From radicalism ...to reforms....

Owen believed that people were a product of their environment, which for most industrial labourers was dire. Conditions in early factories were extremely harsh and often hazardous; 13-hour days, six days a week were not uncommon; and children worked under the same conditions as adults. Owen also argued that it was the duty of manufacturers like him to improve this environment. To put this principle to the test, Owen turned New Lanark into a grand social experiment, enlarging factories to improve working conditions; reducing working hours; and building new cottages, schools, parks and other amenities for his workers. Owen’s factory complex also included one of the first adult night schools to be created. The Morality of Owenism While Owen was a paternalistic employer, he was still a businessman looking to make a profit. It was from these profits that all the improvements he advocated were to be funded. To achieve this, he sought increased productivity from a workforce already working extremely hard. For example, Owen introduced the Silent Monitor system whereby superintendents rated the work of their subordinates and displayed the result, signified by the coloured face of a block of wood, for others to see. Such measures, and his efforts to improve the morals of his labourers, earned him some critics.