Most of these people!' cried Owen, his usually pale face flushing red and his eyes shining with sudden anger, 'most of these people do not deserve to be called human beings at all! They're devils! They know that whilst they are indulging in pleasures of every kind--all around them men and women and little children are existing in want or dying of hunger!" Relief that is, from any illusion that things will probably be ok; that we have learnt from mistakes of the past, and that we are at the dawn of some enlightened benevolent age. Crass, one of nature's NCOs and deeply suspicious of Owen, challenges him: if you're so clever what is the real cause of poverty? Eventually the old man Linden dies in the workhouse aged 67 and gets buried in a pauper’s grave whilst his grandchildren live in one room with the Easton’s. The Barrington’s of the world were few and far between but he did bring in a large slice of contentment for a short period of time over Christmas just to show that good, decent people do exist and they don’t have to wrangle to survive.

Ragged Trousered Philanthropists - Robert Review: The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists - Robert

His working men lead harsh lives at the whim of their bosses, with little praise or pay for their labours, and harsh penalties or dismissal for the slightest of mistakes. It is very funny book, very sad book and very Union book. The sadness part of this book is that it was published in April 1914 to show paint trade was been treat and by end of year it didn't matter because WWI started and the paint was drying in the poppy fields in blood. And the message ...that society's repeated failure to fairly distribute the necessities of human life, and a pathalogical tendency towards corruption and vain consumption are so prevalent, so manifestly routine, that our doom is all but certain. Our very survival as a species may lie in re-organizing our affairs efficiently for the benefit of all, rather than the priviledge of few. In 2008, an adaptation by Tom Mclennan, was commissioned by the PCS Union as part of its contribution to the 2008 Liverpool Capital of Culture events. It was performed at various venues in Liverpool and later in Hastings at an event organised by the Tressell Society.This is a human story, and it is eminently readable, but it also chillingly reveals the schism and vice at the heart of the capitalist so-called civilisation, based on the system of money. My main object was to write a readable story full of human interest and based on the happenings of everyday life, the subject of Socialism being treated incidentally."

Ragged Trousered Philanthropists: Rickard, Sophie The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists: Rickard, Sophie

I’ve certainly read my fair share of gritty and depressing literature in my time, yet I found myself quite unprepared for the bleak and desolate nature of Robert Tresswell’s The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists – number 72 in the BBC’s Big Read. AO: And, finally, what are you both working on next, either in comics or in other areas of the arts? The book provides a comprehensive picture of social, political, economic and cultural life in Britain at a time when socialism was beginning to gain ground. It was around that time that the Labour Party was founded and began to win seats in the House of Commons. Thorpe, Vanessa (2 May 2009). "The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists leads surge in popularity for leftwing books". The Guardian.

Like I said, this is a book with an unashamed ideological message, it presents, in fictional form, many of the ideas and arguments socialists have put about the nature of money, exploitation, and how the socialisation of production, distribution and exchange might usher in a world for the benefit of all humanity, even including the rich. As such, reading this might save you from having to read what are much harder texts to read, such as Capital. A stage adaptation was commissioned by the Public and Commercial Services Union for "Unions 08". The play, by Tom Mclennan, is still running and on its third consecutive year of touring. [ when?] The Tressell Society said of the adaptation: "This is the best production of this important work we have ever seen." [ citation needed] Tressell was the pen name of an Irishman, Robert Noonan; he took it in honour of his trade, painting and decorating. Last year I adapted his masterpiece as a play which was performed at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre then at the Chichester theatre festival. The idea to do the adaptation came from its director, Christopher Morahan. He says of the novel: "It's the antidote to the double dip, what it's like to be working or not as the case may be, funny, true, angry and timeless. It changed my dad's life as it did mine." He hated and despised them because they calmly saw their children condemned to hard labour and poverty for life, and deliberately refused to make any effort to secure for them better conditions than those they had themselves."