Engels

Image: © David Dixon Taken: 29 May 2022

A closer look at Image This statue of German-born philosopher, writer, and radical thinker Friedrich Engels was part of “Ceremony”, a project by the Turner prize-nominated artist Phil Collins which involved driving the Soviet-era statue from Ukraine and permanently installing it outside HOME https://homemcr.org/ in Manchester as part of the Manchester International Festival in 2017, 100 years after the ideas from The Communist Manifesto, written by Engels and Karl Marx, changed the course of history by inspiring the Russian Revolution during the final phase of the First World War. Engels, who was born in 1820 arrived in Manchester in 1842 where he lived for more than 20 years. While observing the slums of Manchester in close detail, Engels took notes of its horrors, notably child labour, the despoiled environment, and overworked and impoverished labourers. The horrific conditions he saw in the cradle of industrialism undoubtedly shaped his works. Not everyone approves of the statue's presence outside HOME Image For an insight into the controversy read Confidentials: Manchester https://confidentials.com/manchester/friedrich-engels-HOME-first-street-manchester-was-his-return-right-or-wrong . Further concern has been raised following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 but it should be remembered that re-erecting his statue in Manchester was never intended as a homage to the Soviet Union. Instead, it was Engels' links to Manchester that led to it being rehoused here. His Manchester observations are the basis of 'The Condition of the Working Class in England', one of his most famous works. Engels was a German anti-war activist who declared that “A nation can be free if it oppresses other nations.” https://marxists.architexturez.net/archive/marx/works/1847/12/09.htm (Speeches at the International Meeting held in London on November 29, 1847, to mark the 17th Anniversary of the Polish Uprising of 1830)

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