Oppression and Revolution

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews Friedrich Engels' book "The Condition of the Working Class in England", which explores the social issues that arose out of the creation of the proletariat by the industrial movement and which predicts that oppression by the bourgeoisie will eventually lead it to the inevitable "Revolution". It examines the social problems that Friedrich Engels identifies namely the deplorable living and working conditions in the 'Great Towns', the influx of Irish immigrants, the particular difficulties of the factory system and the mining and agricultural. It also looks at the proletariat, the Cottage system, the Truck system and the New Poor Law together with the attitude of the bourgeoisie toward the proletariat's suffering. It evaluates some of the solutions that Engels provides in trying to avoid the inevitable 'Revolution'.

From the Paper:

"This unhappy condition was further worsened by the influx of Irish immigrants who "had nothing to lose at home, and much to gain in England" (Engels, 101). In the hope of finding employment and making money, many Irishmen made their way to the English towns, bringing with them their crude habits and simplistic lifestyle. The Irish settlers did not need much to sustain their livelihood, and as such, required and were willing to work for less wages than any others. They became a strong competition for employment, and in branches of the industry where they competed with the English, wages were forced down further and further. Also, as they were accustomed to lack of cleanliness, the filth of their living quarters did not bother them, and to the ever-present garbage and dirt-heaps they added their own."

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