Final answer:
The economic philosophy that developed in response to the industrial workers' issues was socialism, advocating for social ownership of the means of production to address inequality. Marxism, a subset of socialism, predicted an inevitable communist revolution which failed to realize the envisioned classless society in historical practice.
Step-by-step explanation:
The economic philosophy that developed in response to the problems of industrial workers during the Industrial Revolution is socialism. This ideology emerged as a critique of the prevailing capitalist system, which was blamed for creating significant poverty and inequality among the working class. Socialist thinkers advocated for social ownership of the means of production by the people, in contrast to the capitalist mode of private ownership. They believed that this approach would address the problem of inequality and provide a just and equitable society.
Marxism, a branch of socialist thought developed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, predicted that a communist revolution would occur, overthrowing the capitalist system and leading to a classless society. However, historical outcomes have shown that countries which underwent communist and socialist revolutions did not achieve the equality that Marx had envisioned. Consequently, the philosophy of socialism as a response to industrial strife became a counterpoint to the laissez-faire capitalist framework proposed by Adam Smith and others who believed in minimal government intervention in economic affairs.