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The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists

3.92 of 5 stars 3.92 · rating details · 1,892 ratings · 144 reviews

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists tells the story of a group of working men who are joined one day by Owen, a journeyman-prophet with a vision of a just society. Owen's spirited attacks on the greed and dishonesty of the capitalist system rouse his fellow men from their political quietism. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is both a masterpiece of wit and political p...more

Paperback, 608 pages

Published 1993 by HarperCollins Publishers (first published April 23rd 1914)

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Aug 27, 2012 Megan Baxter rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book makes me feel like a bad leftie. I wanted to like it so much more than I did, and while parts of it are very powerful, the book is overlong, and treads the same ground so often that I had to force myself to finish it.

When I started The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists I was full of enthusiasm, as the first chapter introduced the main character, Frank Owen (obviously named after Robert Owen, but this caused some confusion for me at the start, as I couldn't quite remember Robert Owen's...more This book makes me feel like a bad leftie. I wanted to like it so much more than I did, and while parts of it are very powerful, the book is overlong, and treads the same ground so often that I had to force myself to finish it.

When I started The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists I was full of enthusiasm, as the first chapter introduced the main character, Frank Owen (obviously named after Robert Owen, but this caused some confusion for me at the start, as I couldn't quite remember Robert Owen's first name, and became briefly convinced this was supposed to be Robert Owen - look, my timeline was a little spotty. A quick glimpse at wikipedia showed me how much earlier Owenism started.)

Frank is a skilled housepainter, particularly with the detail work. But he, and all the other skilled workmen he works with, work for a firm that takes as much as it can out of them while paying them as little as possible. The names are not subtle in this book. We have Slyme, we have Crass, we have Rushton and Sweater (think what that means in a work context, not in regard to an article of clothing), we have the firm of Dauber and Botchit. I could go on. Subtlety is not this book's strong point.

In the first chapter, during their lunch break, Frank expounds his Socialist views to his coworkers, and damned if every argument they make against him doesn't have eerie similarities to ones we hear today about the laziness of the poor, and the inability to pay people any more than the bare minimum. Frank disposes of these arguments handily, and I am excited.

The book goes on to examine the lives of the housepainters, how difficult (read: impossible) it is to live on the pittance they are paid, the effects this has on their health, on their families, on their work, on society. And all is going well - it's not an easy book to read, but it is a powerful one.

And then I get to around page 200, and I well and truly have the point. By page 300, it feels like we're just retreading the same ground. I get it, already! I'm on board!

And it keeps going. And I realize there are 300 pages more to go. And the arguments he's making, the destroyed lives he's describing, they're devastating, but not more devastating than they were the first time he outlined them all. The caricaturist descriptions of the evils of the capitalist and the system continue - and it's not that I disagree, it's that I'm tired.

And there are still 200 pages to go. Getting through this book was truly a slog, and ended up knocking at least a star off of my rating. There are really good arguments in this book, and some not-so-great arguments, but it is just too long. If it was half the size, and he made his strongest (and devastatingly effective) arguments in 300 pages and finished, masterpiece. At 600 pages, it's wearisome.

The title comes from the idea that the working-class must be philanthropists, to work for so little in order to let others make so much. Barbara Ehrenreich makes a similar point at the end of Nickle and Dimed. But she knew when to stop, when she'd made her point and could leave it with the reader. This book does not.

I am heartened that this book made it onto the BBC Big Read list. I'm also a little puzzled. (less)

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Jan 31, 2012 Pygmalion7 rated it 5 of 5 stars

If you've ever reflected on the woes of the world, this novel might offer some relief.

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.

