Radicalism

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had predicted. Marx claimed, in his “The Civil War in France,” that the Commune was an example of the transitional form of government through which the working class would have to pass on their way to emancipation. Many of the less radical members of the International were disturbed by Marx’s praise for murderers. They left the organization in droves and it collapsed in 1876.
Radicalism is a “political philosophy that emphasizes the need to find and eliminate the basic injustices of society. The word radicalism comes from the Latin word radix, meaning root. Radicals seek what they consider the roots of the economic, political, and social wrongs of society and demand immediate and sweeping changes to wipe them out” (World Book Encyclopedia), as opposed to reasonable and strategic reforms and gradual change.

Radical movements began to emerge in the 1840s as a result of the Industrial Revolution. Machines and industry were the forces that were advancing society forward at a rapid pace. The Industrial Revolution eliminated feudalism...