The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
by Robert Tressell · first published 1993
77% recommend23% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Novel about working-class house painters and the economics of labour and wealth, praised for its powerful pro-socialist arguments and its vivid portrayal of casual, precarious work. Readers find it moving.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…leaving behind it a government. Decentralised government is also possible. >socialism and communism die out the closer we'll be to an actual approach to raising up the working poor. Have you read The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell?[0] He himself was a working class man making the case for Socialism, and why capitalism, a system which is designed to keep one class below the other, is not favourable. Capitalism…
on “UK Prime Minister Theresa May announces intention to hold general election” ↗…them without me passing them on first: Travels - Michael Crichton - a number of useful life lessons I'm only just catching up on https://www.amazon.co.uk/Travels-Vintage-Departures-Michael-... The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ragged-Trousered-Philanthropists-Wo... Ishmael https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ishmael-Novel-Book-1-ebook/dp/B000S... Another thought, Robert Heinlein doesn't seem well known in the…
on “Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?” ↗…excellent lessons on life. I've never met anyone else who's read it for some reason. Ishmael - recommended on here but doesn't seem well known in the UK. Everyone I've recommended to has enjoyed The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists - Proof that politics hasn't changed much in 100 years Jonathon Livingston Seagull - again well known on here, but not so much generally
on “Ask HN: What's your favorite book that nobody you know has heard of?” ↗…stuff we want from other people" to me. > Decentralised government is also possible. Sounds like an interesting idea, but I'm not sure what form of government you're referring to. > Have you read The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell?[0] He himself was a working class man making the case for Socialism, and why capitalism, a system which is designed to keep one class below the other, is not favourable. I haven't,…
on “UK Prime Minister Theresa May announces intention to hold general election” ↗I believe similar points are made in Robert Tressell's 'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists', in which he debunks a lot of the negativity surrounding socialism and makes very powerful arguments in favour of it. A wonderful book.
on “Swiss to vote on 2,500 franc basic income for every adult” ↗…exchange value over use value and the biggest teller of them all, private ownership of the means of production. Recommended reading is Marx's 'Wage Labour and Capital', and I'm making my way through 'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert Tressell if you want to get to the nitty gritty of what Capitalism was like and how it still persists in its exploitative global form.
on “Trump’s F.C.C. Pick Quickly Targets Net Neutrality Rules” ↗And in a similar vein there's also Robert Tressell's "The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists" which is an amazing story even for the modern labour movement.
on “The poetry and brief life of a Foxconn worker” ↗…Paris and London by George Orwell, which describes his experience as a dishwasher in 1930's Paris. For an interesting study of casual labor in the gig economy for house painters in the 1910's, see The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell,
on “Ask HN: Recommend books that give you insight into other professions” ↗The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell. Taught me everything I needed to know about being a painter. Perhaps not the 'best' book ever, but certainly one of the most impactful for me as a common-or-garden 18-year-old realising…
on “Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?” ↗The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
on “Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?” ↗…But sometimes it's odd to hear people who need the government to subsidise their minimum wage zero-hours income just for basic survival defending the Conservative Party's economic manifesto. I read "The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists" some years ago, and this question really stuck with me.
on “Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal?” ↗…not one person being paid more than another thats the issue.. its those that are paid because they were born with money and add nothing to society that i think bothers people. EDIT: a good book -The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists- for considering capitlism and the accumulation of wealth (also shock how relevant it is still 120 years later): https://freeclassicebooks.com/Robert%20Tressell/The%20Ragged...
on “Blame Cronyism, Not Capitalism” ↗This is the sort of naivety that Robert Tressell exposed in The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists. You need to be a bit more woke mate
on “How I went from programming to consulting (2012)” ↗It reminds me of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists where the capitalists conspire to make the local government purchase their failing electric company (written in 1910): 'Something will 'ave to be done, and that very soon,' Grinder was saying. 'We can't…
on “Swiss Are on the Hook for $13,500 Each on Credit Suisse Bailout” ↗…perspective on a number of issues and I despise the divisiveness of cancel culture and the modern incarnation of identity politics as being antithetical to the ideals of socialism. Anyhow, I’ve had “The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists” on my to-read list for some time (now that I’ve publicly said it, I better stop procrastinating and actually do it). 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Revolution_of_1936 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Now_and_After…
on “Levandowski sentenced to 18 months in prison as new lawsuit against Uber filed” ↗