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The
Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is a classic novel of humour and sharply
observed characterisation. It is also the first truly imaginative portrayal
of life written from a working-class perspective, and a passionate defence
of socialist ideals.
The story is of a year in the life of a group of painters and decorators in
the town of Mugsborough at the turn of the century. Haunted by fears of unemployment,
the men struggle to keep their jobs at any cost but, in the course of events,
some of them begin to realise that their condition of miserable poverty is
neither 'natural' nor 'just'.
Robert Noonan (Tressell) was a painter and decorator himself and drew on his
own experience of working life in Hastings. The novel was an extraordinary
achievement in the face of growing ill-health and the harsh demands of paid
work. In his own words it is 'the story of twelve months in hell told by one
of the damned'.
'One of the most extraordinary revelations that has been made in the guise
of fiction' Daily Telegraph
Recently voted 'most influential book' in a survey of Labour MPs in the New
Statesman