Tressell's novel is about survival on the underside of the Edwardian Twilight, about exploitative employment when the only safety nets are charity, workhouse, and grave. Following the fortunes of a group of painters and decorators and their families, and the attempts to rouse their political will by the Socialist visionary Frank Owen, the book is both a highly entertaining story and a passionate appeal for a fairer way of life. It asks questions that are still being asked today: why do your wages bear no relation to the value of your work? Why do fat cats get richer when you don't? Tressell's answers are "The Great Money Trick" and the "philanthropy" of an unenlightened workforce, who give away their rights and aspirations to a decent life so freely.Intellectually enlightening, deeply moving and gloriously funny (complete with exploding clergyman), The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is a book that changes lives.
Author(s): Robert Tressell
Edition: Reissue
Year: 2009
Language: English
Pages: 702
Contents......Page 8
Introduction......Page 10
Note on the Text......Page 39
Select Bibliography......Page 41
A Chronology of Robert Noonan, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, and Social Reform......Page 44
THE RAGGED TROUSERED PHILANTHROPISTS......Page 54
Preface......Page 58
1. An Imperial Banquet. A Philosophical Discussion. The Mysterious Stranger. Britons Never Shall Be Slaves......Page 60
2. Nimrod: A Mighty Hunter before the Lord......Page 77
3. The Financiers......Page 95
4. The Placard......Page 113
5. The Clock–Case......Page 117
6. It Is Not My Crime......Page 124
7. The Exterminating Machines......Page 141
8. The Cap on the Stairs......Page 153
9. Who Is To Pay?......Page 160
10. The Long Hill......Page 162
11. Hands and Brains......Page 169
12. The Letting of the Room......Page 174
13. Penal Servitude and Death......Page 177
14. Three Children. The Wages of Intelligence......Page 184
15. The Undeserving Persons and the Upper and Nether Millstones......Page 189
16. True Freedom......Page 209
17. The Rev. John Starr......Page 217
18. The Lodger......Page 230
19. The Filling of the Tank......Page 235
20. The Forty Thieves. The Battle: Brigands Versus Bandits......Page 248
21. The Reign of Terror. The Great Money Trick......Page 256
22. The Phrenologist......Page 272
23. The ‘Open–Air’......Page 282
24. Ruth......Page 292
25. The Oblong......Page 308
26. The Slaughter......Page 341
27. The March of the Imperialists......Page 348
28. The Week before Christmas......Page 352
29. The Pandorama......Page 361
30. The Brigands Hold a Council of War......Page 369
31. The Deserter......Page 374
32. The Veteran......Page 376
33. The Soldier’s Children......Page 378
34. The Beginning of the End......Page 384
35. Facing the ‘Problem’......Page 396
36. The OBS......Page 402
37. A Brilliant Epigram......Page 407
38. The Brigands’ Cave......Page 416
39. The Brigands at Work......Page 421
40. Vive la System!......Page 429
41. The Easter Offering. The Beano Meeting......Page 438
42. June......Page 448
43. The Good Old Summer–Time......Page 455
44. The Beano......Page 502
45. The Great Oration......Page 532
46. The ‘Sixty–Five’......Page 578
47. The Ghouls......Page 585
48. The Wise Men of the East......Page 601
49. The Undesired......Page 627
50. Sundered......Page 630
51. The Widow’s Son......Page 637
52. ‘It’s a Far, Far Better Thing that I Do, than I Have Ever Done’......Page 644
53. Barrington Finds a Situation......Page 649
54. The End......Page 653
Appendix: ‘Mugsborough’......Page 665
Explanatory Notes......Page 668
