FRED ON SOCIAL CLEANSING
This is what Engels wrote about Salford, Manchester, London, Liverpool, Paris (etc) 120 years ago. He could have been writing it today…
"The growth of the big modern cities gives the land in certain areas, particularly in those which are centrally situated, an artificial and colossally increasing value; the buildings erected on these areas depress this value instead of increasing it, because they no longer correspond to the changed circumstances. They are pulled down and replaced by others. This takes place above all with the workers' houses which are situated centrally and whose rents…can never increase above a certain maximum.
"…The result is that workers are forced out of the centre of towns towards the outskirts; that workers' dwellings, and small dwellings in general, become rare and expensive and often altogether unobtainable. For under these circumstances the building industry, which is offered a much better field for speculation by more expensive houses, builds workers' dwellings only by way of exception…They will provide new dwellings for hardly more than a quarter of the workers actually evicted by the building operations…"
Engels goes on to write about this being in `the spirit' of a bloke called Haussmann, a corrupt government official in 19th Century Paris, who built "long, straight and broad streets through the closely built workers' quarters, particularly those which are centrally situated…erecting big luxurious buildings on both sides of them…to turn the city into a pure luxury city."
Engels added that these "evils" were usually done in the name of "beautifying the town"…
And now...
"World's first industrial city to City beautiful!"
Central Salford URC slogan 2007
"Beautiful, Vibrant, Prosperous Central Salford is rapidly becoming one of the most desirable locations for investors and developers in the North…" Central Salford advert
And now...
"The reason why capitalists do not invest still more than they do in workers' dwellings is that more expensive dwellings bring in still greater profits for their owners" Fred Engels 1887
"…luxury family homes…from £234,995 to £479,995…"
Press release Broughton Green 2007
"Live a Supurbia life from £161,950…"
"New Broughton" advertisement
Countryside Properties 2007
See Fred Engels Part 1 here
See Fred Engels Part 2 here
See Fred Engels Part 4 here
Engels Trivia and limited edition Engels poster here
Who was Mary Burns?
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