A social philosophy which has as its aim the defense of the oppressed cannot be condemned lightly
They disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social relations. Let the ruling classes tremble at a revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. And the ruling classes did tremble. They saw the threat of revolution everywhere. Nor were their fears groundless. In the foundries the workmen sang radical songs to the accompaniment of blows from their sledgehammers. A german poet who was touring the factories reported that "really people in our gentle walk of life can have no idea of the demonic note in which runs through these songs."
The streets of Manchester were like a facade. There were pleasant streets lined with shops and suburbs ringing the city with pleasant villas. But there was a second Manchester as well. It was hidden behind the first and laid out so that the mill owners never had to see it on their trips to the office. It harbored a stunted population living in a state of filth and despair, turning to gin and evangelism and doping itself and its children with flimsy religious shields against a life that was hopeless and brutal.
When a foreigner spoke to a gentlemen friend and remarked that he had never seen so "ill built a city", his companion listened politely then said "and yet there is a good deal of money made here; good day sir"
The streets of Manchester were like a facade. There were pleasant streets lined with shops and suburbs ringing the city with pleasant villas. But there was a second Manchester as well. It was hidden behind the first and laid out so that the mill owners never had to see it on their trips to the office. It harbored a stunted population living in a state of filth and despair, turning to gin and evangelism and doping itself and its children with flimsy religious shields against a life that was hopeless and brutal.
When a foreigner spoke to a gentlemen friend and remarked that he had never seen so "ill built a city", his companion listened politely then said "and yet there is a good deal of money made here; good day sir"