Grenfell Tower death toll up to 79 with 382 still missing – or are they?

Last Updated: June 19, 2017By

Devastated: Grenfell Tower.

The Metropolitan Police has revised its estimate of the number of people likely to have died at Grenfell Tower up to 79, which leaves 382 unaccounted-for, according to my reckoning.

That’s taking into account the fact the tower had 600 residents, 65 were rescued and 74 were being treated in hospital. Of course some of these may have died – but have they been included in the figures?

Here’s CommanderStuart Cundy of the Metropolitan Police:

The appeal for residents who are well, but have not made themselves known to the authorities, is important. Anybody who escaped but has stayed quiet – please contact the police.

The images released by the police were shown in this article – but for clarity, here they are again:

The promise that the police investigation will go wherever it takes them – with no fear of or favour to the powerful – is one to which the Met must be held.

The people in the following video have serious doubts. They say many more bodies than we have been told have already been found. They have questions to which they would like to hear answers, and they have stories that are harrowing:

https://twitter.com/JamzLdn/status/876495066151485440

Unrest about the way the government – local and national – has handled the disaster is continuing. Right-wing supporters of the Tories have been posting misinformation about the Labour MP for Kensington, Emma Dent Coad, claiming that she was on the tenant management organisation that made the decisions which made Grenfell Tower unsafe. This is not true – those decisions were made after she left.

Some have been posting lies about Jeremy Corbyn as well.

Some have been delving into their bookshelves to find a definition of what happened to the residents of Grenfell Tower. I was interested in this, from Aditya Chakrabortty:

The relevant part states: “When society places hundreds of proletarians in such a position that they inevitably meet a too early and an unnatural death, one which is quite as much a death by violence as that by the sword or bullet; when it deprives thousands of the necessaries of life, places them under conditions in which they cannot live – forces them, through the strong arm of the law, to remain in such conditions until that death ensues which is the inevitable consequence – knows that these thousands of victims must perish, and yet permits these conditions to remain, its deed is murder just as surely as the deed of the single individual; disguised, malicious murder, murder against which none can defend himself, which does not seem what it is, because no man sees the murderer, because the death of the victim seems a natural one, since the offence is more one of omission than of commission. But murder it remains.”

I’d like to know the book title and the author, because those of us who have been defending the sick and disabled from government persecution could have used that passage – and may have a use for it in the future.

And now there are questions about the treatment of other people in social housing near Grenfell Tower:

Again, I don’t have more details at this time and would like to appeal for anyone with information to provide it via the Comment column.

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32 Comments

  1. NMac June 19, 2017 at 4:39 pm - Reply

    When are they going to tell the appalling and stark truth about the numbers who have died? What are they afraid of?

  2. E Stratton June 19, 2017 at 4:41 pm - Reply

    “When society places hundreds of proletarians in such a position that they inevitably meet a too early and an unnatural death, one which is quite as much a death by violence as that by the sword or bullet; when it deprives thousands of the necessaries of life, places them under conditions in which they cannot live – forces them, through the strong arm of the law, to remain in such conditions until that death ensues which is the inevitable consequence – knows that these thousands of victims must perish, and yet permits these conditions to remain, its deed is murder just as surely as the deed of the single individual; disguised, malicious murder, murder against which none can defend himself, which does not seem what it is, because no man sees the murderer, because the death of the victim seems a natural one, since the offence is more one of omission than of commission. But murder it remains.”

    Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England (1845 [1967]), p. 126 (Panther Press)

  3. Jeffrey Davies June 19, 2017 at 4:44 pm - Reply

    Drip drip drip slowly leave the death rise when after a while the true figure is known then the peasants won’t rise up

  4. E Stratton June 19, 2017 at 4:48 pm - Reply

    “When society places hundreds of proletarians in such a position that they inevitably meet a too early and an unnatural death…”

    Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England (1845 [1967]), p. 126 (Panther Press)

  5. Simon Grace June 19, 2017 at 4:50 pm - Reply

    The quote is from “The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844” by Friedrich Engels

  6. Levinas June 19, 2017 at 4:53 pm - Reply

    https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/publications/cjm/article/social-murder-and-conservative-economics

    This is the context of Frederick Engels’ use of the term social murder in the Condition of the working class in England in which he blamed the diabolical living conditions of workers in the ‘great towns’ on the economic system:

    When society places hundreds of proletarians in such a position that they inevitably meet a too early and an unnatural death, one which is quite as much a death by violence as that by the sword or bullet; when it deprives thousands of the necessaries of life, places them under conditions in which they cannot live – forces them, through the strong arm of the law, to remain in such conditions until that death ensues which is the inevitable consequence – knows that these thousands of victims must perish, and yet permits these conditions to remain, its deed is murder. (Engels, 1987)

  7. mhartwig2015 June 19, 2017 at 4:55 pm - Reply

    The qoute is from Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the English Working Class (1844/5)

  8. Ratbag June 19, 2017 at 5:00 pm - Reply

    Try Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England, Mike. HTH

  9. Paul Walsh June 19, 2017 at 5:05 pm - Reply

    googled some of the text and found this:

    http://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/publications/cjm/article/social-murder-and-conservative-economics

    Refers to
    Engels, F. (1987), The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844, London: Penguin.

