Análisis FODA

As soon as Owen became a manager and Later Co-owner of Cotton Mills in New Lanark and other places, he commenced a series of activities almost at opposite to the other industrialists. These activities include the following:

3.2.1 Abolishing Child Labour

In our preceding Unit 2, we said that children were working in factories as a way to augment the paltry wages that their parents were earning.

This means that the same poor working environment that the adult workers were experiencing was the same condition that the children were exposed to. Possibly, Owen drew his sympathy from his earlier work experience as we noted earlier that by the age of 10, he was already earning a living. But at that age for a child. The mind is still tender to face the test and trial of adult life. His action of terminating child labour is not surprising.

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Establishing Schools

Owen did not just abolish child labour and left the children on their own.

He realised that if this should be the case, more damage would be done and there could be a reversal to his action and disaster to the children.

An idle mind is a devil’s workshop. To close the vacuum, he established schools. To these schools, he sent the children to be trained and educated in preparation to more constructive roles they could play on becoming adults.

Owen’s education activities where not limited to children. Adults were persuaded and enrolled in the schools. This is to sharpen their intellect and build their capacity to learn new skills and be able to evaluate issues and to take constructive and decisive actions in the colonies that he established.

Establish Co-operative Colonies

Owen’s followers were put in colonies. In these colonies, Owen’s idea was to make them self sufficient. That is, his conception was that as much as possible,his followers would have little or no dependence on the outside world. They moved to plan the system of production and distribution of wealth. Every member was to take part except the children who would be in school.

His Colonies were not established in Great Britain alone but also in other places. He exported his ideas hoping to help humanity in general to achieve the Utopian state he conceived. Consequent on this, he established Colonies which he later termed “Labour Commune” such as New Harmony, Indiana in the United States of America.

Owen was resourceful. All these projects that he had been conceiving, developing and implementing needed money. He knew that help would not come from the Government whom we noted earlier believed in “Free Enterprises” or Laissez Fair. The funds were unlikely to come from peasants and artisans with the poor standard of living as we noted earlier. As a result he channeled his energy to source part of the funds from the wealthy. The strategy was to built places of relaxation where individuals particularly the wealthy could come to meditate and reflect from the turmoil and turbulence of the outside world. To achieve this end in view, he put in place what he styled “Harmony Halls especially in Great Britain.

19 Establishing Consumer Shops

Owen established consumer shops to sell the basic necessities required by members of his community. In the shops were sold goods of pure quality that sustained health unlike the adulterated goods being sold outside the Community. Again these goods were sold at affordable prices as opposed to the ones sold outside at high prices.

Owen Political Activities

The potentials of Owen as a copious writer and eloquent speaker were well explored in his political activities.

The first thing he did was to pass his unique ideas in a series of lectures, publications and publicity.

In his book “New view of society” and numerous other articles centered on his socialist system as a basis of his Utopian State. The schemes which he initiated and incorporated in his colonies were widely published as he sought diligently for similar programmes to be introduced into other factories. His efforts paid off as the Factory Act was passed in 1819 which sought to ameliorate some of the harsh conditions of the factory workers.

Further, his intellectual process was brought to bear in the political activities of the Co-operative Party in Britain. The major aim of the party was to seek some form of political power that would make government to have a favourable disposition to co-operative organisations. Such disposition was sought especially in the area of passing favourable Laws that will provide the enabling environment for a co-operative to flourish.

Building Houses and Constructing Streets

Robert Owen, in attempt to give members of his colonies decent life, decided to build houses for the earlier harassed workers who were put in ramshakled hostels with no ventilation or adequate convenience.

He further constructed roads linking the various areas and portion of the settlement. He generally made the settlement to be attractive and well liked by all and sundry. New life was breathed into the settlement making the inhabitants to radiate the aura of vim and vigour.

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Reduction of Worker’s Working Hours

The projects that the workers were working, were carried out with a reduction of hours of work. Hours of work were reduced from the twelve hours that other industrialists were exerting to something less and. excluded weekends from work days. This was necessary so that workers could rest and be adequately prepared for tasks ahead in the succeeding week.

We have pointed out that Owen built houses, established schools and built streets linking the houses, he went further. He fed the inhabitants especially during the peak period of work.