The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists

The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists is a novel by Robert Tressell first published in 1914 after his death in 1911. 

A Marxist critique of society dressed up as a novel, Ragged Trousered Philanthrophists follows construction worker Frank Owen trying to convince others about socialism, a figure based on Tressell himself. He would face rejection and death before his work was published, but when it was it found instant popularity amongst UK workers.


An explicitly political work, it is widely regarded as a classic of working-class literature. It was placed seventy-second in the 2003 The Big Read survey conducted by the BBC.