Written and set in the Edwardian era of 1901 to 1910, Robert Tressell describes his work ...
"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...more

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Dec 12, 2011 Steve Mitchell rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This novel is set at the start of the 20th century and the birth of Britain’s Labour party as they attempt to bring about a Socialist utopia for the working classes. Outlining the resistance to change by the Liberal and Tory governing classes as well as the very workers that would benefit the most from the changes highlights the idiocy of the day. The working classes did not seek to better their lot condemning their children to the same fate even when the Socialists demonstrate the folly of cont...more

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Jul 21, 2007 Marcus rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: literature

I read the complete, unedited text, after being given it as a rather thoughtful Christmas present. It is rightly heralded as a classic piece of working-class literature, as it takes you into the brutish yet everyday horrors endured by the British working-class, at a time when socialism was beginning to gain ground.

One of the most arresting aspects, is how little our lives have changed in the time since it was written (1914). Certainly there have been great strides forward in many aspects, but t...more

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May 13, 2009 Rob rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This classic example of early socialist fiction, little read at the time of its publication nearly a hundred years ago, has found favour in recent times following the questioning of the capitalist system brought on by the credit crunch. Concentrating on working conditions in a painting and decorating outfit, the book celebrates the labour theory of value and condemns the exploiting class.

Whilst occasionally subsiding into a ranting, didactic style, Tressell writes with enough verve, humour and...more

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Dec 12, 2011 James rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, state-of-the-nation

A passionately written socialist polemic describing the hardships Edwardian housepainters had to endure. There are no shades of grey in this novel, and the author believes that if you have a point to make, dont make it once when you can do it twenty times. Additionally the solution presented in the book with the benefit of being able to look back at the 20th century is naive to say the least. What however endures in this book beyond any doubt and provides it with a compelling voice even today is...more

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Jan 26, 2013 T84 rated it 5 of 5 stars

I originally got this book from my local library and set about reading it daily on my commute to work. my commute used to be 40 minutes and the time flew by as I turned page after page of this book.

I have always been a bookworm and can say hand on heart that this is one of two books that I call the best books I have ever read. The other is To Kill a Mockingbird. I cannot explain to people why I love this book as much as I do, it is the only book that has ever made me laugh and cry.

Since I read...more

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Dec 17, 2012 Nicola rated it 1 of 5 stars

There are much more entertaining and better written novels on the plight of the working classes than this. What about Animal Farm by George Orwell/Eric Blair, for example? What about Sons and Lovers by DH Lawrence. I have no quarrel with a book about the working men (and women) and their difficult lives. This one just isn't interesting enough, though. It isn't strictly speaking a novel - it's more like a manifesto.

I have to say, I don't take very kindly to Tressell's idea that the workers deser...more

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Nov 07, 2012 David Williams rated it 4 of 5 stars

This biting and bitter social satire was declined by publishers in Robert Tressell's lifetime which says much about the prevailing social order that the novel criticises, for it is as uncomfortable for the establishment as it is powerful for the reader. It is now a century since it was written but the book (sometimes called the bible of socialism, sometimes the first working class novel)remains as broadly relevant today as it did in the period just before the First World War. Under the surface o...more This biting and bitter social satire was declined by publishers in Robert Tressell's lifetime which says much about the prevailing social order that the novel criticises, for it is as uncomfortable for the establishment as it is powerful for the reader. It is now a century since it was written but the book (sometimes called the bible of socialism, sometimes the first working class novel)remains as broadly relevant today as it did in the period just before the First World War. Under the surface of apparent progress surprisingly litte has changed with respect to class distinction and social economic status in the western world: the rich still wax fat on the labours of the poor; politicians still rise to power on empty promises that are swallowed whole by a deluded electorate.

Robert Tressell was the pen-name of Robert Noonan. Fittingly the name was taken from the decorator's 'tressell' for Noonan was himself a decorator and signwriter. The central characters in his novel are a set of impoverished painters and decorators whose work and lives are examined in relation to each other, their struggling families and their grasping employers. The book is overtly political and occasionally doctrinaire - setting the principles of socialism (as a theoretical ideal) against the unjust realities of capitalism - but it also has a strong narrative and characterisation played out in credible if oppressive situations. There is humour too, which serves to season the prevailing mood of near-despair.

