The working class has played an essential part of European countries’ history – through revolutions, wars, and social progress. In four episodes of a spectacular tale, this show reminds us of what our societies owe to the workers’ movements and its struggles.
The story begins in the 18th century, but their fight carries on today. Much of our current democracies’ institutions, cultural attitudes, and values flow from older working class demands: universal suffrage or social solidarity are some of its most telling examples.
Today, all across Asia, Africa and Latin America, millions experience lives similar to the 18th and 19th centuries’ European working class. Those contemporary testimonies and photographs will help us gather the threads of memory between yesterday and today.
This episode focuses on England and Belgium, two pioneers of the industrial revolution. With the beginnings of the "Factory System" comes a new conception of work and time, which the uprooted workers will have to accept. This violent shock triggers a certain class consciousness that will make history.
The revolution should have broken out in England, but it is the French workers who start to fight back. A look back at the emergence of the great insurgencies that shook Europe at the end of the century, leading to the construction of a new image of the working class: that of the disciplined army of modern-day workers.
Europe has industrialized to the point that the war which breaks out in 1914 is also industrialized. This episode immerses the viewer in an unusual time when the laws of the front extend to the factories, and the American methods of rationalization come to make the "good worker" a "good soldier".
A bearer of hope and utopias in troubled times, the working class acquires an exceptional influence in the second half of the 20th century. Today, however, we speak of the disappearance of the working class. How does one explain the apparently inevitable decline of class consciousness?
“Stan Neumann weaves the common thread of a tragic and largely forgotten European epic. Without any condescension, he delivers a fascinating, poignant portrait of those who make our industrial society go round.” —Libération
“This is the sort of history you don’t usually find in schools.” —Oregon Arts Watch
“With historical interest, intense archive footage, a wealth of personal accounts (workers, historians, philosophers, etc.) and integrated animation sequences as informative as they are entertaining, A History of the European Working Class is poised to become a classic. It’s like a passionate political, social and economic history lesson where the facts (struggling working conditions, employer-worker relations) also leave room for emotion.” —Le Monde
“A History of the European Working Class offers an extremely welcome trip into the past we can use to face the labor struggles of the future with a determined, informed eye.” —L’Humanité
“A work of impressive rigor.” —Télérama
“Delivers a dazzling reinterpretation of three hundred years of history. This documentary series reveals just how much our contemporary societies have been molded by the history of workers.” —Lemediaplus.com
“An engaged and essential documentary series.” —L’Usine Nouvelle
“Divided into four parts, A History of the European Working Class is masterful and passionate.” —La Libre.be
“A remarkable documentary TV series... extremely well researched... smart, must-see series more than worth your time.” —FulvueDrive-in.com
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