''The Condition of the Working Class in England'' (german: Die Lage der arbeitenden Klasse in England) is an 1845 book by the German philosopher

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' Victorian England In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

. Engels' first book, it was originally written in German as Die Lage der arbeitenden Klasse in England; an English translation was published in 1887. It was written during Engels' 1842–44 stay in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, the city at the heart of the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

, and compiled from Engels' own observations and detailed contemporary reports. After their second meeting in 1844,

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

read and was profoundly impressed by the book.

Summary

In ''Condition'', Engels argues that the Industrial Revolution made workers worse off. He shows, for example, that in large industrial cities such as Manchester and

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, mortality from disease (such as

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

, measles, scarlet fever and

whooping cough Whooping cough, also known as pertussis or the 100-day cough, is a highly contagious bacterial disease. Initial symptoms are usually similar to those of the common cold with a runny nose, fever, and mild cough, but these are followed by two or t ...

) was four times that in the surrounding countryside, and mortality from convulsions was ten times as high. The overall death-rate in Manchester and Liverpool was significantly higher than the national average (1 in 32.72, 1 in 31.90 and even 1 in 29.90, compared with 1 in 45 or 46). An interesting example highlights the increase in the overall death-rates in the industrial town of Carlisle. Before the introduction of mills (1779–87), 4,408 out of 10,000 children died before age five, while after the introduction of mills, the figure rose to 4,738. Before the introduction of mills, 1,006 out of 10,000 adults died before reaching 39 years old; after their introduction, the death rate rose to 1,261 out of 10,000. Engels' interpretation proved to be extremely influential with British historians of the Industrial Revolution. He focused on both the workers' wages and their

living condition Habitability refers to the adequacy of an environment for human living. Where housing is concerned, there are generally local ordinances which define habitability. If a residence complies with those laws it is said to be habitable. In extreme e ...

s. He argued that the industrial workers had lower incomes than their pre-industrial peers and they lived in more unhealthy and unpleasant environments. This proved to be a very wide-ranging critique of industrialization and one that was echoed by many of the Marxist historians who studied the industrial revolution in the 20th century. Originally addressed to a German audience, the book is considered by many to be a classic account of the universal condition of the industrial working class during its time. The eldest son of a successful German textile industrialist, Engels became involved in radical journalism in his youth. Sent to England, what he saw there made him even more radical. In 1844, in Paris, Engels met and formed his lifelong intellectual partnership with

. Engels showed Marx his book; convincing Marx that the working class could be the agent and instrument of the final revolution in history.P. N. Fedoseyev, ''Karl Marx: A Biography'' (Progress Publishers: Moscow, 1973) p. 82.

The German original

In the original German edition he said:

English editions

The book was translated into

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

in 1885 by an American,

Florence Kelley Florence Moltrop Kelley (September 12, 1859 – February 17, 1932) was a social and political reformer and the pioneer of the term wage abolitionism. Her work against sweatshops and for the minimum wage, eight-hour workdays, and children's rig ...

under her then-married name Florence Kelley Wischnewetzky. Authorised by Engels and with a newly written preface by him, it was published in 1887 in New York and in London in 1891. These English editions had the qualification ''in 1844'' added to the English title. Engels in his 1892 preface said: The book has been continuously reissued, and remains in print in several different editions.

References

External links

*
Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844
' (Full text in HTML at the Marx/Engels Internet Archive) *
The Condition of the Working-Class in England
' (full text in PDF format published by

Progress Publishers Progress Publishers was a Moscow-based Soviet publisher founded in 1931. Publishing program Progress Publishers published books in a variety of languages: Russian, English, and many other European and Asian languages. They issued many scientific b ...

) *
A letter from Engels to Florence Kelley Wischnewetzky
' * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Condition of the Working Class, The Books about labour Industrial Revolution in England Working class in England 1844 in England 1845 non-fiction books 1887 non-fiction books 1845 in Europe 1887 in England Books about capitalism Communist books History of Manchester Political books Working conditions Poverty in England Economic history of England Political history of England Social history of England Oxford University Press books Books about England Friedrich Engels

Summary

The German original

English editions

References

Further reading

External links