Tressell's only work may lack the subtlety of, say, George Orwell, but it greatly influenced Orwell and other political writers when they were finally able to read it. It is a pity that Robert Noonan died without knowing his ambition to be published would eventually be realised and unaware of how seminal his book, written in angry sincerity, would become. Even if he knew this, however, he would doubtless remain disappointed that socialism as he understood it has never genuinely been tried while, after flirting with mixed economies, most western nations have reverted to a capitalist system as virulent as the one he knew. Plus ça change.(less)

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Oct 11, 2012 Denerick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Were I alive a hundred years and had read this book, I'm fairly convinced it would have made me a Marxist. Tressel (his pen name, which draws attention to his profession) does a great job in describing the squalid misery of the working class in this middling southern English town. What makes it distinct from other socialist novels is that the focus isn't on one large company and how it treats its workers, but instead on sets of tradesmen who have to struggle through periods of unemployment. When...more Were I alive a hundred years and had read this book, I'm fairly convinced it would have made me a Marxist. Tressel (his pen name, which draws attention to his profession) does a great job in describing the squalid misery of the working class in this middling southern English town. What makes it distinct from other socialist novels is that the focus isn't on one large company and how it treats its workers, but instead on sets of tradesmen who have to struggle through periods of unemployment. When in employment, their lives are a constant battle against rent and debt. It makes for very compelling, very moving stuff. It does make you angry, and sad, and mad, and maybe even a little bad bad, as we can see echoes of this system still in force today. But the world described in this turn of the 20th century novel in no way compares with the condition of the working class today. With a little prudence you can lead a relatively decent lifestyle, with access to culture only dreamed of in earlier generations. At least, that is, in most western countries.

What I most enjoy is his focus on 'the benefits of civilisation'. Self actualisation of human beings isn't to be realised by merely having 'employment' or some temporary security from poverty, but by the higher rewards. Simple things like bike rides, visits to music venues, or books, are the things that are worthwhile in life and which should be the entitlement of all those born, not just those born to the upper or middle classes.

Whilst I feel very positively towards this book on both an emotional and an intellectual level, it of course has flaws. As fiction it has adopted a semi allegorical approach, castigating the religious (Who are without exception hypocrites and liars), the wealthy (With one notable exception being exploitative psychopaths) and generally anyone who doesn't uphold socialist principles. For all that, it is an accomplished book with an extremely persuasive moral message. But one must employ their critical faculties appropriately and remember that, after all, this is a work of fiction.(less)

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Apr 30, 2012 Sean rated it 5 of 5 stars

Most critics seem to comment on the book being a Socialist rant. This is true but despite this the book holds much cultural truth and still holds up to this day with regards to its social commentary. Tressell conveys a message about human needs and requirements and uses Socialism as a tool to point out the flaws of the current system of living, and how we may emerge into a more balanced social order, for all peoples. Tressell's main observation is pointing out the ignorance amongst people unwill...more

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Apr 04, 2012 Patrick rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book, as well as being a socialist's bible, is a gripping commentary on the social conditions of the time...a detailed and scathing Marxist analysis of the relationship between the working class people and their employers. The "philanthropists" of the title are the workers who, in Noonan 's view, acquiesce in their own exploitation in the interests of their bosses.
Clearly frustrated at the refusal of his contemporaries to recognise the inequalities and corruption of society, Tressell's cas...more

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Jun 13, 2011 Christopher Jarvis rated it 5 of 5 stars

First published in 1914, Robert Tressell's novel 'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists' has been hailed by many as the quintessential socialist novel. In many ways, it works as a form of fictional accompaniment to Orwell's 'The Road to Wigan Pier'. What Tressell achieved in this novel was one of the first 20th century fictional works that analysed the plight of the working class from the perspective of a person who was very much a part of that plight - Tressell himself.

