Rural life in Europe pre-Industrial Revolution

[Angela]

As bad as life may have been in factory towns, it was no worse than, or maybe even marginally better than life in the countryside in Europe for a lot of people.

This is an excellent article on it:

See:
https://humanprogress.org/article.php?p=1779

 

[bicicleur 2]

Many newcomers made their fortune during the industrial revolution, others were exploited.
But, unlike what the unions and the leftists want us to believe, exploitation during the industrial revolution was nothing new.
Those factory workers came to the industrial centra, because in the rural countryside they were even of worse.

 

[Craigston]

It's a very arguable article, actually...

 

[Alcuin]

People like to claim that true serfdom was superior as it guaranteed food and drink, a plot of land, etc

However, many industrialists recognised the need for a happy and healthy workforce. That's why we ended up with places like New Lanark, Saltaire and Bournville