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In The Condition of the Working Class in England, who does Engels accuse of committing "social murder?"

In The Condition of the Working Class in England, Friedrich Engels accuses society of committing social murder. In a footnote, Engels defines society as the ruling class or bourgeoisie who "hold social and political control" in England.


For Engels, the bourgeoisie regularly commits social murder and, by this, he means that they place members of the working class in such a precarious and explored position that they die as a result of starvation and deprivation. Engels clarifies this in the chapter entitled "Results:"



"Society in England daily and hourly commits what the working-men's organs, with perfect correctness, characterise as social murder, that it has placed the workers under conditions in which they can neither retain health nor live long; that it undermines the vital force of these workers gradually, little by little, and so hurries them to the grave before their time."



In fact, while resident in England, Engels learned of the deaths of "twenty or thirty" working-class people who perished as a result of starvation and in the "most revolting circumstances." But no person was ever brought to account (and faced trial) because it is the nature of society (in which the bourgeoisie have all the power and advantages) which is to blame. 

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