When reading The Ragged Tr...more

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Jul 26, 2011 Jayne Charles rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was written nearly a hundred years ago, but it doesn't have the sort of overly-descriptive wordy feel of other books from that era. Tressell has a straightforward, almost childlike style, and accordingly the story is very accessible and easy to read. I would never consider myself a socialist (I have no left-leanings whatsoever!) so this book's great triumph is that it almost turned me red! The case that is made for socialism is compelling, you cannot but feel sympathy for the character...more

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Apr 14, 2012 Jimmy Burns rated it 5 of 5 stars

What a book. This is a novel exposing greed, corruption and the pusillanimous nature of the class system which is as relevant today as it was on the day it was published.

The story revolves around the plight of working men and how they are perceived by and treated as sub-human commodities by their bosses and the bosses underlings. Tressell (a nom-de-plume for Robert Noonan)was a journeyman painter and decorator and moved from his native Ireland to follow any work he could find. The novel is a dis...more

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Jul 14, 2012 Max rated it 5 of 5 stars

Set at the beginning of the 20th century and following how the birth and rise of socialism was needed but poorly received by the working classes, this superbly written novel paints a horrifying view of the class structure and differences in Britain at the time.
Simply set in Mugsborough, a well-named fictional town in England, the novel follows a group of painters and decorators as they scrimp and scrape a living from the meagre offerings of their rich employers. The book contains a number of sto...more Set at the beginning of the 20th century and following how the birth and rise of socialism was needed but poorly received by the working classes, this superbly written novel paints a horrifying view of the class structure and differences in Britain at the time.
Simply set in Mugsborough, a well-named fictional town in England, the novel follows a group of painters and decorators as they scrimp and scrape a living from the meagre offerings of their rich employers. The book contains a number of stories based around the different families – the story of the financier down on his luck and reinvented as a decorator (Easton) and his wife is simply heart-breaking, that families could be expected to live in such abject poverty when their ‘masters’ were scrimping and slave-driving to save a few pennies is unbelievable. The socialist, Owen, is a revolutionary character who tries to educate his poverty-stricken peers and have them realise they are defending and supporting those who have put them in such a situation but is consistently ridiculed. You can see the tide turning towards socialism somewhat as the book progresses, including a pair of speeches delivered by another peer, Barrington, at the company outing (more aimed at the ‘masters’) and again to the workers on a rainy day. These speeches reminded me of another book I read recently, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand – though that novel is the exact opposite of this in every respect – the speeches about Capitalism in Atlas are FAR too long and in my mind completely opposed to how the world should be run. Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists simply demonstrates the wrongs of the world and that they could be better fixed by a socialist ideal than the selfish-living represented by Capitalism.
This novel also delivers some damning rhetoric on the subject of religion in the hands of the ‘educated’ classes and its’ use to put down and pacify the working classes. Priests are represented as fat, wealthy old men holding the purse-strings and even having the audacity to get the children of the poor to hold collections – one noteable situation is where a collection is held for the old priest so he can have a convalescent month in the South of France!
One thing that is hard to deal with when reading this book is that it’s so easy to draw conclusions with the here-and-now – although the abject-poverty of the turn of the century is no longer with us in such numbers, the working classes are still pacified by religion (and indeed the ‘religion’ of lowest-common-denominator television delivered by those in the upper and middle classes) and respect those who seek to own the world’s wealth at the expense of the workers and without actually doing any meaningful work themselves.
So, not exactly a barrel of laughs but a fantastically-written novel demonstrating the wrongs of the world not just through an overall sense but actually through the eyes of those most affected.
(less)

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May 31, 2009 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This classic is especially timely today when we are forced to question all the assumptions of free market capitalism. I read the book as a selection from the BBC big reads list as part of the Next Best Book Club’s Spring Challenge. The wonderful thing about book clubs is that they make you branch out and try books you might otherwise not even have considered. I’m so glad that the title caught my eye from the BBC list – this novel truly deserves to be called a classic because of its powerful char...more

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Aug 01, 2011 Ian added it · review of another edition

