First-hand accounts of one woman's fight to improve working conditions for Americans in the early twentieth century

Florence Kelley (1859 1932) was a committed socialist and political reformer who campaigned against child labour in the United States. In 1899 she became the leader of the National Consumers' League, an anti-sweatshop and pro-minimum wage pressure group which she supported until her death. This volume, first published in 1914, describes her views on the problems facing American society due to the expansion of industry. Kelley discusses the negative effects of rapid industrialisation on the American urban working class, in terms of the effects on the family, on the health of workers, on the...

Friedrich Engels (November 28, 1820 - August 5, 1895) was a German industrialist, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory, working in close collaboration alongside Karl Marx. In 1845, he published "The Condition of the Working Class in England," based on personal observations and research. In 1848, he produced with Marx "The Communist Manifesto" and later he supported Marx financially to do research and write "Das Kapital." After Marx's death Engels edited the second and third volumes. Additionally, Engels organized Marx's notes on the "Theories...