53-658: The Transitional Program , originally titled The Death Agony of Capitalism and the Tasks of the Fourth International and later reprinted under the title, The Transitional Program and the Struggle for Socialism , is a political platform adopted by the 1938 founding congress of the Fourth International , the international Leninist organization founded by Leon Trotsky . It is an example of
106-417: A transitional programme . The "transitional" idea of this program, roughly, is the following. The working class is not acquainted with the necessity of embracing the revolutionary ideas of the Fourth International due to "the confusion and disappointment of the older generation, the inexperience of the younger generation". Hence It is necessary to help the masses in the process of the daily struggle to find
159-465: A decree "Provisional Regulations for factories" as early as in 1923, stating "Child-laborers shall not work more than 8 hours per day and shall have 3 days of rest per week; while adult laborers shall not work more than 10 hours per day and shall have 2 days of rest per week." After the successful Northern Expedition , the new Nanking government established the Bureau of Labor in 1928, followed by issuing
212-684: A vast wave of strikes occurred in 1919, supported by the National Workers' Union, the biggest labour union organisation at the time. The workers achieved important objectives, including the historic victory of an eight-hour day. In the Soviet Union , the eight-hour day was introduced four days after the October Revolution , by a Decree of the Soviet government in 1917 and later in 1928 and 1940–1957 ( World War II ). In
265-573: Is also attended to ensure their health and conservation. — Recopilación de leyes de los reinos de las indias. Mandadas a Imprimir y Publicar por la majestad católica del rey Don Carlos II, nuestro señor. Libro Tercero. An exception was applied to mine workers, whose work day was limited to seven hours. These working conditions were also applied to natives in the Spanish America , who also kept their own legislation organized in "Indian republics" where they elected their own mayors. In
318-461: Is starting the new 8-hour work schedule immediately. The workers were elated. The union representative Liu Dongjiang (Chinese: 劉東江 ) stated "Under the spirit of cooperation, laborers and factory owners work together to advance the business, and in turn to contribute to our nation's development." A celebration was held on the same day in the courtyard of the factory. The new schedule was called "3–8 schedule". The first shift worked 6 am – 2 pm;
371-478: The 1835 Philadelphia general strike , the first general strike in North America, led by Irish coal heavers. Their banners read, From 6 to 6, ten hours work and two hours for meals. Labor movement publications called for an eight-hour day as early as 1836. Boston ship carpenters, although not unionized, achieved an eight-hour day in 1842. In 1864, the eight-hour day quickly became a central demand of
424-528: The 40-hour week movement or the short-time movement ) was a social movement to regulate the length of a working day , preventing excesses and abuses of working time . The modern movement originated in the Industrial Revolution in Britain, where industrial production in large factories transformed working life. At that time, the working day could range from 10 to 16 hours, the work week
477-529: The Chicago labor movement. The Illinois General Assembly passed a law in early 1867 granting an eight-hour day but it had so many loopholes that it was largely ineffective. A citywide strike that began on 1 May 1867 shut down the city's economy for a week before collapsing. In August 1866, the National Labor Union at Baltimore passed a resolution that said, "The first and great necessity of
530-611: The Constitution of 1917 , which contained Article 123 that gave workers the right to organise labour unions and to strike. It also provided protection for women and children, the eight-hour day, and a living wage. See Mexican labor law . In the United States, Philadelphia carpenters went on strike in 1791 for the ten-hour day. By the 1830s, this had become a general demand. In 1835, workers in Philadelphia organised
583-520: The "Factory Law" in 1929 to set legal framework for the eight-hour working day. Yet, no business actually implemented this until 1930 by Baocheng Cotton Mill. The eight-hour work day was introduced in Belgium on 9 September 1924. The eight-hour work day was introduced by law in Denmark on 17 May 1919, after a year-long campaign by workers. As a result of large-scale demonstrations and strikes in
