The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844 / with a Preface written in 1892

Metadata

Gutenberg ID

17306

Title

The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844 / with a Preface written in 1892

Language

en

Book source

Project Gutenberg

Description max 80 words

Friedrich Engels exposes the brutal realities of 1840s England, where industrial capitalism reduces workers to a starving proletariat. Through vivid accounts of squalid slums, child labor, and social murder, the text argues that systemic exploitation, not minor grievances, causes misery. A searing indictment of class warfare and a foundational text for socialist theory.

Summary up to 500 words

In *The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844*, Friedrich Engels presents a harrowing firsthand account of the catastrophic effects of rapid industrialization on the English working class. Written when the author was twenty-four, the work details how the centralization of population into vast manufacturing towns like Manchester and London obliterated the traditional middle class, leaving only the rich capitalists and the destitute proletariat. Engels exposes a brutal 'social war' where the strong exploit the weak under the protection of the law. He provides graphic descriptions of the 'slums,' where workers lived in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions lacking ventilation or sewage, leading to frequent epidemics and starvation. Engels documents the 'truck system,' where wages were paid in company goods rather than cash, trapping workers in debt, and the 'cottage system,' which enslaved rural laborers. He highlights the plight of women and children, who worked long hours in dangerous factories, and miners who faced eviction from company-owned homes during strikes. While England had begun to suppress petty thefts and enact minor reforms like the Ten Hours' Bill, Engels argues these were merely mechanisms to concentrate capital in the hands of the few and crush smaller competitors. He asserts that the root cause of the working class's misery is the capitalist system itself, specifically the extraction of surplus value. Although written before the full development of Marxist theory, the book serves as an embryonic phase of modern socialism, predicting the rise of international competition and the eventual social revolution. Engels notes that while some abuses have faded in England, the fundamental laws of capitalist exploitation remain valid in other nations like America and Germany. The work stands as a powerful, enduring critique of industrial capitalism and a call for the self-emancipation of the working class.

LLM editorial rating

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Categories

• Economics
• Sociology