More dudes

I trace all the problems and solutions of the later half of the nineteenth century to the fact that there were simply more dudes (also:  ladies) getting involved.  The huge scope of the new industrialism in steel, electricity, and chemicals created even larger working classes with interests that were wholly different from those of their rulers.  Given voice by the self-glorifying jingoism of national imperialism, these workers assembled themselves to protect their interests.  In the ugly transition to almost-democracy, workers found themselves (as Marx would have loved to see) at odds with their bosses.