Better to Share the Joy

Looking at the freshly issued Labor Protection Act, Franz smiled with satisfaction. He knew that from now on, the nobles and the bourgeoisie would no longer be able to reconcile.

They had even proposed an eight-hour workday. That was enough to show just how badly the nobles had angered the capitalists—they had gone straight for the root of the problem.

From this day forward, Austria's working class and bourgeoisie would go their separate ways. The government had already given the workers what they wanted through legislation. The only obstacle left was the capitalists.

At a time like this, would the bourgeoisie still dare to seize power by exploiting the workers' movement?

Clearly not. The enemy of the workers' movement was no longer the government, but the bourgeoisie.

For a long time to come, the capitalists would have to struggle against the working class, until one side gave way.

"Tyrone, spread the contents of our Labor Protection Act as quickly as possible. And remember to send a copy to the labor unions in Paris!" Franz ordered.

These were the best of times, and the worst of times. In 1847, there was only one industrialized country in the world: Great Britain.

The rest of Europe's great powers were still trying to catch up. France's Industrial Revolution was underway, but would not be completed until the 1860s.

The Industrial Revolution in Germany had only just begun. Whether in Prussia or Austria, everyone was still at the starting line.

Would raising labor costs make products less competitive?

That was hardly a problem. Austria's biggest issue was its lack of a market. Workers and peasants alike were all dirt poor—what could they use to buy goods?

Before a market had been cultivated, who would buy the products once they were made?

Export them?

It wasn't that Franz looked down on Austrian industry. In this era, the British made the best industrial goods, while Austria's main product was still grain.

So they might as well focus on cultivating a market first, then gradually develop their industry.

Still, it was better to share the joy than to keep it to oneself. As such a selfless man, Franz would surely think of the people of the world. Everyone had a hard enough life as it was. Their circumstances urgently needed to improve, didn't they?

He believed the people of France were steadfast in their revolutionary convictions and would surely get the job done. Only by improving the working class's living conditions could the world become a better place.

Franz had no idea that, in future history books, the Austrian Government's proposal of an eight-hour workday would be named the fuse that lit Europe's great revolution.

The March Revolution of Vienna, which historians had originally praised so highly, would, under the influence of his butterfly effect, become a bourgeois conspiracy and rebellion against the government's Labor Protection Act.

That was the verdict Franz himself would pass. When it came to striking at his enemies, he had never been one to hold back.

The future could wait. Vienna was already seething. The newspapers had printed the Labor Protection Act in full as quickly as they could.

Countless writers and intellectuals were hard at work writing about it, some singing its praises and others condemning it. In short, everyone was fired up.

The Reform Party began to split. One faction celebrated, convinced that Austria's reforms had finally achieved a significant milestone. Many optimistically predicted that the government would deepen its reforms soon after the Labor Protection Act.

The other faction was the capitalist interest group. They denounced the government in the harshest terms for destroying the free system, arguing that in a free country such matters should be left to the market.

The two factions fought bitterly over the issue. Unwilling to accept their losses, the capitalists had already begun plotting in secret. Currents of unrest spread from Vienna throughout Austria.

At first, Vienna's workers hardly dared to believe it. Then came shock. Once the news was confirmed, they began to celebrate, as if bidding farewell to their days of hardship.

Paris

As the cradle of Europe's revolutionary movement, Paris had always been home to the most revolutionary people. The moment news arrived that the Austrian Government had passed the Labor Protection Act, it caused an uproar.

Even the notoriously conservative Austrian Government knew to legislate in order to protect the working class's interests, while the July Monarchy still had not. Such an evil government had to be overthrown.

Of course, a revolt could never be thrown together overnight. The Paris labor unions, seasoned in struggle, immediately held heated discussions.

Seeing that the Austrian Government had proactively legislated to protect workers' rights and even proposed the advanced model of an eight-hour workday, many people began to hope that the Paris Government might follow suit.

What if the gentlemen in the Paris Government suddenly saw reason? Their demands were modest: all they wanted was for it to copy Austria's Labor Protection Act.

Starting in late 1847, Paris was swept by a historically momentous strike movement. In pursuit of their rights, hundreds of thousands of Parisian workers took to the streets to march and demonstrate.

Soon, this meaningful movement spread from Paris across France, then spread like a virus throughout the European Continent. Strikes broke out in nearly every European city.

The "eight-hour workday" had become a banner for the workers' movement of the age. As the first government to enact labor protection legislation, Austria's image in the eyes of the outside world changed considerably.

Ever since Robert Owen of the United Kingdom proposed the "eight-hour workday" in 1817, this was the first time in the world that a government had introduced it through legislation. The impact far exceeded anything the Austrian Government had imagined.

Chancellor Metternich, long criticized by the outside world as a conservative, once again became the leader of the Reform Party. The Austrian people gave his latest reform high praise.

Yet this was not what Chancellor Metternich wanted. On the surface, he had emerged as the winner of the government struggle: he had thwarted his rivals' plot, taken reform a step further, and earned the people's support.

In reality, Chancellor Metternich had his hands tied. Under pressure from the nobility, he had enacted the Labor Protection Act, and in doing so made a sworn enemy of the bourgeoisie.

Were capitalists easy to provoke?

No doubt everyone knew the answer.

The speed of their retaliation still caught many by surprise.

On November 24, 1847, the third day after the Labor Protection Act was introduced, the capitalists organized a general shutdown. Ninety percent of Vienna's factories and shops closed for the day.

The bourgeoisie also submitted a petition to the king, demanding the repeal of the Labor Protection Act and the dismissal of Metternich's cabinet.

Trouble had come for the Austrian Government. The bourgeoisie were stronger than everyone had imagined, and even some foolish nobles had been swayed by the capitalists and joined the shutdown.

The moment of truth had arrived for Chancellor Metternich. If he could not resolve the issue, Vienna would soon descend into chaos.