the three anticapitalist movements

8/11/2019 The Three Anticapitalist Movements

1/26

1

he

hree

nticapitalistic Movements

The opposition to industrial capitalism and l issez f ire philosophy de

in three movements, interrelated, but dearly distinguishable.

There was one groupofthinkers who had become discouraged by the

evils of

the growing industrial society and wanted

to

return

to

medieval

forms

of

life with mOre or less importan t modifications; we would call

the

~ t i o n a . r i s

if that name did not carry deprecating implica-

xions; since

it

does

s o . c i ~ k m i l ? - ~ ~ ~ _ ~ 9 g ~ ~ . r v a t ~ : v e s

is perhaps

a better term

The second, group consists of economists, philosophers, a nd o ther hu-

manitarians who did not think that medieval conditions could or should

restored, even in a modified form. They thought that the technique of

production

as

developed by

c a p i t a l i s t i ~

'i.D.dustry

r e p ~ e s e n t e d

great progress

which mankind should retain while freeing

it

from its accompanying

evils; and they realized that modern technology could not be used in a

, social order with guild rules and feudal institutions. Some of

thinkers

also

believed that modern social reform requires mass move

w

which could not be organized in a society dontinated by the spirit

the Middle Ages. One element of their creed was the idea that large

enterprise could be made a blessing to mankind if it were conductea

by a ommunity

of

workers nstead of by an individual capitalist. These

were the socialists.

A third group was distinguished from the two others by its program

',and by

its kind of membership.

The

two former groups represented

movements of intellectuals, the tl llr a was the movement of the lower

class

itself, oppressed by the conditions under early capitalism and out

;;ged by the doctrine that their suffering was natural and inevitably end-

I


2/26

22

Chapter

less, and part of a social system advantageous for mankind. This group

was the labor movement. - " ~ . - " " ' - . - - - . - ' -

~ - . . . . - - - - - -

-.,.----

A considerable numbe r of men have always stood on the border between

the first two groups.

On

the other hand, the contacts between the third

group and the second were originally

far less numerous. The workers

movement grew out of

the

journeymen s societies which

had

been formed

within the framework of the medieval guild system; while it is improb

able that any of the trade unions of the nineteenth century .can be traced

back to one of these

earlier

organizations,

there

is no doubt that the tradi-

tion of solidarity was transmitted

to

the modern labor movement by the

alliances which the apprenticed workers

of

the guilds had formed to de

fend their interests against the masters, and

to

help each other in case

of

illness and disability. However, up

to

almost the middle of the nineteenth

century, these organizations did not have a very important place in the

ideas of social reformers. It is the obligation of any history of socialism to

describe

how

the

socialist movement and the

workers'

movement grew

together-how

the

idea came to prevail that socialism should be

estab-

lished through the workers' struggle for their social emancipation.

TH

S O C I A L ~ M I N D E D CONSERVATIVES

The socially

minded T ; i ; ; - ; ; ~ i i ~ ~ ~ ; r r h ; ~ t h ~ : " ; ; ~ c i i ~ ; a L

rclatiohship of

allegiance between-the lord and the men. under his-manorial jurisdiction,

or among the members of a guild had given the lower classes more

security and real satisfaction than they could enjoy under the modern

_collOmic system in which human beings figure only

as

buyers and ~ e l l e r s

oCcommodities and labor. In one form

or

the other, these mutual obliga

tions should be revived, and should be safeguarded by institutional

guarantees. The aristocratic guardians of tradition and authority should

accept the responsibility for leading' the masses in their

struO'o1e aO'ainst

I ll l 0

the evils

of

industrialism, and the masses should be educated to think

of

their aims not only in

terms

of an institutional reform

but

also in

terms

of a new assertion to those moral values which

had

once been

the

accepted

basis of human life in church, guild, and manor. In the opinion

of

this

group,

~ , ~ i , s t o : r a t i c

class (whether old or new nobility) is indispeI)-sable

t ~ , ~ 9 ~ Y . ) ~ ~ ~ 9 j f i ~ . ~ ~ : R L ~ ~ ~ ~ # g J o . ~ ~ X n ~ , f . i g - . n t : . t 1 1 : ~

J ~ d : ~ _ ~ r s h i p . . 6 f .

t i l i s ~ ~ r i ~ t ~ o c ~

r ~ j ~ . ' C C i 1 J 0 g 1 y _ ~ . c . " " E , - e ~ _ I ) y tlo."-,nasses .. ,

In England, this line

of

thoug ht -first'becomes conspicuous in

Edmund

a,,,'ke, and it is continued by the Earl of Shaftesbury, T-homasCarlyle,

John Ruskin, Matthew Arnold, some of the so-called ~ , a : n ; ; s ; ; c @ i . ~

then-mixed with elements

of imperialism-by

Disl'aeli andJosephcGham-

The Three Anticapitalistic Movements

23

berlain.,Combined with almost radical social programs, it is to be found

in

Chesterton and some of the Guild Socialists.

