of workers, who are parts of an industry, without actually participating in the production. It is possible that modern technology is much more productive than what was used two hundred years ago, but the categories of service employees existed even then and had to be filled. Even the 'satanic mills' participated in the strengthening of the political power of the Middle Class and not only by making the owners richer. The Industrial Revolution was the answer to the needs of the population that was expanded by the demographic revolution; it caused the growth of the cities and the corresponding growth of the Middle Classes. It was so in France, but it was so all over the European continent. As the Middle Class was a companion of the Industrial Revolution, it existed everywhere in Europe where there were factories, railways, canals, mines, etc. The demographic explosion in Europe and the Industrial Revolution that followed it caused an impossible social situation in Europe. There was the old elite, which was mostly impoverished, some absolutely so and some in comparison with the rich Middle Class, but which had the social advantages and the paraphernalia of the political power. Opposite them was the Middle Class, rich in money and properties, but without political power and second class citizens socially. The old elite was based on landed properties, which were constant in size and in income, while the commercial and industrial enterprises of the Middle Class were constantly growing because the...
