Correct answer: A. To fight for their rights and working conditions
Explanation: Nineteenth-century industrial workers formed associations because factory employment often involved low wages, long working hours, unsafe conditions, irregular employment, and weak legal protection. By acting together, workers could present common demands, organise strikes, create mutual-aid funds, and negotiate with employers more effectively than individuals could. Their associations therefore aimed to defend rights and improve working conditions, making option A correct. Royal absolutism was a political goal opposed by many reformers, not a workers' demand. Feudal dues and noble privileges belonged to older hierarchical systems that industrial workers generally challenged. The key idea is collective organisation against economic insecurity and exploitation.