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#1732782476208636-433: The "very basis of the bourgeois regime." Demands such as higher wages are not impossible demands in themselves, Trotsky argues, but capitalism in crisis demands lower wages in the hope of increasing profitability. Transitional demands therefore do not draw back in the face of the contingencies of capitalist economics, but on the contrary, it is proposed, they continually challenge the logic of the capitalist system, expose it in
689-459: The 2nd shift 2 pm – 10 pm; the 3rd shift 10 pm – 6 am. Manager Wu Jingyi reasoned: "All of the factories now have a 12-hour work schedule. Workers are all exhausted and do not have time to take care of their families. In case of workers getting sick, the business also suffers. Therefore we decided to start trying the eight-hour working day". The Beiyang government in Beijing had issued
742-726: The 48 hour limit. A general 8 hour limit to the working day has never been achieved in the UK. By the end of the 20th century, many people considered themselves to be "money-rich, time-poor". The labour movement in Canada tracked progress in the US and UK. In 1890, the Federation of Labour took up this issue, hoping to organise participation in May Day . In the 1960s, Canada adopted the 40-hour work week. The Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920 produced
795-767: The Program was seen as a document of the FI. However, Trotskyist currents that have departed the Fourth International tend to present the Program as a work authored by Trotsky individually. Political platform Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.236 via cp1112 cp1112, Varnish XID 943924528 Upstream caches: cp1112 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 08:27:56 GMT 8 hour day The eight-hour day movement (also known as
848-800: The action were felt nationwide and inspired further industrial action at the Kawasaki and Mitsubishi shipyards in 1921. The eight-hour day did not become law in Japan until the passing of the Labor Standards Act in April 1947. Article 32 (1) of the Act specifies a 40-hour week and paragraph (2) specifies an eight-hour day, excluding rest periods. In Indonesia , the first policy regarding working time regulated in Law No. 13 of 2003 about employment. In
901-451: The basis of a successful vote to strike and mass meetings preparatory to the strike. The owners of the gas industry had to move from a two shift system to a three shift system, no doubt at great expense, and the increase in employment of thousands of men was a part of the motivation for Thorne's stubborn insistence in striking for a reduction of hours without loss of pay, rather than wages. Trotsky urges that transitional demands should include
954-475: The bridge between present demand and the socialist program of the revolution. This bridge should include a system of transitional demands, stemming from today’s conditions and from today’s consciousness of wide layers of the working class and unalterably leading to one final conclusion: the conquest of power by the proletariat. Classical Social Democracy, functioning in an epoch of progressive capitalism, divided its program into two parts independent of each other:
1007-403: The call for the expropriation of various groups of capitalists - sometimes translated in modern terms into the nationalisation of various sectors - under the control and management of the workers. Transitional demands should include opposition to imperialist war. Such demands intend to challenge the capitalist class's right to rule. In the transitional program, Trotsky also reiterated the need for
1060-522: The early 19th century, Robert Owen raised the demand for a ten-hour day in 1810, and instituted it in his "socialist" enterprise at New Lanark . By 1817, he had formulated the goal of the eight-hour day and coined the slogan: "Eight hours' labour, Eight hours' recreation, Eight hours' rest". Women and children in England were granted the ten-hour day via the Factories Act 1847 . French workers won
1113-464: The early and mid twentieth century for the condition to be widely achieved through the industrialised world through legislative action. The International Workingmen's Association took up the demand for an eight-hour day at its Congress in Geneva in 1866, declaring "The legal limitation of the working day is a preliminary condition without which all further attempts at improvements and emancipation of
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#17327824762081166-553: The early history for the celebration of May Day , and Labour Day in some countries. Tata Steel was among the first Indian companies to provide various labour welfare benefits, such as eight-hour workdays since 1912, free medical care since 1915, school facilities for the children of employees since 1917, paid time off since 1920, formation of a provident fund and accident compensation in 1920, vocational training since 1921, maternity benefits since 1928, profit sharing bonuses since 1934, and retiring gratuity since 1937 In Iran in 1918,