There

are great differ

ences

among

these thinkers; they are all in favor

of

government for

the

people, but divided by their opinions abou: governn:':nt by the people.

The idea that the privileged keepers of natIOnal tradlllons should accept

responsibility for the well-being

of

the governed

is

.an idea

of

all

~ o n

servatives who are in any way able to learn from hIStory. But

the

Idea

that

the underprivileged should work

out

t h ~ r

own

~ a : e

can

o n l ~

be

reconciled wi th a modified conservatism,

not WIth the

onglDal

Tory

vIew.

Therefore the most important differences among the social-minded T ~ ; k s ,

is the greater

or

lesser degree in which they accept l ~ e a that

~ ~ :

emancipation of the proletarians must

be

the p r o l e t a n a n ~ own work:

To Shaftesbury,

for

instance, the idea of a class struggle l.n

.any

f o ~ m . S

abhorrent. it is hardly less so to Carlyle. Maurice, the Chnstlan Soc ahst,

on the oilier hand, became

an

organizer of workmen s cooperatives .and

joined hands with Chartists, though he too, to the end of his

life

remalDed

a monarchist

and

a believer in tradition.

Adam Miiller, the leader of G erma n political romant idsm,_ was cer

tainly not

the

first who tried to elaborate

the

idea

of

revitalizing the spirit

of

the

Middle Ages for

the

protection of the lower classes,

but

he was

probably the first in Germany who did it systematically

and

was con

scious of the nature of the forces he was combating. Hi, line of thought

was taken up by many political philosophers before the middle of the

nineteenth century; among these were

FriedrichJulius

Stahl, the great

leader of political conservatism, and Victor Aime

Hube:,

the early p:o

tagonist of cooperatives in Germany. Tendencies of soclally progressIve

conservatism are also found in many economists of the elder and younger

historical schools.

Karl

Rodbertus, the author

of

a system

of

anticapitalist

economics, in which he emph;sizes

the

inevitabiliry and evils of depres

sions, stands between

socialism.

and conservatism. Rudolph Meyer,

p r o b ~

ably the best historian of early German socialism, was also one of the

most active among the socially progressive conservatives. With Hermann

Wagener and still more with Pastor Stocker socially progressive con

servatism in

Germany

took a turn toward demagogy-directing the mass

I

nstincts of

hatred

aO alnst

O'roups

supporting liberalism. Bismarck,

as

the

h 1

creator of

s o c i a l ~ s e c u r i t y

laws and universal suffrage, had m Imse

sui

f uolo

d.el pf..o1e-

t a ~ i 3 t o

some traits of a socially progressive Tory and was not at all averse to

making use of the masses against the liberals-he called it Acheronta

movere but he found the StOcker propaganda dangerous and suppressed

it.

The

Stocker movement was the last important attempt at crossbreed-

+.

b

\

+,


3/26

Chapter

I

iog between

socialism

and

conservatism in imperial

Germany, e. (cept

for

/'

the Catholic sector of the country.

The Roman Catholic Church in

Germany

produced a

great

number

of

,men wanted to reconcile some socialist ideas with traditional.

values,

and

particularly

with the

monarchy. The

most

important

of them waS j

i l h ~ i ~ von Kettder, Bishop

of

Mainz. Catholic social reform was, of

i:

course,

an

international movement, and some

of

the basic impulses were

: ~ e h , . S ' p a c i t Y ' a c c e r . d i n g / t o i t s worh.::t'."This formula becarn:

e

. approach survived in the thoughts of the sociologist Auguste.Comte, and

?

the distinguishing mark of socialism in contras,,'\o communism,

as

the . the cooperativist B. Buchez. M ~ a d v i s e r s of Napoleon. III held Saint-

term was applied to the schools of Babeuf and Cabet. Simonian opiuion1,.Jt may have seemed a sad spectacle that the ideas of

The

Saint-Simonians also did pioneer work for future advances of

so-

a sincere and noble friend of the underprivileged were used

as

part of a

cialist thought by emphasizing the importance of for:ethOJlght_inc the : paternalistic policy which, at least in the beginning of the Second Empire,

_ n o m i c s ~ a n d in the

wholesociallife-of

a well-ordered society: . formed only a thin cloak over an essentially repressive line of action. Still,

In

our e.'(position

of the

major

part of

S a i n t ~ S i m o n ' s principal ideas, we

have

made

it

our special purpose to

mt,Tre

our readers

realize

that

society must

be

~ " I d . ; ( , l ' I 1 : t l

orgaruzed

a c c ~ r d m g to general

rethought and

~ continually be

guided

as an

entity

and in all its parts, by s u ~ forethoughte

'

