Reviews

The Housing Question by Friedrich Engels

fantasma13's review

5.0

what a great book!! withstands very well the test of time. It's still a very good argument on how to deal with the housing question! The criticism on anarchist theory is spot on as was proven in the interior of Portugal since the XIX century.

tylerfields95's review against another edition

slow-paced

2.0

cv7d's review

challenging informative medium-paced

5.0

It is interesting to see, based on this historical work, how housing “crises” were tackled by non-Marxists at the time. Indeed, they proposed the same solutions that politicians tend to propose today, which are not really solutions since they only treat a symptom of the problem and not the root cause. Friedrich Engels illustrates that quite well in The Housing Question.

ledablanca's review

challenging informative slow-paced

3.5

heresthepencil's review against another edition

challenging informative

4.5

not so much a remedy to the housing question (though that is also mentioned, of course), but a discussion on why the proudhonian and bourgeois ideas wouldn't ever work (and don't make sense). not exactly groundbreaking in 21st century, but still insightful and unfortunately largely relevant.

also engels is an extremely sarcastic writer, amazing 

jacobinreads's review against another edition

informative fast-paced

4.25

This brief read must have been a revelation when it was first compiled and published. Today, however, while it remains lucid and insightful, it is not novel. Engels demonstrates the nature of the rentier class, the basic economic truth of the 'housing question', and the unsuitability (and undesirability) of bourgeoise homeownership for all. While Engels doesn't offer boilerplate suggestions for addressing housing crises, he gestures towards the necessity of state action (including expropriation of empty homes) and worker housing co-ops. Moreover, he acknowledges that concrete conditions in each locale will determine the realistic and appropriate actions needed to address insecurity of tenure etc.

All in all, a good, quick read. An excellent introduction to the disheartening but evergreen realisation that housing has always been bad, and that the problem is not a temporary one, but inherent to capitalist social relations. 

melodramaticbotanist's review against another edition

challenging informative

3.75

incredibly interesting and dense, made me spiral