The Condition of the Working Class in England · Chapter
Endnotes explained
The endnotes provide extensive citations and references supporting the main text, including sources on the condition of the working class, industrial capitalism, and social conditions in England.
What happens
The endnotes provide extensive citations and references supporting the main text, including sources on the condition of the working class, industrial capitalism, and social conditions in England. They also include commentary on the bourgeoisie's responsibility and the workers' movements.
Themes in this chapter
Industrial Capitalism
The endnotes cite sources on the factory system, machinery, and the economic structures of industrial capitalism.
Labor Exploitation and Machinery
References to reports on child labor and the conditions of factory workers highlight the exploitation inherent in the industrial system.
Bourgeois Hypocrisy and Philanthropy
The narrator criticizes the bourgeoisie for ignoring the conditions of workers while claiming moral superiority.
Worker Resistance and Organization
The endnotes include references to workers' movements, Chartism, and the right of coalition.
Characters to notice
- Unknown
The narrator provides extensive citations and commentary throughout the endnotes.
- Dr. Andrew Ure
Cited for his works on the philosophy of manufactures and cotton manufacture.
- Thomas Carlyle
Referenced for his work 'Chartism' and commentary on workers' rebellion.
- Adam Smith
Quoted on the economics of labor and slavery.
- James Leach
Cited for 'Stubborn Facts from the Factories'.
- Dr. Hawkins
Referenced in the Factories' Inquiry Commission's Reports.
- Dr. J. Kay
Cited for his pamphlet on the condition of the working-class in Manchester.
- P. Gaskell
Referenced for 'The Manufacturing Population of England'.
Key passages
“though the wear and tear of a free servant be equally at the expense of his master, it generally costs him much less than that of a slave.”
Even though a free worker's upkeep is paid by the employer, it is cheaper than maintaining a slave.
Adam Smith's economic argument on labor costs.
“But that this society, and especially the bourgeoisie, is charged with the duty of protecting every member of society, at least, in his life, to see to it, for example, that no one starves, I need not now prove to my German readers.”
The bourgeoisie has a responsibility to ensure no one starves, a point that is self-evident to German readers.
The narrator asserts the moral duty of the ruling class.
“What kind of wild justice must it be in the hearts of these men that prompts them, with cold deliberation, in conclave assembled, to doom their brother workman, as the deserter of his order and his order’s cause, to die a traitor’s and a deserter’s death.”
The workers' secret tribunals that condemn traitors reflect a fierce sense of justice.
Carlyle's description of workers' secret justice.
