The Condition of the Working Class in England

In contrast to the social atomization created by capitalism, Engels demonstrates in several different ways that the only way individual workers could achieve social justice is through a group effort in the form of unions. Since competition and isolation are the weapons used by the bourgeoisie to control the proletariat, their opposite—unification and mutual aid—can be tools to fight injustice.

The insistence on the importance of the group and collective action, as well as the dismissal of the modern family as a commercial transaction, would suggest that Engels was already considering different ways of social organization. The Condition of the Working Class in England does not discuss in detail such issues as marriage, love, sex, or gender; however, the author, like most socialists, was in favor of a classless society with no private property, which would make the institution of marriage as it existed in the 19th century superfluous. Thus, for Engels, the counteraction to capitalist isolation is not the traditional family but unions or other less official group structures. In latter works, Engels and Marx would theorize more about what the relationship between the individual and society should look like, but it was in Marxist-Leninist doctrine that the idea of collectivism was fully realized and defined.

The book is structured around the topic of workers’ poverty and their exploitation by the bourgeoisie in all possible ways. Each chapter examines the terrible conditions of the proletariat, created artificially by the drive for more profit. The surplus products, which bring in capital, are often nonessential luxury goods, such as lace and decorations. While the upper-middle class is enriched by the production and exportation of such products, the workers creating them suffer physically and mentally. Engels brings to the forefront the fact that it is impossible for factory and mill owners not to be aware of the terrible conditions they are imposing on their employees, and that they are more concerned with monetary profit than with human lives. He also debunks the belief that the rich are morally superior as they give back to the proletariat through charity by demonstrating that any money paid to philanthropic societies is seen as a bargain: The upper-middle classes do not want to be faced with esthetically repellent images of beggars and, so, they try to buy peace of mind by giving money to the poor.

Another key element in the oppression of the proletariat is played by urban planning. Since the Age of Enlightenment, politicians and philosophers have considered how the built environment affects society and have put much thought and theorizing into what constitutes a “perfect” city. Socialists are no exception: One of the first things the Soviet intelligentsia attempted after the Revolution of 1917 was to change building and city design to emphasize communal spaces in an attempt to “re-educate” people. The urban geography described by Engels suggests that English workers are kept in such poor conditions by design as one more way to control them even if the creation of the slums themselves was not planned or intentional. The Manchester main roads with pretty facades are used purposefully to segregate the poor from the rich by precluding members of the proletariat from moving to better housing or acquiring property in other parts of the city. It is also easier to control and discriminate against a group when it is contained within a geographic region. This is why part of the socialist solution to such terrible living conditions is the elimination of private property, which, in theory, would equalize people on an economic level.