The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
Originally published in 1914, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is a timeless story of socialism, political awakenings and class struggle, told with a volatile mix of heartfelt rage and sly humour.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. A masterpiece of wit and political passion, this is one of the most authentic novels of English working class life ever written.This enduring favourite is now reinvigorated by a smart new jacket and exclusive extra material as part of Harper Perennial’s Modern Classics line of reissues. Now its timeless message of justice, equality and reason will be introduced to a whole new generation of discerning readers.
Читать The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists онлайн беплатно
Harper Perennial Modern Classics
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
Robert Tressell
Table of Contents
2 Nimrod: a Mighty Hunter before the Lord
14 Three Children. The Wages of Intelligence
15 The Undeserving Persons and the Upper and Nether Millstones
20 The Forty Thieves. The Battle: Brigands versus Bandits
21 The Reign of Terror. The Great Money Trick
27 The March of the Imperialists
30 The Brigands hold a Council of War
41 The Easter Offering. The Beano Meeting
52 âItâs a Far, Far Better Thing that I do, than I have Ever Doneâ
53 Barrington Finds a Situation
How The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists Changed My Life
The Full Monty: Recovering Tressellâs Manuscript
Robert Tressellâs original MS was âeditedâ and âre-editedâ at various times. This complete edition presents the work in almost its original form (it has been necessary to retain some editorial paraphrases where the original text is lost beyond trace: such paraphrases are enclosed within square brackets). Tressellâs idiosyncratic grammar, spelling and punctuation (his way of conveying the spoken idiom of his characters), as well as his somewhat inconsistent use of capital letters, has been restored.
This novel is about a group of painters and decorators, and their families, in Hastings (Mugsborough), around 1906. It describes the workmanâs life of that time, the subjection, deception, and destitution of the people whose labour helped to create the luxury and glitter of the Edwardian age. It is the age which those who didnât have to live in still like to refer to as the good old days of pomp and circumstance, the apex of Englandâs greatness, the time before 1914 when everyone knew his place and because of it was supposed to be contented.
I read an abridged edition of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists when I was nineteen and with the Air Force in Malaya. It was given to me by a wireless operator from Glasgow, who said: âYou ought to read this. Among other things it is the book that won the â45 election for Labour.â It had been cut to half the length of the present full version, made to end on a note of despair suggesting that cranks who believed in Socialism could do nothing better than think of suicide. The present edition ends the way the author intended.
It isnât easy to say precisely the effect this book had on me when I first read it. It certainly had a great one, because it has haunted me ever since. Those whose life has touched the misery recounted by Robert Tressell can get out of it many things: a bolstering of class feeling; pure rage; reinforcement for their own self-pity; a call to action; maybe a good and beneficial dose of all these things.
Owen, the main character, tries with marvellous patience and tenacity to enlighten his workmates, to tell them how Socialism could level out riches and give them not only a little more to live on, but also real hope of alleviating their inequalities for good. They wonât listen, so he calls them philanthropists, benefactors in ragged trousers who willingly hand over the results of their labour to the employers and the rich. They think it the natural order of things that the rich should exploit them, that âgentlemenâ are the only people with a right to govern. This theme is the soul of the novel, yet a mass of personal detail keeps it a novel and not a tract.
Robert Tressell (born Robert Noonan) was himself one of the workmen he describes, wrote his book in his spare time, and knew exactly what he was talking about. He died of tuberculosis in 1911, when he was forty, and his book was not published until 1914. It has gone through many varied editions since then, and has sold tens of thousands of copies all over the world. But this is the first time that the
