Male London Factory Worker (Ben Acker)

You there. Yes, you. Move a little closer. Have you come to hear the story of this ragged man, whose life was broken by the Industrial Revolution? Have you come to listen to the ways that its "advances" led to the death of my family, and broken my spirit? They say that this revolution would benefit us all. They told us that our lives would be forever greater because of the things they were doing. All that has become of it is my life is forever worse. Before these horrid advancements, I lived with my family on our farm outside of Cambridge. Back then, we had never heard of "bosses", or "wages". The only things of the sort we knew were that my children would follow what I told them to make our next harvest as plentiful as possible. Next, we would get our "wages" by selling our crops to buyers around the community. This lifestyle left us free and independent, able to do as we pleased when we were able. Then, the enclosures came. Rich landowners, who believed they could boost our profits, collaborated with Parliament to take our lands by law. After this, they were able to unify crop production over multiple fields. Now, what did this mean for small, land-owning farmers like me? We were forced to migrate from the areas we once lived to cities in search of new employment. The conditions were much different there. No longer could we traverse the land as we pleased, only having ourselves to worry about. It was all work, work, work, from sunrise to sunset. My wife was crushed by a water frame in the mill she worked for, and my children were poisoned by the foul air of the coal mines. What exactly do I have left to live for? They told us that this revolution would help us live better lives, and though these changes may have given me more money than growing my own food and products, is it really worth it to be locked up, lost, and alone?