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The condition of the working class in England PDF

419 Pages·1968·24.378 MB·English
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SP 78 / $2.95 Friedrich Engels THE CONDITION OF THE WORKING CLASS ENGLAND IN *j < + %* a i* * J .**» ** * Stanfor THE CONDITION OF THE WORKING CLASS IN ENGLAND ENGELS THE CONDITION OF THE WORKING CLASS IN ENGLAND Translated and edited by W. O. HENDERSON and W. H. CHALONER STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS STANFORD, CALIFORNIA Stanford UniversityPress Stanford, California © Basil Blackwell, 1958 L.C. 68-21290 Printed in the United States ofAmerica Firstpublishedin 1958 by Basil Blackwell Reissued in 1968 by Stanford UniversityPress CONTENTS Editors' Note vii Editors' Introduction ix Engels's Preface to the First German Edition of i«45 3 Dedication ' To the Working Classes of Great- Britain ' (1845) 7 CHAPTER I Historical Introduction 9 II The Industrial Proletariat 27 III The Great Towns 30 IV Competition 88 V Irish Immigration 104 VI The Results of Industrialisation 108 VII The Proletariat 150 VIII The Proletariat {continued) 213 IX Working-Class Movements 241 X The Miners 274 XI The Proletariat on the Land 295 XII The Attitude of the Bourgeoisie 311 Conclusion 332 Appendices I The Postscript of i846: An English Strike 337 II Preface to the American Edition of 1887 . HI Preface to the English Edition of 1892 360 IV List of Sources Quoted by Engels 37* V Examples of Engels's Methods of Quoting 375 Index 377 Mapsandplans appear onpp. 57, 59, 66, 67, 72. EDITORS* NOTE This is a new translation ofEngels's book on the condition ofthe working class in England in 1844. It is based upon the original German first edition of 1845, which was reprinted, with minor corrections, by the Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute in Karl Marx- Friedrich Engels, Historisch-Kritiscbe Gesamtausgabe\ Werke, Schriften, Briefe> PartI, Vol. 4(1932), pp. 5-282.1 The Institute editionincludes notes by V. Adoratskij (pp. 519-25). We have added to our trans- lationanaccountofastrikeofbuildingtradeoperativesinManchester which Engels originally wrote for the periodical Das Westfaliscbe Damp/boot(Bielefeld), 1846. The article was reprinted in the Gesamt- ausgabe, PartI,Vol. 4, pp. 393-405. The main difference between this edition and all earlier German and English editions is that we have given the exact original text of A all Engels's quotations, with one exception. comparison with Mrs. Wischnewetzky's translation (first published in the U.S.A. in 1887 and in the United Kingdom in 1892) will show that many of Engels's 'quotations' were garbled abridgements ofthe original. Certain interpolations have been made in the text [in square brackets] for the sake of clarity. Editors* footnotes are bracketed [in heavier type]. Engels's footnotes to the edition of1845 an<3 to tne authorized English translation of 1887 have been left unbracketed. The illustrations to the original German edition of 1845 have all been reproduced. The editors have added a contemporary map (1849) ofthe 'Little Ireland' district ofManchester. We have to thank in particular Professor Arthur Redford, who firstsuggestedthat anew andcriticaltranslation ofEngels's bookwas needed, Dr. Moses Tyson, the Librarian, University of Manchester, Mr. Sidney Horrocks, Reference Librarian, Manchester Public Libraries, Mr. F. G. B. Hutchings, City Librarian, Leeds, Dr. T. C. Barker, Mr. T. W. Freeman, Mr. Hugh Kearney, Mr. Donald Read, Professor Percy E. Schramm, Mr. D. C. Wollman and the officials of the Manchester Royal Infirmary. We owe a special debt ofgratitude to the long-suffering Departmental Secretaries in the History School ofManchester University. 1This standard edition ofthe writings ofMarx and Engels is infuturecited as Gesamtausgabe. — EDITORS' INTRODUCTION Marx andEngels Fewintellectualpartnershipscanultimatelyhavehadsuchmoment- ousconsequenceasthatofKarlMarxandFriedrichEngels,thefathers of ' scientific ' Socialism and Communism. Although Engels, the junior partner in the team, is not so well known as Marx, he was one of the leading Socialist writers in the second half of the nineteenth century. Engels's firstvisit to England, between November 1842 and August 1844, marked the climax ofthe formative period ofhis career duringwhichhewas preparinghimselfforhislife's workas a Socialist agitator. When Marx first met Engels in Cologne in the au—tumn of 1842 Engelswas onhiswayto Manchesterforthefirsttime therewereno signs of the future close relationship between the two young men. Marx was apparently suspicious of Engels's motives in approaching himandthisfirstmeetinghasbeendescribedas* cool,eve—nunfriendly*. ButwhenEngels sawMarxagaininParis twoyears later onEngels's return from England—the meeting was much more cordial. Marx appreciated the extent ofEngels's intellectual development since their previous meeting and he was now ready to accept Engels as a collab- orator. A SocialistClassic As soon as he was home again in Barmen in the autumn of 1844 Engels wrote an account ofthe condition ofthe workers in England1 and this was the majorliterary achievement ofhis early years. Socialists and Communists have long regarded this work as a great socialist classic. They claim that, although manyearlierwriters had examined various aspects of social change brought about by the Industrial Revolution in England, Engels was the first to survey the problem as a whole. They argue that Engels did much more than merely describe what he had seen in the English manufacturing districts. He asked himself two questions: * How did this state of affairs arise? ' and ' How will it end? ' It is said that by studying the history of the English workers Engels was able to show how the situation that he was describing was the inevitable outcome of a 1On November 19th, 1844, Engels wrote to Karl Marx that he was 'buried in English newspapersand books fromwhich I am putting together mybook on the conditionoftheworkingclassesinEngland',Gesamtatisgabe,PartIII,Vol. 1(Berlin, 1929),pp. 4-8.

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