1219-543: The eight-hour day as a key goal. The British Fabian socialist economist Sidney Webb and the scholar Harold Cox co-wrote a book supporting the "Eight Hours Movement" in Britain. The first group of Workers to achieve the 8-hour day were the Beckton [ East London ] Gas workers after the strike under the leadership of Will Thorne , a member of the Social Democratic Federation. The strike action
1272-506: The eyes of the workers, and thus help them draw towards a fully rounded out socialist consciousness - an acceptance and adoption of the "maximum programme" which the socialist leaders kept for their holiday speechifying, as an immediate and realistic necessity. By fighting for these "transitional" demands, in the opinion of the Trotskyists, the workers will come to realize that capitalism cannot meet their needs, and they will then embrace
1325-479: The fact that the "epoch of progressive capitalism" had ended in the prior period. This meant that "every serious demand of the proletariat" reached beyond the limits of what the capitalist and the bourgeois state were prepared to willingly give. The old "minimum" demands had been raised by reformists on the understanding that they were acceptable to an expanding capitalism, and had been dropped when they were not. The Fourth International, Trotsky writes, does not discard
1378-468: The first country in the world to introduce a universal law effective on all type of works, restricting the workday to a maximum of eight hours: "Real decreto de 3 de abril de 1919", signed by the prime minister, Álvaro de Figueroa, 1st Count of Romanones . Average work hours per week for manufacturing employees in Sweden was 64 hours in 1885, 60 hours in 1905, and 55 hours in 1919. The eight-hour work day
1431-555: The first two extra hours, and 200% salary if the work day exceeds 10 hours. The eight-hour day was enacted in France by Georges Clemenceau , as a way to avoid unemployment and diminish communist support. It was succeeded by a strong French support of it during the writing of the International Labour Organization Convention of 1919. The first German company to introduce the eight-hour day
1484-487: The full program of the Fourth International. In the face of high unemployment and high prices (meaning, in particular, inflation) the Transitional Programme raises slogans such as a "sliding scale of wages". This means demanding a contract with the employers which ensures that if prices go up then wages (or salaries) go up by the same extent, i.e. that wages are permanently "inflation proofed". This demand
1537-657: The governor of Kerman , Sistan and Balochistan , which controlled the working conditions and working hours for workers of carpet workshops in the province. In 1946, the council of ministers issued the first labor law for Iran, which recognized the eight-hour day. Theodor Herzl 's The Jewish State proposed a 7-hour day for the Jewish Company that would implement the initial stages of the Jewish homeland . The first company to introduce an eight-hour working day in Japan
1590-641: The late 1920s. In Hungary , the eight-hour work day was introduced on 14 April 1919 by decree of the Revolutionary Governing Council . The eight-hour work day was introduced by law in Italy on 17 April 1925. The Factory Act of 1915 introduced a 10-hour workday. In Poland , the eight-hour day was introduced 23 November 1918 by decree of the cabinet of the Prime Minister Jędrzej Moraczewski . In Portugal
1643-579: The late 19th and early 20th century, the former Czechoslovakia , now Czechia and Slovakia , introduced the eight-hour workday on 19 December 1918. The eight-hour work day was established in Finland in 1917 as a result of the November general strike. According to the law accepted in late 1917, maximum work day was 8 hours and maximum work week 47 hours. Five-day work week was established gradually between 1966 and 1970. A worker receives 150% payment from
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1696-484: The law, it stated that a worker should work for 7 hours a day for 6 days a week or 8 hours a day for 5 days a week, excluding rest periods. In China , the first company to introduce the eight-hour working day was the Baocheng Cotton Mill in the port city of Tianjin (Chinese: 天津市寶成紗廠 ). Its manager Wu Jingyi (Chinese: 吳鏡儀 ) announced on 16 February 1930 through Ta Kung Pao that his factory
1749-652: The legalization of the Soviet parties and worker's control of production . The program was formally proposed to the Congress by the National Committee of the Socialist Workers Party (US) . The program was developed through discussions between Leon Trotsky, who did much of the drafting of the document, and leaders of the SWP such as James P. Cannon . Those involved were at pains to ensure that
