The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844

Friedrich Engels · 1844 (as a report/study of conditions; published in Germany 1845) primary

passage 212 of 219 · Act, the Masters' and Servants' Act; and Thomas Duncombe, the representative of the working-men in the House of Commons, was the great man of the session; while the Liberal middle-class with its motion for repealing the Corn Laws, and the Radical middle-class with its resolution for refusing the taxes, played pitiable roles. Even the debates about > Act should express the time from six at night to six in the morning, whereby the prohibition of night-work came to mean the limitation of working-hours to twelve, including free hours, or ten hours of actual work a day. But the ministry did not agree to this. Sir James Graham began to threaten resignation from the Cabinet, and at the next vote on the bill the House rejected by a small majority both ten and twelve hours! Graham and Peel now announced that they should introduce a new bill, and that if this failed to pass they should resign. The new bill was exactly the old Twelve Hours' Bill with some changes of form, and the same House of Commons which had rejected the principal points of this bill in March, now swallowed it whole. The reason of this was that most of the supporters of the Ten Hours' Bill were Tories who let fall the bill rather than the ministry; but be the motives what they may, the (82/89)

in brief

Engels insists the “war of the poor against the rich” has already begun and will become direct and universal, adding that “War to the palaces, peace to the cottages” will follow once resistance and bitterness concentrate into open conflict.

the better elements of the bourgeoisie (which are, however, deplorably few, and can look for recruits only among the rising generation) to unite with it than with purely proletarian Chartism.

If these conclusions have not been sufficiently established in the course of the present work, there may be other opportunities for demonstrating that they are necessary consequences of the historical development of England. But this I maintain, the war of the poor against the rich now carried on in detail and indirectly will become direct and universal. It is too late for a peaceful solution. The classes are divided more and more sharply, the spirit of resistance penetrates the workers, the bitterness intensifies, the guerilla skirmishes become concentrated in more important battles, and soon a slight impulse will suffice to set the avalanche in motion. Then, indeed, will the war-cry resound through the land: "War to the palaces, peace to the cottages!"--but then it will be too late for the rich to beware.

TRANSLATORS NOTE.

Being unable at this late day to obtain the original English, the translator has been compelled to re-translate from the German the passages quoted in the text from the following sources:--G. Alston, preacher of St. Philip's, Bethnal Green.--D. W. P. Alison, F.R.S.E., "Observations on the Management of the Poor in Scotland," 1840.--The Artisan, 1842, October number.--J. C. Symonds, "Arts and Artisans at Home and Abroad," Edin., 1839.--Report of the Town Council of Leeds, published in Statistical Journal, vol. ii., p. 404.--Nassau W. Senior, "Letters on the Factory Act to the Rt. Hon. the President of the Board of Trade" (Chas. Poulett Thomson, Esq.), London, 1837.--Report of the Children's Employment Commission.--Mr. Parkinson, Canon of Manchester, "On the Present Condition of the Labouring Poor in Manchester," 3rd Ed., 1841.--Factories' Inquiries Commission's Report.--E. G. Wakefield, M. P., "Swing Unmasked; or, The Cause of Rural Incendiarism," London, 1831.--A Correspondent of the Morning Chronicle.--Anonymous pamphlet on "The State of Ireland," London, 1807; 2nd Ed., 1821.--Report of the Poor Law Commissioners: Extracts from Information received by the Poor Law Commissioners. Published by Authority, London, 1833.

INDEX

Accidents, 109, 143, 150, 164, 165, 294.

Adulteration, 67, et seq.

Apprentices, 169, 191, 197, et seq. 209.

Charter, 225, et seq. 280, 296.

Chartism, xiv., xix., 65, 123, 228, et seq. 275, 292.

Chartists, 135, 176, 199, 231, et seq. 253, 258.

Corn Laws, 113, 261, 268, 279, 280, 294. League, 122, 231, 268, 280. Repeal of, vi., 17, 231, 232, 275.

Cottage System, v., 182, 183, 251, 252, 256.

Crime--Form of Rebellion, 266, et seq. 274. Increase of, 130, et seq. Juvenile, 200, 204. Result of Overcrowding, 65, 120, 121.

Diseases, Engendered by Dwellings, 201, 202. Filth, 35, 40, 41, 64, 96, 97. Occupation, 162-3, 177-8, 191-2, 206. Overwork, 153, 155, et seq. 171, 245-6. Want, 30, 73, 88, 108, 199, 210-11.

Education--Means of, 108, et seq. 195, 200, 201, 202, 238, 254. Want of, 90, 91, 126, 129, 148, 149.

Employment of Children, In Agriculture, 262, 263. In Factories, 141, et seq. 167, 171, et seq. 193. In House Industry, 191, et seq. In Mines, 241, 244, et seq. In the Night, 191, 207.

Employment of Women, In Agriculture, 263. In Factories, 141, et seq. 160, et seq. 175, 192. In Mines, 241, 242, 248, 249. In Sewing, 209, et seq.

Epidemics, vi., 37, 41, 61, 64, 98, 100, 110, 158.

Factory Acts, x., xi., 17, 134, 151, 168, 116, 176, 188.

Food--Adulteration of, 98. Insufficiency of, 32, 74, 101, 102, 193, 208. Quality of, 68, 71, 91, 140, 201.

Free Trade, vii., viii., et seq. 183, 234, 268.

Intemperance, 102, 127, 128.

Inventions. 1, 4, et seq. 42, 134, et seq. 223, 224.

Law--A Bourgeois Institution, 113, 130, 173, 176, 227, 281, 282, 288. New Poor, 174, 175, 230, 235, 262, et seq. 269, 284, et seq. Old Poor, 176, 284, 285. Of Wages, xi., 77, et seq. 219.

Mortality, 100, 101, 104, et seq. 143, 150, 243.

Parliament, 17, 96, 111, 214, 228, 251, 283, 287.

Philanthropy, 27, 28, 88, 173, 212, 278.

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topics: faction, party, and civil strife · justice as a virtue · treaties, truces, and peacemaking

The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844 · Friedrich Engels · 1844