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The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844

Friedrich Engels · 1845

Engels's first book, an eyewitness study of industrial workers' lives in Manchester and other English cities, written at age 24.

Engels's own eyewitness account of industrial conditions, written in his youth and foundational to his later work with Marx.

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Title page of the 1845 German edition of Engels's book, reading 'Die Lage der arbeitenden Klasse in England' by Friedrich Engels, published in Leipzig by Otto Wigand. Two blue library stamps appear on the page.
Friedrich Engels, Die Lage der arbeitenden Klasse in England, Leipzig, 1845.

About this source

What it is

Written by Friedrich Engels and first published in German in 1845, this book is based on his own observations during his stay in Manchester and Salford, combined with contemporary official reports. An authorised English translation appeared later, in 1887.

Why it matters

The book argued that industrialisation had made workers' lives worse, pointing to higher death rates and poor living conditions in industrial cities compared to the countryside. It deeply impressed Karl Marx when the two met, and it helped convince Marx that the working class could be the force driving revolutionary change. It remains a key source for understanding the human cost of the Industrial Revolution.

Look closer

  • Why might a young factory owner's son have been moved to write so critically about industrial conditions?
  • What kinds of evidence does Engels use to support his claims?
  • What might the book leave out about workers' own voices and experiences?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Friedrich Engels on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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