The Sociology Book

66

I BROADLY ACCUSE

T H E B O U R G E O I S I E

O F S O C I A L M U R D E R

FRIEDRICH ENGELS (1820–1895)

L

iving in England from

1842 to 1844, the German

philosopher Friedrich

Engels had seen, first-hand,

the devastating effects of

industrialization on workers and

their children. The bourgeoisie, or

capitalist class, he said, knowingly

causes the workers’ “life of toil

and wretchedness... but takes no

further trouble in the matter.”

He claimed the bourgeoisie was

turning a blind eye to their part in

the early deaths of their workers,

when it was within their power

to change things, so he accused

them of “social murder.”

In the 1840s, England was

seen as the workshop of the world;

it enjoyed a unique position at the

center of the Industrial Revolution.

Engels observed that it was

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Class exploitation

KEY DATES

1760 The Industrial Revolution

begins when the “flying

shuttle” weaving machine

shifts textile manufacture

to England.

1830s–40s The British

railway system expands

rapidly, allowing easy

movement of people,

products, and capital.

1844 Graham’s Factory Act

lowers the minimum age

for working in factories in

the UK to eight years old.

1848 Marx and Engels publish

The Communist Manifesto.

1892 James Keir Hardie is

the first socialist elected to

the British parliament.

1900 The Labour Party is

formed in Britain to represent

the interests of the workers

and trade unionists.

In the 1840s, mortality in working class streets in

Manchester was 68 percent higher than in those of the “first class.”

Bourgeois society condemned the workers to

unhealthy living conditions, insecure wages,

and physical and mental exhaustion.

If society puts people in such a position that they

die an early and unnatural death, it is murder.

I broadly accuse the bourgeoisie

of social murder.