Review by Mark Langabeer, Hastings and Rye Labour Party member
I have decided to review Engel’s classic book on the condition of the working class in 1844 because it is approaching one hundred and eighty years since Engels travelled the length and breadth of the UK, in order to highlight the dreadful conditions that existed at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution.
Engels spent twenty-one months, observing everyday life and chatting to workers about their conditions and grievances. He stated that he was proud of having done so. It is also one hundred and thirty years since this book was translated into English. Engels acknowledged that his predictions regarding the imminence of social revolution had been, at least delayed, due to the fact that the capitalist UK was the dominant industrial nation and able to grant reforms. Skilled workers were able to secure better pay and conditions and in boom times, unskilled workers could just about keep their heads above water. However, many of the conditions remained and Engels felt privileged to witness the rise of trade unions of the unskilled, whose leaders were socialist in outlook. He also observed the beginnings of independent working class representation in Parliament. He stated that the book would be published unaltered, “because it remained as relevant in 1892 as it did in 1842.”
Engels began his tour in London where he observed that a social war existed. Each against all is openly declared, the stronger treads the weaker under foot, and the capitalists seized everything for themselves. What was true in London, was true of all the cities and major towns in Britain. The producers of wealth, the working class, lived in slum conditions. Overcrowding, no drainage system and little in the way of sanitation meant that diseases such as typhus would spread quickly within the local area.
Conditions in working class areas were hell on earth
Engels first observation was the stench within the workers districts. Housing was largely built on the cheap and lacked ventilation. Engels would use official government reports and articles in the national papers to back his claim that the workers’ areas were nothing less than hell on earth. The book has almost three hundred pages and the reports are too numerous to repeat in a short article. However, Engels reported that the average life expectancy in the working class areas was a mere twenty-two years. This was due to the high levels of infant mortality rates among the under-fives. Of those who did survive, many had abnormalities caused by the lack of nourishment. Engels observed many suffering from rickets, for example.
Engels travelled to Manchester, at the heart of the Industrial Revolution. It was in Lancashire, that the development of large factories began. He explained that new technologies in weaving and spinning yarn wiped out the cottage industry. This ushered in a movement of people from the countryside into the towns and cities. Engels provided statistics that show this massive rise in city populations.
Added to this was, was the migration of many Irish people, owing to famines and general want. According to Engels, they introduced a new custom among the English workers, they would walk around barefooted. Engels states that Manchester had around 350,000 working people and almost all lived in wretched, damp, filthy cottages in streets which were equally filthy. He quotes a doctor, a Liberal and a fanatical opponent of all movements of the workers. These houses were erected, solely to enrich the contractors. They were back to back houses that were still around in the 1970’s!
Engels describes the basis of capitalism as competition. A battle of all against all which is not just fought between the classes, but between individual members of these classes. Workers are in constant competition among themselves. However that is the worst side of things. In an attempt to prevent this, they have formed trade unions.
The choice for the masses, work or starve
Capitalism had gained a monopoly of the means of existence. It even had the appearance of a free contract. However the choice is simply work under the conditions of the bosses or literally starve to death. Engels states that Adam Smith’s assertion that labour is like any other commodity and it’s price depends on demand and supply was perfectly correct. I don’t think this is correct because it ignores the value theory of Marx.
As one Marxist put it, the price of a Bentley, will never be less than a safety pin because of the labour time spent on its production. It may act as spur for workers to demand more for their labour, but the capitalists will only produce if they think they will make a profit. Engels acceptance of the Irish immigrant being a competitor to the English worker is also questionable. The same Marxist who explained in simple terms, the Marxist theory of value, also stated that it is conditions that determine consciousness and in my experience, it is often the immigrants (or their descendants) that emerge in positions of leadership within the Labour movement.
Engels gave an insight into the atrocious conditions faced by the cotton mill workers. Little regard was given to health and safety. Loss of limbs and death were not uncommon. The lack of ventilation gave rise to illness which included diseases like TB. The hours of work, from dawn to dusk was commonplace. Women and children were employed because some of the work was suited to smaller hands. They too, worked twelve hour shifts.
Engels compared life in the factory system to slavery and social murder
Fines would be imposed on those that were late or for poor workmanship. Engels reported that the women would be pressured into sexual favours due a fear of losing their jobs. Family life ,or the lack of it, resulted in many injuries to young infants. Crime, prostitution and drunkenness was the inevitable consequence of the barbaric treatment of the working class in the early period of industrialization. Engels went on to explain that this was replicated in other industries that developed alongside the cotton and woollen industry. Engels made factory life comparable with slavery and described the conditions as social murder.
Last but not least, he described the role played by the legal system which invariably sided with the bosses. The Boss was often the magistrate as well. The landowners and capitalists were represented in Parliament. Engels described the workhouses as the Bastille of the poor. They would segregate husband and wife and mete out severe punishments to young children for minor infractions of the rules.
Engels observed that workers were more likely to help those that had fallen on hard times than the wealthy, simply because they had been there or knew others in a similar situation. He reported on the rise of the Chartist Movement and political demands made by the workers for the right to vote. He witnessed mass protests by workers for the Ten Hours Bill in Parliament and more besides. This book is a must read for all that have an interest in Labour Movement History and the lessons that period has for us now and in the future.
