What Does Engels Mean By The Industrial Revolution?

“The Industrial Revolution” was the change to new manufacturing processes in the 19th century, which included machines that increased iron production processes, improved efficiency of water power, and increased the use of steam power which led to the rise of the factory system. Despite all the technological advancements that facilitated work, in the long run, industrialization worsened the plight of working people because it left them with poor living conditions and strenuous jobs.
The miseries of the industrial towns distressed Friedrich Engels, a German intellectual and the son of a prosperous German manufacturer. In the new urban centers, he found only alienation and human degradation—even in cosmopolitan London in 1844. In Engels’ document “The Condition of the Working Class in England”, he relates the impoverished conditions of working-class families. For instance, Engels describes “the slums” as being “filthy and strewn with animal refuse”, the streets themselves “usually unpaved and full of holes”, and the ventilation “inadequate owing to the hopelessly unplanned nature of these areas”. In addition, many people lived huddled together in little houses of three to four rooms and a

But adapting to labor with machines in factories proved traumatic for the poor, uneducated, and often unruly people, who previously had toiled on farms and in village workshops. According to the excerpt, “Factory Rules”, many laborers had strenuous working hours. For example, factory workers labored 14 hours a day from 6 A.M. to 7 P.M. and they had to be punctual because “workers arriving 2 minutes late shall lose half an hour’s wages; whoever is more than 2 minutes late may not start work until after the next break, or at least shall lose his wages until then”. Moreover, regularly coming late to work as well as disobeying orders led to