Engels & City

Engels and the English City

Another person who had concerns about the city and was very close to Marx regarding his views on this matter was Friedrich Engels. His book, The Condition of the Working Class in England is internally connected to concerns related to the city. This book, which is a result of his nightly wanderings through streets, alleys, and poor districts of Manchester, links matters such as capital accumulation and class movements to city life. His studies on Manchester show that it has grown into two completely separate areas after the industrialization of Europe: the ghettos, where workers live, and the city center, where the bourgeois class live. Engels’ view toward the city is very similar to Marx. Engels describes the city as a “war against all” (Engels 24). Engels is only mentioned here because his research on Manchester is considered important in urban studies. In other words, his work is seen as part of writings about the city in the social sciences.

Engels, Friedrich. The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844: with a Preface written in 1892. Charleston, SC: Bibliobazaar, 2007.