A Comrade Under Marx’s Shadow Friedrich Engels and the Condition of the Working Class in England
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Abstract
Although the comradeship between Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels has been one of the most renowned relationships among leading thinkers and revolutionaries in history, it has often been interpreted by scholars who study these two thinkers, and even Engels himself, as an unequal relationship. While Marx was saluted as a great philosopher, a giant thinker, and a critical writer, Engels was normally perceived as a supporter in Marx’s personal life, an assistant to Marx’s writing, an unoriginal writer who simply publicized Marx’s works, or even the first Marxist who distorted Marx’s ideas. Challenging that perception, this article brings into light The Condition of the Working Class in England. This is Engels’s classic work that was written while the friendship between Engels and Marx just began to take shape, and it significantly influenced Marx’s approach to study capitalism. On top of that, this book is Engels’s masterpiece that reveals his great contributions to Marxist theories, critical studies in political economy, social sciences, and history, and a discussion about enduring problems in contemporary capitalist society. In this regard, Engels should no longer be seen as a “second fiddle” to Marx as conventionally understood. Instead, he should be celebrated and saluted as a great thinker in his own right.
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