Just an incredible, incredible book. I started off reading it as a Conservative, and by the time I had finished I had decided I would probably join the union at work, and consider voting Labour at the next election! I hadn't heard of it before, but have since discovered how influential this book was at the time of publication, and it is very easy to see why. I was constantly reminded of two other books whilst reading this: The Grapes of Wrath, in which Steinbeck describes poverty and survival wi...more

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Apr 16, 2012 Owen rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book is the left wing answer to Rand's Atlas shrugged.
I say this because there are no characters, only character types. People to fill in specific roles, the greedy scrooge character, the enlightened Marxist who has all the answers if only people would listen etc.
In addition, halfway through the book there's a section explaining the "money trick" which is just a blatant reading out of the political views of the author. It is dismissed as irrelevant how the capitalist acquired the capital,...more

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May 03, 2013 eric rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is absolutely startling, some completely brilliant stark descriptions of how things work. So on religion for example, I love Trollope's Barchester books, everyone seems so nice, but Tressell reveals them as corrupt criminals, and I end up agreeing.

The book is a must read, but it does tail off and repeat its themes a little around 3/4 of the way through, so it does seem as though a good editor could have made it even more successful and well known. I would certainly think that the writi...more

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Dec 11, 2012 Will rated it 3 of 5 stars

This novel's focus is a single town and building company in turn-of-the century England, through which the author reveals the widespread exploitative conditions in the English building trades. The book makes a compelling case for working class organization and socialist movement as a response to exploitation, but is less successful as a novel.

Characters are too starkly black and white - from their names (Slyme, Didlum) to their all-good or all-bad natures, plot is neglected at the expense of rhe...more

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Aug 25, 2012 Andrew rated it 4 of 5 stars

For full disclosure- I read the Project Gutenberg, unabridged version. If you're stuck with an abridged version YMMV.

This tome has loomed on my "to read" list for a while. The weight of the book, combined with lengthy warnings about making sure I had a copy with the proper ending, had put me off until recently. However, I am glad I finally braved up and dived in.

A lot has been said about the Socialist message of the book, and a lot of praise has been given for description of "The Great Money Tri...more

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Jan 08, 2012 John rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: labor

Brendan Behan liked this, which gives it a sentimental edge, and it's certainly an artefact of its time and place. The central figure is a self-taught worker who, thanks to reading and reflection, frees himself from the false consciousness that keeps his workmates docile. There were workers like him--my Dad (1903-1963) was one of them. But after the experiences and debates of the 20th century I think we have a more complicated model of how ideologies form and change, and, I hope, a little more m...more

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Aug 09, 2009 Lynne Norman rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: bbc-big-read-top-100

This was an interesting book and I'm glad I've read it - if only for the important role it played in the socialist movement. The story was moving and funny in places and the characters were well drawn. It was also quite Dickensian in how it presented it themes and its characters. However, I felt as though I was being lectured at far too often! I understand that the book was written within a certain context with a particular audience and aim in mind, but I resented being 'told off' with every cha...more

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Oct 22, 2012 Nick C rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The classic socialist read.

Transport yourself into the world of working class Edwardian Britain as the hero, Owen, rails against the system that deprives him and his family of the 'necessaries of life' and his fellow workers who are bent upon supporting this same system.

Bit too long to be a great read in the commonly understood sense (could have done with a good editor to chop out the longeurs), but that's probably missing the point. Takes socialism out of the hands of the academics and gives it...more

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Jun 17, 2011 Rachel Hirstwood rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

For what could have easily turned out as a really long political tratise, this was a fabulous good read! I loved everything about it. The names of the characters (Tressell names all the baddies in the story with names that describe their character like Dickens, only actually funny), the dialect, the era, the details of the work the characters were doind. ALL of it was great. It's not often you get to the end of a 620 page novel and then go back to the beginning and read all the notes, the prefac...more

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Feb 18, 2013 Michael Cantwell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Scarily relevant to current times despite the passage of over a century. Places the argument for an alternative way and against the established capitalist system very well but an enormous amount of repetition. Perhaps reading it from the point of view that he's already to preaching to the converted as I read it myself it's unnecessary but would it be the same to someone yet to realise those views?

