Essay: Friederich Engels on industrialization

Throughout the 19th Century, Britain withstood a rapid transformation. Towns experienced urbanization and an increase in population by at least three fold  due to the Industrial Revolution. Between the 1820s and 1840s major cities in the UK such as Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham were a focus point of industrialization with the influence of businessmen and high profiles flooding wealth into transforming rural life into a ‘factory system’   based on workhouses and technological advances giving the working classes a chance to strive. Engels reflects on the experiences of the localities. Despite this incredible step forward in modernization, Engels describes the negative effects this had on the working class and the decline in their living and social conditions throughout the period.
The political background of the author can influence opinions on this source. Friederich Engels’ history included devising the Communist Manifesto with Marx. Hence, his political bias could be reflected here as he exposes the ‘filth, ruin and uninhabitableness’  in which the working classes of Manchester are forced to provide their labour for the bourgeoisie.
Engels uses an irate tone to demonstrate the unfair circumstances the working classes experience due to urbanization. The motive behind the publication would be audience of the urban proletariat to enlighten them on how poor the conditions they are living in are. This could then promote a sense of revolution within the community as they realise the inequality and class war in society at this time. Engels main objective as a Communist would have been to spark revolution amongst the proletariat to overthrow the bourgeoisie thus, this source would be used as political propaganda to enable communism to spread throughout Europe so may not be considered the most useful source.
During the industrial revolution, city centres became the focus of consumerism, demand and production with most of the high social status businessmen and factory owners living in the centre surrounded by the workhouses and working class accommodation. This left the working classes living in squalor and slums. Engels ignores that from 1836 new buildings were provided in a bid to ‘cleanse the city’  and move workhouses further outside the centre to allow for new civic buildings, parks and spaces in the centre and create an open, disease free space for the public rather than dark slums, therefore this source ignores some of the changes that tried to improve these conditions. However, Engels description of the living conditions of the poor clearly reflects a theme of morality during this period. As the ‘Manchester Man’ would flood their wealth into creating a new modern city with the aim of being charitable and ‘giving’ back to the population to improve conditions. Shapley argues that their involvement with local charities, entering the ‘charity field’ meant associating with notions of care, making the leaders appear as morally upstanding members of the community.   This is shown in a newspaper article as it brags about how they have ‘ devoted themselves with the most laudable energy…making the parks as attractive as possible to the citizens’   However, it is clear that these acts of charity were meaningless and self-absorbed, ‘the Manchester Man’ would involve himself in the charity field to increase his social status and maintain their social leadership. As well as this, the parks and spaces made to create a ‘morally healthy’ environment only re-instated their Christian values as still there would be separate spaces for different genders, the work they did was not altruistic and used economic status to improve the city rather than improve the lives of the proletariat.  Thus, despite the huge improvements to the city the working class were still neglected as described by Engels.
Engels ignores major benefits of industrialization including the fact that it can be argued that it did help improve living conditions. The source was written in 1844, so cannot be generalized about the whole period of industrialization, also it ignores major advances made in living conditions. This includes Acts passed from the 1840s in order to improve sewage systems and drainage systems in streets due to the Cholera outbreak in 1832. Hannah Barker also addresses some advancements such as ‘consumer revolution’ and the development of specialist and luxury trades and crafts such as silversmiths and jewelers.   This shows that mass immigration from rural areas gave the population chance to modernize and find jobs and housing in the city increasing the size of the public sphere. However, as Engels shows it was only the higher social classes that benefitted from these advancements and the benefits of industrialization were accompanied by huge social divisions. Up until the 1870s town centres contained a mixture of social classes this was because only the wealthiest of the population could afford to move. Therefore, as Engels clearly describes, the working classes witnessed worsening living conditions whereas the emerging middling class and charitable men with majority of the cities wealth experienced the benefits of the new social system and living conditions.
Furthermore, it also meant that the public and private sphere were separated and families could experience workplace and home separately. Due to the rapid growth of cities and increase in the need for work, families would aim to have more children to support their household and increase family income. Thus, this resulted in overcrowding as Engels explains ‘twenty to thirty thousand inhabitants’ leading to more disease spreading and poorer living conditions. The position of women during this period of the 1830s also changed, as industrialization and the widening of streets from the 1820s enabled women to have a role outside of the private sphere. Department stores and shopping became entertainment and allowed women a space to socialize, hence improving the social conditions and lives of women rather than the picture Engels presents of demonizing urbanization as completely destructing the lives of localities.
Engels portrays a very pessimistic picture of the effects of industrialisation in Britain at this time and ignores many of the benefits this brought to cities. This is due to the political nature of Engels work as whole, as some contemporary Historians highlight the advancements of industrialisation.