Forethoughtkthe

essenceotplanning. For the rest of the nineteenth

century, and for the first part of the twentieth, the idea of

p l a n n i n ~ was

0

entIrely overshadowed,

in

the minds

of

the socialists,

by

the postulate of

more equitable distribution. Yet, the roots-m modern concepts of-planning

~ c k - 0 - ~ t h e ' - t e a ' C h i n g s . ' o f ' - r : h e ~ S a i n t . - s i m o n i a n s - t h e

historical connection

was never entirely interrupted. M


9/26

"

I A

",

$ S Q c . . ; , ~ ' ,

:\J4 o.-

. ,

I

o ; - c ~ -

i l ( ~ ' > M ~ " ' : ' "

)"D

,

t,

_,1, . e U . ~

I

I

(.:;. I

V ) ~ t : :

I \ '-, I "

"', ""V"2.( Xe..$

" '

I

Chapter I

~ S I : ~ l o l i s ~ , e d .

From

this thought Fourier develops a complicated concept

of history, describing the

~ a r i o u s

. . 2 h ~ ~ e s

_ ~ ; _ t h ~ _ ~ . P L < : ~ ~ ~ ~ "

He does

~

visualize this process

as ~ g h t . 1 i .. : ~ " a . e . p r ? ~ ~ ~ _ , _ ~ g ~ ~ . _ g ? ~ _ ;

i J ? ~ ~ _ ~ ~ . L ~ ~

~ Y _ ~ L ~ . h ~ _ ~ ,

. ~ ~ , ~ ~ ~ ~ d

has. _ ~ e n

__

p 1 ? Y ~ D : g _ a ~ B : Y .ro

111

, , ~ _ I : ~ , ~ o a . l ,for a}?D:g

~ ~ ~ , ,-

The

idea that

the

human race has- taken a long and roundabout

way

in its development toward goodness and happiness is deeply rooted

in

Fourier's philosophical background. As Georges Weill, historian

of

French socialism, puts it, Fourier

-is

a disciple of Rousseau's, in contra-

(:

distinction to Saint-Simon, who is a

d i ; - c ~ = . 2 1 t h < ; = i J , . C J : , l ~ [ l ~ , d j s t s : ' J : ;

S a i n t ~ S i m o n , therefore, believed that mankind, traveling on the - p " a t h ~

of

'

p r o g r ~ ; s , - ~ a s

gradually approaching the state of greatest happiness and

moral perfection;

but

Fourier denied that modern civilization has made

mankind

happier or b e t t e r ~ l f e sees

man

starting from a state of innocence

and relative h . a p . p i ~ , then following, throughout history, a long path

with many turns, leading him first into calamity and

vice,

then back

to

a better life and finally to perfection and felicity.

The

conditions

of

savagery, patriarchate (family or tribal society under the despotic rule

of

a chief), barbarism, civilization (capitalism),16 and guarantism are the

stages

on

this way. "Civilization"

is

subjected to the most acrimonious

c r i t ~ c i s m

by

Fourier,

with particular emphasis on the vices fostereci

by

c o ~ m e r c e ~ (Fourier received important inspiration for his critical attitude

when, as a youth, he was forced to work

as

a clerk.) Guarantism, which

mankind

will achieve in the near future, means a great improvement over

civilization. At that stage the community will establish the right

towork,

assuring everybody of a livelihood, and this guarantee will eliminate

'one

great injustice

and

source of crime inherent

in

the capitalist

s y s t e m . l ~

~ a n ~ ~ e ~ ~ _ ~ f l L ~ ~ ~ 1 2 ~ , P ~ ~ _ 4

.,E9

_ ~ ~ , ~ ' ~ _ s . ~ P i ~ p . y ~ , _ , ~ . g ~ F , : ) ~ _ t : E : ~

_

_. g h ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ _ . . ? ~ , _ ~ : . i h : . ~ ~ A U ~ ~ : L ' ~ h . a x m o ~ i s . m , : :

__ 7 e p x : ~ , S e A ~ s h e : . " . p ~ ~ k - , q.. p P Pf?-I.l. d e ~

velopment.

,

Th;--;;;te

of harmony

is

a < i o c e n t r , a l i z e d - , . f O F - m ~ - o w s o c i a - 1 , " " o r g a n 1 z ~ t I D n - .

