed to
winning political power as a means of improving the lives of
workers. But as in Britain, it wasn’t until after the first world war
that the SP became a serious political force.
1846 Glarus: Legislation of the hours of work (15 hours
for adults, 14 hours for children of less than 14 years).
1864 Glarus: reduction of the length of the work to 12
hours, ban of night work (8 p.m. to 5 a.m.) and work of
children under 12 years, vacation of convalescence of 6
weeks after the birth of a child.
1877 Federal legislation on work: maximum of 11 hours a
day, restrictions of night work and work on Sundays,
measures to prevent occupational diseases and accidents,
ban of children's work (under 14 years)
Activities
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3.
Explain why despite lacking natural advantages,
Switzerland was one of the first countries in the
world to industrialize.
Draw a revision diagram of the main industries
of the Swiss industrial revolution.
Compare and contrast the impact of the industrial
revolution in Switzerland with that of Britain.
What were the main similarities and differences?
RJ-N 011119