That's my only real criticism, as I understand it this was published posthumously because he couldn...more

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Nov 20, 2012 Wendy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was an insightful and thought provoking book for me. In my opinion, it’s a masterpiece, well written with engaging characters that provoke thought and a deeper look into society today. Although based in Edwardian England 100 years ago, the philosophical challenges in today’s society are still there and this book is still relevant. History does indeed repeat itself or really never changes. The social “classes” in the book, still exist today as do the challenges with immigration, social refor...more

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Dec 11, 2011 Feathzzz rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, classics, socialism, socially-political

It makes some good points.

I totally agree with everything it says about capitalism, yet to some degree it doesn't really explain how problems will solved. It doesn't acknowledge any of socialism’s problems itself, of which it has many. It just seems to imply socialism is some magic answer.

Unfairly a reader a hundred years in the future probably has more knowledge of them after seeing socialism being instated though that time. I'm 7000 billion percent behind the idea of socialism but I can't ign...more

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Aug 01, 2011 Kat rated it 3 of 5 stars

Described as the first book about class war this is an interesting, ideological read. I really regret not getting an unabridged version though, as the constant repetition in over 500 pages did become a little trying. I enjoyed the way the author put his ideas across, but it was totally unsurpring to learn it was not published in his life time. I do feel it was a mistake to publish it in such an unpolished format as proper editoring would have been a great help. The ending felt a little forced bu...more

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About Robert Tressell

Robert Tressell (pen name used by Robert Noonan; April 17, 1870—February 3, 1911) was an Irish-British writer best known for his novel The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists.

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Books by Robert Tressell

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists Volume I [Easyread Comfort Edition]

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists Volume II [Easy Read Large Edition]

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists: A Play

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“Poverty is not caused by men and women getting married; it's not caused by machinery; it's not caused by "over-production"; it's not caused by drink or laziness; and it's not caused by "over-population". It's caused by Private Monopoly. That is the present system. They have monopolized everything that it is possible to monopolize; they have got the whole earth, the minerals in the earth and the streams that water the earth. The only reason they have not monopolized the daylight and the air is that it is not possible to do it. If it were possible to construct huge gasometers and to draw together and compress within them the whole of the atmosphere, it would have been done long ago, and we should have been compelled to work for them in order to get money to buy air to breathe. And if that seemingly impossible thing were accomplished tomorrow, you would see thousands of people dying for want of air - or of the money to buy it - even as now thousands are dying for want of the other necessities of life. You would see people going about gasping for breath, and telling each other that the likes of them could not expect to have air to breathe unless the had the money to pay for it. Most of you here, for instance, would think and say so. Even as you think at present that it's right for so few people to own the Earth, the Minerals and the Water, which are all just as necessary as is the air. In exactly the same spirit as you now say: "It's Their Land," "It's Their Water," "It's Their Coal," "It's Their Iron," so you would say "It's Their Air," "These are their gasometers, and what right have the likes of us to expect them to allow us to breathe for nothing?" And even while he is doing this the air monopolist will be preaching sermons on the Brotherhood of Man; he will be dispensing advice on "Christian Duty" in the Sunday magazines; he will give utterance to numerous more or less moral maxims for the guidance of the young. And meantime, all around, people will be dying for want of some of the air that he will have bottled up in his gasometers. And when you are all dragging out a miserable existence, gasping for breath or dying for want of air, if one of your number suggests smashing a hole in the side of one of th gasometers, you will all fall upon him in the name of law and order, and after doing your best to tear him limb from limb, you'll drag him, covered with blood, in triumph to the nearest Police Station and deliver him up to "justice" in the hope of being given a few half-pounds of air for your trouble.” — 13 people liked it

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