“The conservatives in several states, after crushing the liberal revolutions of 1848-1849, introduced industrial regulations to resurrect the traditional rights of craftsmen.”
This section confused me. I thought it was illiberal conservatives that were teamed up with big business and capital against the small time craftsmen. What does defeating the liberals have to do with pushing back against capital?
Author here. I'm by no means an expert on 1848 politics, but I got this information from the cited source (Hamerow, "Restoration, Revolution, Reaction"). Quoting 191-192:
"In industry conservatism could afford to do more than merely outliberalize the liberals. It bid boldly for the support of the urban proletariat by reintroducing corporate regulation of production. Through the association of an economic with a political reaction it hoped to create a mass following for the policy of counterrevolution. Hence the royalist victory in Prussia was followed by the promulgation of the two emergency measures of February 9 revitalizing the atrophied guild system." (etc., it goes on to cite similar post-1848 regulations imposed by other German states.)
This section confused me. I thought it was illiberal conservatives that were teamed up with big business and capital against the small time craftsmen. What does defeating the liberals have to do with pushing back against capital?