Compare Friedrich Engel’s ‘The Condition of the Working Class in England’ 1845 descriptions ‘’in the cotton and flax spinning mills there are many rooms in which the air is filled with fluff and dust…The usual consequences of inhaling factory dust are the spitting of blood, heavy noisy breathing, pains in the chest, coughing and sleeplessness….accidents occur to operatives who work in rooms crammed full of machinery’’ with an account of working life in Shenzen, China in 2000. ‘There is no fixed work schedule. A 12- hour work day is minimum. Our legs are always hurting. There is no place to sit on the shop floor. The machines do not stop during our lunch breaks. Three workers in a group will take turns eating one at a time…The shop floor is filled with thick dust. Our bodies become black working day and night indoors. When I get off from work and spit, its all black.’’
from guardian newspaper article 09.05.09
Dusty threads