1802-405: The minimum program which limited itself to reforms within the framework of bourgeois society, and the maximum program which promised substitution of socialism for capitalism in the indefinite future. Between the minimum and the maximum program no bridge existed. And indeed Social Democracy has no need of such a bridge, since the word socialism is used only for holiday speechifying. The problem lay in
1855-694: The modern GMB union. Working hours in the UK are currently not limited by day, but by week, as first set by the Working Time Regulations 1998 , which introduced a limit of 40 hours per week for workers under 18, and 48 hours per week for over 18s. This was in line with the European Commission Working Time Directive of 1993. UK regulations now follow the EC Working Time Directive of 2003 , but workers can voluntarily opt out of
1908-412: The newly organised union staged a 14-day strike and succeeded in reaching a collective agreement with employers to institute the eight-hours day, overtime pay, and medical care. The success of the printers' union encouraged other trades to organize. In 1919 the bakers and textile-shop clerks formed their own trade unions. However the eight-hour day only became code by a limited governor's decree on 1923 by
1961-424: The premature exhaustion and death of this labour power itself." On 17 November 1915, Uruguay adopted an eight-hour working day, under the government of José Batlle y Ordóñez . Nevertheless, the law was not effective on all type of works. On 3 April 1919, Spain introduced a universal law effective on all type of works, restricting the workday to a maximum of eight hours. The "Real decreto de 3 de abril de 1919"
2014-415: The program of the old “minimal” demands "to the degree to which these have preserved at least part of their vital forcefulness." Trotskyists should indefatigably defend "the democratic rights and social conquests of the workers". But in addition, transitional demands include the call for "employment and decent living conditions for all" and reach beyond what the capitalists will willingly give, challenging
2067-627: The region of Alcoy , a workers strike in 1873 for the eight-hour day followed much agitation from the anarchists . In 1919 in Barcelona , after a 44-day general strike with over 100,000 participants had effectively crippled the Catalan economy, the Government settled the strike by granting all the striking workers demands that included an eight-hour day, union recognition, and the rehiring of fired workers. Therefore, Spain became on 3 April 1919
2120-476: The same as it was under the old working week. This demand also has its historical precedents. For instance, in the period of "new unionism" in UK working class history in 1889, and despite the often desperate conditions of working-class people of the time, Will Thorne, leader of the gas workers in the East End of London, and one time follower of Marxist ideas, won a reduction of hours from 12 hours to 8 hours , on
2173-443: The time is ripe to advance along with the slogan of public works, the slogan of a sliding scale of working hours. Trade unions and other mass organizations should bind the workers and the unemployed together in the solidarity of mutual responsibility. On this basis all the work on hand would then be divided among all existing workers in accordance with how the extent of the working week is defined. The average wage of every worker remains
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2226-622: The twelve-hour day after the February Revolution of 1848 . A shorter working day and improved working conditions were part of the general protests and agitation for Chartist reforms and the early organisation of trade unions. There were initial successes in achieving an eight-hour day in New Zealand and by the Australian labour movement for skilled workers in the 1840s and 1850s, though most employed people had to wait to
2279-646: The work day for children in factories. Those aged 9–13 could work only eight hours, 14–18 twelve hours. Children under 9 were required to attend school. In 1884, Tom Mann joined the Social Democratic Federation (SDF) and published a pamphlet calling for the working day to be limited to eight hours. Mann formed an organisation, the Eight Hour League, which successfully pressured the Trades Union Congress to adopt
2332-588: The work of reorganizing the trade unions began in earnest in Tehran during the closure of the Iranian constitutional parliament Majles . The printers' union, established in 1906 by Mohammad Parvaneh as the first trade union, in the Koucheki print shop on Nasserieh Avenue in Tehran , reorganized their union under leadership of Russian-educated Seyed Mohammad Dehgan, a newspaper editor and an avowed Communist. In 1918,
