Silesian Weavers’ Uprising in Germany

Armed uprising of the Silesian weavers in Germany in 1844. It is another early workers’ movement following the Lyon workers’ (Canut) uprisings in France. Silesia was the center of the German textile industry. In the early 1840s, German entrepreneurs drastically reduced workers’ wages in order to compete with commodities produced by modern machinery in England, which made the lives of German workers extremely miserable. On June 4, 1844, the weavers demanded an increase in wages, the factory owners not only refused, but also called in the police to suppress the workers, the workers destroyed the factory and the owner's house, destroyed the factory's bills and books, and used axes and stones to fight with the troops who suppressed the uprising, after two days of fighting, the workers' uprising was finally suppressed. Although the uprising was defeated, it had a far-reaching impact. The uprising was the beginning of the independent political movement of German workers and a hallmark of the awakening of the German working class, and it played a positive role in pushing forward the modern workers' movement in Germany. Marx commented: “Not one of the French and English workers’ uprisings had as theoretical and conscious a character as the uprising of the Silesian weavers.” “The Silesian uprising begins precisely with what the French and English workers’ uprisings end, with consciousness of the nature of the proletariat.” The three major workers’ movements in Europe marked that the working class has entered the arena of world history as an independent political actor.