Abstract
Engels collected his research material for The Condition of the Working Class in England between 1842 and 1844 while working in the family firm of Ermen and Engels. On returning to Barmen in the autumn of 1844 Engels wrote to Marx in November of the same year that he was ‘buried up to my neck in newspapers and books from which I am compiling my book on the condition of the English proletarians’ (CW, Vol. 4, p. 701). The book was first published in Germany in June 1845 and ‘in socialist circles it was received with great approval’ (ibid.). Reviews of the text not only commented on Engels’s condemnation of the oppression he had witnessed in British capitalist society, they also referred to the ‘feeling of hope and faith’ (ibid.) Engels conveyed. For many workers, it was the first time they had been aware of the possibility of a working-class movement. However, the ‘revolutionary conclusions’ within the text were deplored by bourgeois critics — even though they acknowledged the accuracy of Engels’s observations. The German economist Hildebrand argued that Engels’s ‘characterization of English bourgeois society’ was ‘true in detail but incorrect as a whole’ (CW, Vol. 4, p. 702).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Barasi, M. and Motram, R. (1990) Human Nutrition, Edward Arnold.
Bevins, A. (1994) ‘Behave well — or lose the dole,’ The Observer, 4.12.94
Black, D. (1992) ‘Black returns to fray in defence of NHS,’ The Guardian, 17.12.93.
Brindle, D. (1993) ‘Poorest families’ income fell 14 per cent under Thatcher,’ The Guardian, 1.7.93.
Brindle, D. (1994a) ‘Basic benefit will not buy children a workhouse diet,’ The Guardian, 1.2.94.
Brindle, D. (1994b) ‘New benefit rules to put pressure on jobless,’ The Guardian, 2.8.94.
Brindle, D. and White, M. (1995) ‘Lilley “returning to Poor Law” with benefits shift, The Guardian, 10.1.95.
Carver, T. (1991) Friedrich Engels. His Life and Thought, Macmillan.
Challoner, W.H. and Henderson, W.O. (1972) ‘Friedrich Engels and the England of the “Hungry Forties”,’ in Hartwell et al. (eds), The Long Debate on Poverty, Institute of Economic Affairs.
Dahrendorf, R. (1965) Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society, Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Davey Smith, G. and Egger, M. (1993) ‘Socioeconomic differentials in wealth and health,’ British Medical Journal, Vol. 307, 1993, pp. 1085–6.
Davies, H. (1994) ‘Women set the agenda for nineties job market,’ The Observer, 13.3.94.
Delamothe, T. (1992) ‘Poor Britain Losing Out,’ British Medical Journal, Vol. 305, 1992, pp. 263–4.
Donegan, L. (1994) ‘Lecturer given lesson on jobs,’ The Guardian, 3.8.94.
Donnison, D. (1994) ‘Riches to die for,’ The Guardian, 27.7.94.
Durham, M. (1993) ‘Benefits of Tory morality,’ The Observer, 14.11.93.
Elliott, L. (1994) ‘Think tank’s mixed message for Government,’ The Guardian, 8.6.94.
Engels, F. (1969) Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy, Progress Publishers.
Engels, F. (1973) ‘The Labour Movement in America. Preface to the American Edition,’ in The Condition of the Working Class in England. Progress Publishers.
Engels, F. (1973) ‘The Preface to the Second German Edition’ in The Condition of the Working Class in England, Progress Publishers.
Engels, F. (1975) ‘Letters from Wuppertal’ (1839), in Collected Works, Vol. 2, Lawrence & Wishart.
Engels, F. (1975) ‘The Condition of England. Past and Present by Carlyle’ (1843), in Collected Works, Vol. 3, Lawrence & Wishart.
Engels, F. (1979) The Housing Question, Progress Publishers.
Engels, F. (1987) The Condition of the Working Class in England, Penguin Classics.
Engels, F. (1993) Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, Bookmarks.
Fox, B. and Cameron, A. (1990) Food Science, Nutrition and Health, Edward Arnold.
Galbraith, J.K. (1994) Towards a new world deal,’ The Guardian, 26.1.94.
Geras, N. (1987) ‘Post Marxism’ New Left Review, No. 163, pp. 40–82.
Gilmour, I. (1993) Dancing with Dogma. Britain under Thatcherism, Pocket Books.
Gray, J. (1994) ‘On the edge of the abyss,’ The Guardian, 18.7.94.
Harrison, D., Dodd, V. and Durham, M. (1994) ‘Major chases votes in new attack on beggars,’ The Observer, 29.5.94.
Hennessy, P. (1993) Never Again, Vintage.
Hunley, J.D. (1991) Friedrich Engels. A Reinterpretation, Yale University Press.
Hunter, T. (1994) ‘Disaster as safety net is withdrawn,’ The Guardian, 30.11.94.
Hutton, W. (1994a) ‘Hand to mouth,’ The Guardian, 29.9.94.
