Note 25 — THE BASIS OF SOCIALISM.

It is sometimes asserted nowadays that the current descriptions of factory life under the régime of freedom of contract are much exaggerated. This is not the case. The horrors revealed in the reports of official enquiries even exceed those commonly quoted. For a full account of the legislation, and the facts on which it was founded, see Von Plener’s “English Factory Legislation.” The chief official reports are those of the House of Commons Committee of 1815-6, House of Lords Committee, 1819, and Royal Commission, 1840. Marx (“Capital”) gives many other references. See also F. Engels’ “Condition of the English Working Classes.”