In this book, Engels spends 21 months to
survey the condition of the working class in England. He travels all around the
important industrial sectors around the England and to evaluate the living,
health, social and working condition of working class. Although the condition
of working people might be varies by their occupations and locations, Engels
argues that the general picture of working class people is the same.
In the living condition aspect, working
people live in a miserable condition. Lacking of basic infrastructure of house,
almost none of furniture they can afford, and too narrow space for too many
people. Furthermore, over-crowded of housing increases the possibility of
spreading disease and that will undermine the health of workers. Engels
describes that even living in such kind of condition, working people still need
to pay unreasonable rental fee to the owners. These owners are bourgeoisie and
sometime they are the employers of working people. Engels argues that if
workers live in the house which provided by their employer, the employer can
not only exploit workers by raising rental fee but also can thread workers to
accept unreasonable wages by kicking them out of their home.
For the health issue, Engels describes that
the living and working condition should be responsible for the health problem.
As I mention above, the living condition potentially increase the possibility
and easiness for disease to spread. However, the working people encounter more
severe and threaten situation in their working environment. Most of the workers
start to work in their very early age. No matter what kind of job they have,
generally speaking, they spend 12 or more than 12 hours on duty which can cause
them to have poor health condition and over-loaded work also cause them to have
abnormal body shape. According to Engels' description, lots of workers died before
forty by asthma or other disease or wounded that caused by their works.
The working condition is not only causes
the health issue but also social and family problems for workers. As Engels
argues, after the improvement of machine and factory owners adapt more and more
machines. On the one hand, this improvement increases the productivity of
industry. On the other hand, these new machines compete with workers for their
jobs, especially those male adult workers. These male adult workers lost their
jobs. Meanwhile, factories still hire women and children. Engels argues that
this situation will disturb the traditional division of labor between gender
and deconstructed family structure. Women spend too long of time in factory
makes them lack of ability and energy to handle the household works and take
care of children. Too early to work cause children don't have chance to attend
to school.
In social and working aspect, for example,
miners who are working under the ground usually work in an almost naked
condition to against humidity and hot working environment. Since the temperature
is indifferent to gender, male and female workers are all working in this
condition. Engels argues that this kind of condition can easily collapse the
moral notion inside the working area.
