The Condition of the Working Class in England (Penguin Classics)

Written when Engels was only twenty-four, and inspired in particular by his time living amongst the poor in Manchester, this forceful polemic explores the staggering human cost of the Industrial Revolution in Victorian England. Engels paints an unforgettable picture of daily life in the new industrial towns, and for miners and agricultural workers–depicting overcrowded housing, abject poverty, child labour, sexual exploitation, dirt and drunkenness–in a savage indictment of the greed of the bourgeoisie. His fascinating later preface, written for the first English edition of 1892 and included here, brought the story up to date in the light of forty years’ further refelection. A masterpiece of committed reporting and an impassioned call to arms, this is one of the great pioneering works of social history.

About the Author

FRIEDRICH ENGELS was a German philosopher,?economist, historian,?political theorist and?revolutionary socialist. He was also a businessman, journalist and political activist. Engels developed what is now known as?Marxism?together with?Karl Marx. In 1845, he published?The Condition of the Working Class in England, based on personal observations and research in English cities. In 1848, Engels co-authored?The Communist Manifesto?with Marx and also authored and co-authored many other works. After Marx’s death, Engels edited the second and third volumes of?Das Kapital.?He died in 1895.

Dr Tristram Hunt is Director of the Victoria & Albert Museum and one of Britain’s best-known historians. He served as MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central from 2010 to 2017 (when he led the campaign to save the Wedgwood Museum) and as Shadow Secretary of State for Education between October 2013 and September 2015. He was a senior lecturer in British history at Queen Mary, University of London, and has written numerous series for radio and television. His previous books include The English Civil War At First Hand, The Frock-Coated Communist: The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels, Ten Cities that Made an Empire and Building Jerusalem: The Rise and Fall of the Victorian City, between them published in more than a dozen languages.