The men upon the killing beds [meatpacking plants where animals were butchered] felt also the effects of the slump which had turned Marija out; but they felt it in a different way. . . . The big packers did not turn their hands [workers] off and close down, like the canning factories; but they began to run for shorter and shorter hours. They had always required the men to be on the killing beds and ready for work at seven o’clock, although there was almost never any work to be done till the buyers out in the yards had gotten to work, and some cattle had come over the chutes. That would often be ten or eleven o’clock . . . [but now] they would perhaps not have a thing for their men to do till late in the afternoon. And so they would have to loaf around, in a place where the thermometer might be twenty degrees below zero!...

Question

The men upon the killing beds [meatpacking plants where animals were butchered] felt also the effects of the slump which had turned Marija out; but they felt it in a different way. . . . The big packers did not turn their hands [workers] off and close down, like the canning factories; but they began to run for shorter and shorter hours. They had always required the men to be on the killing beds and ready for work at seven o’clock, although there was almost never any work to be done till the buyers out in the yards had gotten to work, and some cattle had come over the chutes. That would often be ten or eleven o’clock . . . [but now] they would perhaps not have a thing for their men to do till late in the afternoon. And so they would have to loaf around, in a place where the thermometer might be twenty degrees below zero!...

There were weeks at a time when Jurgis went home after such a day as this with not more than two hours’ work to his credit—which meant about thirty-five cents. There were many days when the total was less than half an hour, and others when there was none at all....

- excerpt from Upton Sinclair's The Jungle (1904)

Which political philosophy developed because of the working conditions described in the passage?
Responses
A fascismfascism
B socialismsocialism
C capitalismcapitalism
D fundamentalism

Answer 1

B socialism

Socialism developed in response to the harsh working conditions, exploitation, and inequality faced by workers during the Industrial Revolution. It sought to address the economic and social problems experienced by workers, such as low pay, long hours, and unsafe working conditions. The passage describes the struggles faced by workers in a capitalist system, which led to the development of socialist ideologies that called for more government intervention and workers' rights.