— : - “a i } - j i ) \ } A } NGE Eh GREGORY CLAFYS “This is by far the most scholarly and most complete book on the economic ideas of the Owenite socialists. It incorporates most of the diverse existing scholarship on the topic with the author’s substantial original research. Clearly and competently written, it can be profitably read by any intelligent layperson.” £. K. Hunt, University of Utah This book represents a _ long-overdue reappraisal of the history of early socialist economic thinking. It makes full use of a wealth of recently discovered pamphlets and periodicals which shed new light on the development of radical economic ideas in the nineteenth century. The author traces the departures made by Robert Owen and his followers from the Christian tradition of moral economy — the regulation of the economy by moral criteria. Basing his arguments upon the jurispru- dence of the age, the author discusses the development of the tradition which led from Owenism and Chartism to the early ideas of Marx and Engels. This scholarly and insightful study will be of major importance to anyone interested in the history of political economy and in the history of socialism and nineteenth-century thought more generally. ROO&34 24e2b3 Claeys, Gregorye Machinery, money, and the millennium $35200 EX Claeys, Gregorye «C9 Machinery, money, css and the millennium 18387 $35.00 © THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO. p9Oc magnye e MACHINERY, MONEY AND THE MILLENNIUM Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2020 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/machinerymoneymi0000clae GREGORY CLAEYS MACHINERY, MONEY AND THE MILLENNIUM From Moral Economy to Socialism, 1815-1860 Princeton University Press Princeton, New Jersey © Gregory Claeys, 1987 First published 1987 by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Claeys, Gregory. Machinery, money, and the millennium. Includes bibliographies and index. 1. Owen, Robert, 1771-1858. 2. Socialists— Great Britain—Biography. 3. Socialism— Great Britain—History. 4. Socialism—History. I. Title. HX696.09C55 1987 335’.12'0924[B] 87-2372 ISBN 0-691-09430-6 a Po a , f e, f} ie a f f > ce ~ ff ~> \ YO OF ttf ob s Typeset in Plantin 10'4/12pt by Cambrian Typesetters, Frimley, Surrey Printed in Great Britain by T. J. Press (Padstow) Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall SOCIAL S>C}l einc ao JB. Hs , aO IV/IISS ION) THE CHICAGO PUSLIL LIBRARY, CONTENTS Abbreviations 1X Acknowledgements Xill Introduction Socialism and the Crisis of the Nineteenth Century XV I Economic Distress and the Rise of Socialism XVil II Scope and Intentions Xxl III Socialism: Lockean, Smithian, Ricardian, Owenite IV Owenism, History and Civilization XXVi V Organization XXVili Chapter One Just Exchange, Charity and Community of Goods Explorations in the History of Property Theories before 1815 I The Moral Economy and Community of Goods Fair Exchange, Fust Price and the Right to Charity II Property, Labour and Poverty, 1650-1780 III Radicalism and Commercial Society, 1790-1815 21 IV Civilization, Property and the Origins of Socialism 30 Chapter Two Robert Owen The Machinery Problem and the Shift from 34 Employment to Justice I Assessing the Problem, 1800-20 35 II Providing a Solution, 1821-58 III Moral and Political Economy in Owen’s Thought 57 vi Contents Chapter Three George Mudie The Quest for Economic Socialism 67 I The Earliest Owenite Economic Writings 68 II Mudie as the ‘Economist’ — III The Later Years 80 Chapter Four William Thompson From ‘True Competition’ to Equitable Exchange 90 I Voluntary Exchange or Community of Goods? 91 II The Fate of Competition, 1825-31 III Utility and Equitable Exchange 107 Chapter Five John Gray Planning, Money and the Commercial Utopia 110 I The Lecture on Human Happiness Productive Labour and Rational Restraint 11] II Central Planning, Competition and Justice 117 III From ‘Standard’ Production to the Money Problem 125 Chapter Six Owenism, Land Nationalization and the Labour Movement, 1830-60 130 I The Core Doctrines of Owenite Thought 132 II The Development of Non-Owenite Socialism to 1860 156 Chapter Seven From Owenism to Marxism Engels and the Critique of Political Economy, 1842-46 166 I Engels, Owenism and Political Economy 167 II Marx, Engels and Owenism 19 Conclusion Socialism, Moral Economy and Civilization 184 I Poverty and the Collapse of Moral Economy 187 II Socialism and Moral Economy III Economic Socialism and Political Economy 190 Notes 196 Bibliography Index 240