Hutton, W. (1994b) ‘Victorian values all too evident in income pattern,’ The Guardian, 3.6.94.
Hutton, W. (1994c) ‘An end to the rule of fish market economics,’ The Guardian, 25.7.94.
Joseph, K. (1986) ‘Foreword,’ in Smiles, S., Self-Help, Penguin.
Joseph Rowntree Foundation (1994) The Effects of the 1986 Social Security Act on Family Incomes, Social Policy Research Findings No. 54.
Jury, L. (1994a) ‘Study shows poor are dying younger,’ The Guardian, 29.4.94.
Jury, L. (1994b) ‘Ethnic women suffer double bias,’ The Guardian, 2.6.94.
Kemp-Ashraf, P.M. (1971) ‘George Weerth in Bradford,’ in Kuczynski, I. and P. (eds), A Young Revolutionary in 19th Century England. Selected writings of George Weerth, Seven Seas Books, Berlin.
Laclau, E. and Mouffe, C. (1987) Hegemony and Socialist Strategy — Towards a Radical Democratic Politics, Verso.
Leather, S. (1992) ‘Less money, Less choice. Poverty and Diet in the UK today,’ in National Consumer Council, Your Food: Whose Choice?, HMSO.
Lowry, S. (1991) Housing and Health, British Medical Journal Publication.
McSmith, A. (1994) ‘Poor fall through final safety net,’ The Observer, 27.11.94.
Marx, K. (1975) A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (1859), in Tucker, R., (1975) The Marx-Engels Reader, Norton.
Marx, K. (1990) Capital, Vol. 1, Penguin Classics.
Marx, K. (1991) Capital, Vol. 3, Penguin Classics.
Marx, K. and Engels, F. (1975) ‘Friedrich Engels Senior to Karl Snethlage, 1 December, 1820,’ in Collected Works, Vol. 2, Lawrence & Wishart.
Marx, K. and Engels, F. (1975) ‘Friedrich Engels Senior to Karl Snethlage, 5 October, 1842,’ in Collected Works, Vol. 2, Lawrence & Wishart.
Marx, K. and Engels, F. (1975) The Holy Family (1845), in Collected Works, Vol. 4, Lawrence & Wishart.
Marx, K. and Engels, F. (1976) The German Ideology (1845–46), in Collected Works, Vol. 5, Lawrence & Wishart.
Meikle, J. (1994a) ‘Britain joins Third World as Oxfam moves to help nation’s poor,’ The Guardian, 2.8.94.
Meikle, J. (1994b) ‘Hundreds of college lecturers facing redundancy,’ The Guardian, 30.11.94.
Milburn, A. (1994) ‘Low pay forces desperate one million to take second jobs,’ The Guardian, 24.10.94.
National Children’s Home (1991) NCH Poverty and Nutrition Survey, NCH Publication.
Simmons, M. (1994) ‘Closures to make more homeless,’ The Guardian, 30.5.94.
Smiles, S. (1986) Self-Help, Penguin.
Townsend, P. (1979) Poverty in the United Kingdom. A Survey of Household Resources and Standards of Living, Penguin.
Transport & General Workers Union (1994) In Place of Fear, T&G Publication. Wainwright, M. (1993) ‘Christmas dinner for £1.40 tells a winter’s tale,’ The Guardian, 17.12.93.
Wainwright, M. (1994) ‘Estate families feel squeeze of London-plus costs,’ The Guardian, 31.5.94.
Whitfield, R. (1988) Frederick Engels in Manchester, Working Class Movement Library, Manchester.
Wilkinson, R.G. (1992) ‘Income distribution and life expectancy,’ British Medical Journal, Vol. 304, 1992, pp. 165–8.
Wilkinson, R.G. (1994) ‘Divided we fall. The poor pay the price of increased social inequality with their health,’ British Medical Journal, Vol. 308, 1994, pp. 1113–14.
Wilson, E. (1967) To the Finland Station, Fontana.
Wintour, P. (1994a) ‘Families must sleep rough to be seen as homeless,’ The Guardian, 21.1.94.
Wintour, P. (1994b) ‘Portillo lays into yobbos and feckless,’ The Guardian, 23.4.94.
Wood, E.M. (1986) The Retreat from Class. A New ‘True’ Socialism, Verso.
Woodcock, C. (1994) ‘When the bankers say: “If you’re black — keep back”,’ The Guardian, 18.4.94.
Wright, E.O. (1994) Interrogating Inequality, Verso.
Young, H. (1994) ‘Major’s mask drops into the gutter,’ The Guardian, 31.5.94.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1996 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Dennehy, A. (1996). The Condition of the Working Class in England: 150 Years On. In: Arthur, C.J. (eds) Engels Today. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24871-1_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24871-1_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-66531-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-24871-1
eBook Packages: Palgrave Religion & Philosophy CollectionPhilosophy and Religion (R0)