The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844: with a Preface written in 1892Engels, Friedrich
History
The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844: with a Preface written in 1892
Engels, Friedrich
Great Britain -- Economic conditions; Working class -- Great Britain
to subjection under the yoke of the property-holding class? We shall
meet later an example of this obstinate, unconquerable courage of men who
surrender to force only when all resistance would be aimless and
unmeaning. And precisely in this quiet perseverance, in this lasting
determination which undergoes a hundred tests every day, the English
working-man develops that side of his character which commands most
respect. People who endure so much to bend one single bourgeois will be
able to break the power of the whole bourgeoisie.
But apart from that, the English working-man has proved his courage often
enough. That the turnout of 1842 had no further results came from the
fact that the men were in part forced into it by the bourgeoisie, in part
neither clear nor united as to its object. But aside from this, they
have shown their courage often enough when the matter in question was a
specific social one. Not to mention the Welsh insurrection of 1839, a
complete battle was waged in Manchester in May, 1843, during my residence
there. Pauling & Henfrey, a brick firm, had increased the size of the
bricks without raising wages, and sold the bricks, of course, at a higher
price. The workers, to whom higher wages were refused, struck work, and
the Brickmakers' Union declared war upon the firm. The firm, meanwhile,
succeeded with great difficulty in securing hands from the neighbourhood,
and among the knobsticks, against whom in the beginning intimidation was
used, the proprietors set twelve men to guard the yard, all ex-soldiers
and policemen, armed with guns. When intimidation proved unavailing, the
brick-yard, which lay scarcely a hundred paces from an infantry barracks,
was stormed at ten o'clock one night by a crowd of brickmakers, who
advanced in military order, the first ranks armed with guns. They forced
their way in, fired upon the watchmen as soon as they saw them, stamped
out the wet bricks spread out to dry, tore down the piled-up rows of
those already dry, demolished everything which came in their way, pressed
into a building, where they destroyed the furniture and maltreated the
wife of the overlooker who was living there. The watchmen, meanwhile,
had placed themselves behind a hedge, whence they could fire safely and
without interruption. The assailants stood before a burning brick-kiln,
which threw a bright light upon them, so that every ball of their enemies
struck home, while every one of their own shots missed its mark.
Nevertheless, the firing lasted half-an-hour, until the ammunition was
exhausted, and the object of the visit--the demolition of all the
destructible objects in the yard--was attained. Then the military
approached, and the brickmakers withdrew to Eccles, three miles from
Manchester. A short time before reaching Eccles they held roll-call, and
each man was called according to his number in the section when they
separated, only to fall the more certainly into the hands of the police,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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