  10. ASJ June 19, 2017 at 5:15 pm - Reply

    The book passage is from ‘Condition of the Working Class in England’, by Engels, 1845.

  11. Graham Holmes June 19, 2017 at 5:18 pm - Reply

    Hi Vox Political – The text you quote and enquire about above from Aditya Chakrabortty is from “Condition of the Working Class in England”, by Engels, 1845. See this page: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/condition-working-class/ch07.htm. Hope that helps. Keep up the good work!

  12. john danton (@derick97) June 19, 2017 at 5:21 pm - Reply

    The book is Friedrich Engels “Condition of the Working Class in England”

  13. John Spencer-Davis June 19, 2017 at 5:42 pm - Reply

    Mike, that quote is from Friedrich Engels’ “The Condition of the Working Class in England”.

  14. John Spencer-Davis June 19, 2017 at 5:46 pm - Reply
  15. Beastrabban June 19, 2017 at 5:50 pm - Reply

    Mike – I don’t know for sure, but the statement at the top of the book about having investigated the conditions under which the working class live, makes me think that the book is Friedrich Engels’ ‘The Condition of the Working Class in England’.

  16. Random Bloke June 19, 2017 at 5:58 pm - Reply

    Reference: Friedrich Engels, The condition of the working class in England.

  17. Pamela Stocks June 19, 2017 at 5:58 pm - Reply

    I think the book is “The Condition of the Working Class in England” by Frederick Engels. Available online here: http://marxengels.public-archive.net/en/ME0125en.html (I’ll admit, I just Googled the passage. A similar search will find the passage position on the page.)

  18. Wendy Page June 19, 2017 at 6:39 pm - Reply

    Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England (1845 [1967]), p. 126 (Panther Press)

  19. Dez June 19, 2017 at 7:10 pm - Reply

    Totally agree. What is the worst case number….just had an election so the adults should be registered for voting rights. There must be finite rental and lease records for all the occupiers of this building. Why are firemen leaking a higher fatality number from their eye witness front line feedback. It’s this constant drip feeding the bad news that drives honest folk insane let alone the poor souls facing up to the horendous news and not getting the facts…..or maybe they only had a small number of deaths because of attending religious gatherings etc and far more escaped than was thought. I sincerely hope more escaped than was first thought. Also hope that all deaths are properly attributed to the event not playing games with death numbers so as to keep the fire deaths seperated from those that fell.. It’s like drawing teeth when dealing with the establishment on its back foot..

  20. Barry Davies June 19, 2017 at 7:13 pm - Reply

    I know this will not go down well but we do have to wait for the outcome of the investigation not jump to conclusions, and had this been one of the posh blocks would there be the same fuss or would it be a case of not being overly concerned?

  21. Felicity Stryjak June 19, 2017 at 7:19 pm - Reply

    The book in the article is ‘ The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844’ written by Friedrich Engels.

  22. @Bookworm June 19, 2017 at 8:38 pm - Reply

    Hi Mike
    Try contacting @LondonBlackRevs
    They might be able to help you with info?

  23. Martin June 19, 2017 at 9:56 pm - Reply

    I think the quote “When society places hundreds of proletarians in such a position that they inevitably meet a too early and an unnatural death, one which is quite as much a death by violence as that by the sword or bullet…….” may be from Condition of the Working Class in England, by Engels, 1845

  24. foggy June 19, 2017 at 10:47 pm - Reply

    Mike, it’s from ‘The condition of the working class in England’ (1845) by Frederick Engels. That particular quote if from the chapter on ‘Social Murder’

    • Mike Sivier June 19, 2017 at 10:50 pm - Reply

      Thanks to everybody who got back to me on this.

  25. Pauline Vernon June 19, 2017 at 11:52 pm - Reply

    It’s Engels. I’m not that literate, just very good at googling… http://averypublicsociologist.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/engels-on-social-murder.html

  26. Simon June 20, 2017 at 2:15 am - Reply

    The page from Aditya Chakrabortty is from The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844 by Friedrich Engels, page 95.

  27. random bloke June 20, 2017 at 9:43 am - Reply

    Those figures would not be factoring in any residents that jumped to escape being burnt alive either. Its figure manipulation like that which allows governments to suggest deaths from a specific cause are down year on year.

    I think the whole situation is both horrific and disgusting, the sort of thing that is usually associated with developing nations not a so called wealthy and developed state.

    It does need to be politicised because it is politics which has bought it on

    There has to be accountability somewhere.. its awful what the MSM are getting away with in slandering the residents too. Talk about kicking people when they are down.

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