Engles, Friedrich. The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co, 1892,  pp. 45, 48-53.

                                   

Friedrich Engles wrote many books and traveled around Europe very much. He worked with well know people in history throughout his life, like Karl Marx. Engles wrote this book on his firsthand accounts while living in England. He took notes in great detail and traveled to different parts of England to see what life was like. Engles wrote this book to show the world how the working conditions in England were at that time. We can believe his detail because he saw them in person, and he is supposedly atheist so religion would not play a role in his writings. Not to mention he would send his work periodically to Karl Marx to be published in newspapers. Then after writing many articles over time he collected them all and made them into one book. So he was writing it all down as he was seeing it all happen. But he was known to be quite radical and even had a relation with a radical women named Mary. Even with a long standing relationship they did not marry because of their views, he believed marriage was class oppression. These passages from the book give a very detailed and dark depiction of what life was like for the working class in England. The passages are particularly based on the life and condition of the people in the Old Town Manchester. He strongly believes that these are the worst living condition on earth calling it the “Hell upon Earth”. It was written in 1842-1844 near the end of the industrial revolution in England. The limits of this are that it is only one man’s opinion and he is a bit radical so these details could have been exaggerated. Also it only gives of the point of view of one place in England of the working class. It could have been the worst place in England, and the rest of the working class district might have been better. The author claims that the way the working class in England was treated was unfair, and that they tried to basically hide the working class houses. He says in the beginning of the passage that you would not encounter any of the working class if you went out for a walk and didn't stray from your path. He is trying to convince the readers that the working class in England was poor and lived in unimaginable conditions. He uses strong words to get his point across and is very descriptive. Engles paints a picture in your mind of the most horrid images.

*I would have indented every line except the first line on the annotation and citation.