One major factor in Britain was the Inclosures Act[1] which led to the dispossession and displacement of many peasants.
In my country, the Irish Potato Famine[2] forced many peasant farmers to leave the land as an alternative to disease and death. Since the industrial revolution only really took off in the north-east of the island, many emigrated to the industrialising cities of Britain and North America. The driving factor was that the natives did not have any rights to the land they farmed; ownership of land was concentrated in the hands of Anglo-Irish absentee landlords.
This situation was not unique in 19th Century Europe: the Prussian Junker[3] class had landed estates in much of the Baltic region, e.g., modern day Estonia and were not known for their humanitarianism. The lands of Polish farmers were owned by Prussians, Russians and Austrian landlords. Modern-day Czechia was ruled by the Austrian Empire and Slovakia by Hungarians. In Russia, the peasants were serfs as until 1861 when they were emancipated and (nominally) became free citizens[4].
For the other side of the pond, I suspect that the large numbers of Europeans emigrating to North America in the hope of a better life contributed to a surplus of labour, allowing industrial capitalists to get away with treating their workers so badly.
the Irish Potato Famine happened 40 years before the time the article describes, so that doesn't really explain the population movement in the UK and Ireland in 1888.
In my country, the Irish Potato Famine[2] forced many peasant farmers to leave the land as an alternative to disease and death. Since the industrial revolution only really took off in the north-east of the island, many emigrated to the industrialising cities of Britain and North America. The driving factor was that the natives did not have any rights to the land they farmed; ownership of land was concentrated in the hands of Anglo-Irish absentee landlords.
This situation was not unique in 19th Century Europe: the Prussian Junker[3] class had landed estates in much of the Baltic region, e.g., modern day Estonia and were not known for their humanitarianism. The lands of Polish farmers were owned by Prussians, Russians and Austrian landlords. Modern-day Czechia was ruled by the Austrian Empire and Slovakia by Hungarians. In Russia, the peasants were serfs as until 1861 when they were emancipated and (nominally) became free citizens[4].
For the other side of the pond, I suspect that the large numbers of Europeans emigrating to North America in the hope of a better life contributed to a surplus of labour, allowing industrial capitalists to get away with treating their workers so badly.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inclosure_Acts
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland)
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junker_(Prussia)
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_reform_of_1861