The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists

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It’s a beautiful idea but it’s too good to be practical because human nature is too mean and selfish. 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.

Ragged Trousered Philanthropists - Goodreads The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists - Goodreads

RT was also not around to observe the progress of the Russian experiment in socialism. I wonder what he would have said to that.

Given the author's interest in the philosophy of Plato, it is highly likely that "the Cave" is a reference to Plato's " Allegory of the Cave". A major recurring theme in Tressell's book highlights the inability and reluctance of the workers to comprehend, or even consider, an alternative economic system. The author attributes this inability, amongst other things, to the fact that they have never experienced an alternative system, and have been raised as children to unquestioningly accept the status quo, whether or not it is in their interests. In Plato's work, the underlying narrative suggests that in the absence of an alternative, human beings will submit to their present condition and consider it normal, no matter how contrived the circumstances. Owen sets out his view in the first chapter: a b Tressell, Robert (1983) [1955]. "Publisher's Foreword". The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. London: Lawrence and Wishart. OCLC 779119068. I won't lie and say that it is all easy reading, there are bits which are tough going but fight through them and you'll realise why this book is now considered a classic. An adaptation was made by Above the Title Productions for BBC radio in 2008, produced by Rebecca Pinfield and Johnny Vegas, and directed by Dirk Maggs. Three 60-minute episodes were broadcast as the Classic Serial on Radio 4. Actors included Andrew Lincoln (Owen), Johnny Vegas (Easton), Timothy Spall (Crass), Paul Whitehouse (Old Misery), John Prescott (Policeman), Bill Bailey (Rushton), Kevin Eldon (Slyme), and Tony Haygarth (Philpot). This adaptation was nominated for a Sony Radio Drama Award in 2009. [14]

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell

I first came across this while reading the Secret Diary of Adrian Mole - a "sacred text" of mine when I was about 12. Adrian, wanting to be an intellectual, had got hold of the book but - I think - wasn´t sure he wanted to read a book about badly dressed stamp collectors. Now this book itself has become something of a sacred text to a lot of people and - finally getting around to reading it at 44 years young - I can see why. I designed to show the conditions resulting from poverty and unemployment: to expose the futility of the measures taken to deal with them and to indicate what I believe to be the only real remedy, namely - Socialism. I intended to explain what Socialists understand by the word "Poverty"; to define the Socialist theory of the causes of poverty, and to explain how Socialists propose to abolish poverty." That is fine, I have no objection to learning what Socialists feel about poverty or anything else, I have certainly learned it now. What bothered me is that every time our main character, Frank Owen opened his mouth it was to tell us once again about Socialism. Instead of getting me more and more interested as the book goes on it makes me want to cry out "no, not again"! I would feel the same way if each time I walk out of my house one of my Christian brothers or sisters started telling me about going to church. It also made me wonder if every time someone comes near me do I start telling them about Christmas. I'll have to pay attention to what I'm saying for awhile. Here are some of Owen's beliefs we get to hear over and over again: Pete Seeger’s entire album entitled CAN’T YOU SEE THIS SYSTEM IS ROTTEN THROUGH AND THROUGH which features songs such as My Sweetheart’s the Mule in the Mines and I Hate the Capitalist System In 2008, an adaptation by Tom Mclennan, was commissioned by the PCS Union as part of its contribution to the 2008 Liverpool Capital of Culture events. It was performed at various venues in Liverpool and later in Hastings at an event organised by the Tressell Society.And the message ...that society's repeated failure to fairly distribute the necessities of human life, and a pathalogical tendency towards corruption and vain consumption are so prevalent, so manifestly routine, that our doom is all but certain. Our very survival as a species may lie in re-organizing our affairs efficiently for the benefit of all, rather than the priviledge of few. A stage adaptation was commissioned by the Public and Commercial Services Union for "Unions 08". The play, by Tom Mclennan, is still running and on its third consecutive year of touring. [ when?] The Tressell Society said of the adaptation: "This is the best production of this important work we have ever seen." [ citation needed] RT is very good on the painful subject of working class stupidity, meaning their limitless capacity to vote for the parties of the rich and view any leftwing socialist parties as limbs of Satan. Most of this book is made up of a series of very uncomfortable debates between a couple of goodlyhearted socialist guys and their hostile fellow workers. They say stuff like THEY WERE THE REAL OPPRESSORS--the men who spoke of themselves as 'The likes of us,' who, having lived in poverty and degradation all their lives considered that what had been good enough for them was good enough for the children they had been the cause of bringing into existence."

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According to George Orwell, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is a book everyone should read. It is often named by people on the left as the book which has had the greatest influence on their politics.Eventually the old man Linden dies in the workhouse aged 67 and gets buried in a pauper’s grave whilst his grandchildren live in one room with the Easton’s. The Barrington’s of the world were few and far between but he did bring in a large slice of contentment for a short period of time over Christmas just to show that good, decent people do exist and they don’t have to wrangle to survive. A stage adaptation, written by Howard Brenton and directed by Christopher Morahan, opened at the Liverpool Everyman on 17 June 2010 and subsequently transferred to co-producer the Minerva Theatre in Chichester on 15 July. Tressell create 's a book that isn't as popular today because it has been forgotten about and is not on the school corclica or I never hear of it been televised which I can't see it been popular. Over-population!' cried Owen, 'when there's thousands of acres of uncultivated land in England without a house or human being to be seen. Is over-population the cause of poverty in France? Is over-population the cause of poverty in Ireland? Within the last fifty years the population of Ireland has been reduced by more than half. Four millions of people have been exterminated by famine or got rid of by emigration, but they haven't got rid of poverty. P'raps you think that half the people in this country ought to be exterminated as well." And what is particularly interesting about this book is that all of the excuses and explanations and victimisations and lies that were told then to justify why we have poverty and unemployment and hardship are exactly the same ones that are used today. For this alone, it is worth reading this book.