ABSTRACT
I. The Genesis of Engels's Book Engels returned to Barmen in September 1844 and lived with his family until April 1845 when he joined Marx in Brussels.1 It was during this period that he wrote his book on The Condition of the Working Class in England. A letter to Marx, written early in October 1844, began a correspondence which lasted for thirty-eight years. In this correspondence - as Lenin observed - the two friends applied materialist dialectics "to the reshaping of all political economy from its foundations up - to history, natural science, philosophy and to the policy and tactics of the working class".2 In his letter of October 8-10 Engels was unable to report any progress on his book and explained that he could not get down to work as the entire household was in a state of turmoil over the engagement of his sister Marie to Emil Blank.