2385-417: The workers work eight hours a day distributed as appropriate. All the workers will work eight hours a day, four in the morning, and four in the afternoon in fortifications and factories, which [The hours] are to be made, distributed at the most convenient times to get rid of the rigor of the sun, [and] more or less what seems to [be right to] the engineers, so that not missing a point of the possible [work], it
2438-504: The working class must prove abortive", and "The Congress proposes eight hours as the legal limit of the working day." Karl Marx saw it as of vital importance to the workers' health, writing in Das Kapital (1867): "By extending the working day, therefore, capitalist production...not only produces a deterioration of human labour power by robbing it of its normal moral and physical conditions of development and activity, but also produces
2491-596: Was Degussa in 1884. The eight-hour day for industrial workers was signed into law during the German Revolution of 1918 by the new Social Democratic government. The eight-hour day was a concession to the workers' and soldiers' soviets , and was unpopular among industrialists. A 12-hour day was reintroduced by a right-wing government during the occupation of the Ruhr and subsequent hyperinflation crisis in 1923. The Labour Ministry eventually shortened wages in
2544-501: Was initiated on 31 March 1889 after the introduction of compulsory 18-hour shifts, up from the previous 12 hours. Under the slogan of "shorten our hours to prolong our lives" the strike spread to other gas works. He petitioned the bosses and after a strike of some weeks, the bosses capitulated and three shifts of 8 hours replaced two shifts of 12 hours. Will Thorne founded the Gas Workers and General Labourers Union , which evolved into
2597-536: Was introduced into law in Sweden on 4 August 1919, going into effect on 1 January 1920. At the time, the work week was 48-hour since Saturday was a workday. The year before, 1918, the builders’ union had pushed through a 51-hour work week. The Social Democratic Party was the main driver behind the eight-hour workday. Once full male suffrage was implemented in Sweden, the parliament passed legislation to introduce an eight-hour workday. The Factory Act of 1833 limited
2650-794: Was signed by the prime minister, Álvaro de Figueroa, 1st Count of Romanones . The first international treaty to mention it was the Treaty of Versailles in the annex of its thirteenth part establishing the International Labour Office, now the International Labour Organization . The eight-hour day was the first topic discussed by the International Labour Organization which resulted in the Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 ratified by 52 countries as of 2016. The eight-hour day movement forms part of
2703-755: Was the Kawasaki Dockyards in Kobe (now the Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation ). An eight-hour day was one of the demands presented by the workers during pay negotiations in September 1919. After the company resisted the demands, a slowdown campaign was commenced by the workers on 18 September. After ten days of industrial action, company president Kōjirō Matsukata agreed to the eight-hour day and wage increases on 27 September, which became effective from October. The effects of
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#17327824762082756-1012: Was typically six days, and child labour was common. In 1919, Spain became the first country to introduce the eight-hour work day by law for factory and fortification workers. It was first established for non-agricultural workers by Uruguay in 1915. In 1594, Philip II of Spain established an eight-hour work day for the construction workers in the American Viceroyalties by a royal edict known as Ordenanzas de Felipe II , or Ordinances of Philip II. This established: Ley VI Que los obreros trabajen 8 horas al día repartidas como convenga. Todos los obreros trabajaran ocho horas al día, cuatro á la mañana, y cuatro á la tarde en fortificaciones y fábricas, que se hicieren, repartidas á los tiempos más convenientes para librarse del rigor del sol, más o menos lo que á los ingenieros pareciere, de forma que no faltando un punto de lo posible, también se atienda à procurar su salud y conservación. Law VI That
2809-547: Was won by the Italian workers in 1945-46 (the scala mobile ), who fought to keep it until it was given up in the early 1990s. Alongside "public works" - meaning a programme of creating public amenities (health care, housing, education etc.) - a reduction in hours is also proposed for those in work, without loss of pay, so that unemployment will be reduced as more workers will have to be taken on to maintain production: Against unemployment, “structural” as well as “conjunctural,”
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