01778cam a2200217 4500 100375002 TxAuBib 20110420120000.0 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||und|u 4323 LibriVox TxAuBib Tressell, Robert. Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, The [LibriVox] / Tressell, Robert. 69 sound files : digital, MP3 or Ogg files. This is an online free audiobook and is compatible in most MP3 and iPod players. The text for this LibriVox audiobook came from public-domain text. Clearly frustrated at the refusal of his contemporaries to recognise the iniquity of society, Tressell's cast of hypocritical Christians, exploitative capitalists and corrupt councillors provide a backdrop for his main target — the workers who think that a better life is "not for the likes of them". Hence the title of the book; Tressell paints the workers as "philanthropists" who throw themselves into back-breaking work for poverty wages in order to generate profit for their masters. The hero of the book, Frank Owen, is a socialist who believes that the capitalist system is the real source of the poverty he sees all around him. In vain he tries to convince his fellow workers of his world view, but finds that their education has trained them to distrust their own thoughts and to rely on those of their "betters". Much of the book consists of conversations between Owen and the others, or more often of lectures by Owen in the face of their jeering; this was presumably based on Tressell's own experiences.(Summary by Tadhg.) In MP3 and Ogg vorbis format. Electronic audiobooks. LibriVox.org. http://librivox.org/rss/4323