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Europe's state-provision: *
In the 1880s Bismarck established Germany’s & Europe’s first welfare provisions. He extended the privileges of the Junker social class to ordinary Germans, describing his program as "practical Christianity". German laws also insured workers against industrial risks in the workplace.
In Switzerland, the Factory Act (1877) limited working hours for all & gave maternity benefits. Some cantons provided emergency relief, elementary schools & homes for the elderly and children.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire, followed Bismarck’s lead; welfare legislation was promoted by Catholic conservatives, using Swiss & German welfare legislation as models. In 1885 the Trade Code Amendment Act insured workers against industrial risks inherent in the workplace
After 1830 French Liberalism & economic modernization were key values but French liberalism included the concept of class solidarity ("liberty, equality, fraternity"). Between 1895 & 1914 PM Leon Bourgeois (1895–96) championed "Solidarité" along with Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau (1899-1902). Starting with Poor Relief, French welfare expanded taking a page from Bismarck.
Laissez-faire liberalism dominated the UK until 1906 when PM Asquith initiated welfare reforms. Measures included the Old-Age Pensions Act (1908), free school meals & the Labour Exchanges & Development Acts (all 3 in 1909), all heralding greater state intervention in economic development; that same year a minimum wage was introduced for many low-wage industries & by 1920 was expanded to include farm labour.
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Diogenes: *
regarding his “work ethic”, Lucian of Samosata (125 –180 BC) writes:
"A report that Philip was marching on the town had thrown all Corinth into a bustle; one was furbishing his arms, another wheeling stones, a third patching the wall, a fourth strengthening a battlement, every one making himself useful somehow or other. Diogenes having nothing to do—of course no one thought of giving him a job—was moved by the sight to gather up his philosopher's cloak and begin rolling his tub-dwelling energetically up and down the Craneum; an acquaintance asked, and got, the explanation: "I do not want to be thought the only idler in such a busy multitude; I am rolling my tub to be like the rest."