Production;" a-s-,owell-as,,,'e,very-,.other --,form--

of,

social- llfe;,"is-,to'-be--ma-naged

t h r 0 U g h , , , - 1 o c a L , c o m r n u n i t i e s , . . . . ~ ~ p h a l a n x e s , ~ ' - - e a c h --oE.which",should-consist

~ ' ) s - o o - t o . ~ 2 , . o o o , . . p e , r . s 0 - f l s . ';fney'"orga-n-izC"wor-k

'on-'a"cooperative basis,

i n - i n : d : n s t r y ' z s - w e U ~ a s " i n - . t g r i c u l t u r e ; ' e v e n , ' h o u - s e h o l d "work'1-s-collecti

v-ized

al l members -of,the ,community live.-in-onc ,huge - b u i l d i n g ~ ,the- ' - ' p h a l a n ~

: -ster-y"; c - a . p - i t : a 1 ~ " p I ' o f i l " " , h 0 w e v e i , ~ ~ - i s " " n 0 - t - , ' a : b o l i s h e d - : thc product is to be

divided among

b b o r ) " ' ' ' ' C - a p k - a l , ' ' ' a : n d ~ , - ~ ~ t a J e n t ' '

according to the proportion

cot'S"':'4"'3;-but those who possess merely their labor power at the start are

expectc9_ gradually to _acq_uirc capital shares, apparently through extra C

The Three nticapitalistic M otlements

37

effort.13 Nowhere in the whole organization

is

there to be any coercion.

Work will

be so

divided among the members of the community that

everybody's preference of occupation is respected, and everybody will

change his function frequently enough to ~ ~ . ? , ~ ~ : L ~ ~ ~ R ~ ? ~ Y ; consequently,

all work will be done with t h a t _ s } t h l , c i ~ s l l w h i c h

is

natural to

man if

he

has

an

occupation

he

likes. F _ o . l l ~ ~ ~ ~ _ A < ? ~ s

. ~ ? t _ d?,:_?,t. t ~ a ~ . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Y ~ ~ k san

b ' J o u n l J 9 ~ e r y i n < l i v i < l l l a l , a ~ e ; he takes pains to describe how e ~ e n

the

inclinations of


10/26

38/

Chapter

- ~ - . - '

' ~ _ c _ ~ v i 1 i ~ a t i o n " before attaining harmony? For ages men have asked how

the c, '{istence of evil could be reconciled with God's wisdom, power, jus

tice, and mercy.

f

there is an answer

to

that question, if the existence of

evil

is

compatible with our concept of divinity, then Fourier bad

no

right to assume a theological certainty that evil must end. If however,

such reconciliation is regarded as impossible, then the suffering of a hun

dred or of ten generations is just as much of an enigma as that of all

past and future generations of man. Therefore Fourier's- inevitability

claim, even

if

its theological foundation is accepted, is no more than a

thin cloak by which he tried to conceal before himself and others the

entirely subjective character of his own ideal. Marx and Engels also failed

to prove the inevitability of socialism, but their

a r g u m e n t S ' , ~ t h

the p o s ~

sible exception of some applications of dialectic philosophy, have a much

broader base with less visible faults than Eo.urieQ; their claim, though

ultimately unfounded, has

to be

seriously considered and was no mere

rationalization of the authors' desire to support their ideal with more

authority than could be provided by an individual's standard of values.

,

T ~ e o - M - a r x i a n - - d i s t i n c t i o n - b e t w e e n

Utopian socialism, -which-

' ~ i n v c n t s "

_he

new' form ofsocicty,--and scientificusocialism;--which

der-ives

th

image of

t h e - n e w ~ ( } r d e r - ' f r o m , - h i s t o r - i c a l l - a w s ; - c a n - - b e , ~ m a i n t a i n e d

in--the

sense

-that

for .scientific,:that.is,- Marxist; socialism such derivation_is

-a ,genuine

p r o ~

gram,--where:rs-,-forUtopianism-if-Fourier ls,regar-ded.-as

,the

- , r e p r e s e n t a ~

dve.Utopian the deductionof';tspostulatesfrom hi.toricaUaws

is

merely

.a..matter':-of-verbal, assertion.

But however primitive his reasoning, Fourier set a pattern of argument

by maintaining that his concept of a socialist society reflected an i n t e r ~

pretation of historical laws rather than his own preferences. He

also

drew

the important conclusion that present-day society, however

COnd.emnable .

__

_ _ ~ ~ _ ~ _ , . _ Thus labor is to play the same role

as

gold new ways.

under a gold standard

L

but not that role alone for whereas the value of

In

1819 for the first t i l R < ; . . b . L a ~ a l e d to the workers for support. This

gs>ld as the standard metal is fixed only in terms of money, the value of appeal

is

still written in a very paternalistic tone; it

is

based on the idea

labor in Owen's system is also to be fixed in terms of c o m m o d ~

uthat

the rich and the poor, the governors and the governed, have really

day's labor is

to represent

at

least the same value

as the

wealth

c o n ~ but

one interest ; most of the text of this address

is an

exhortation to

tained in the necessaries and comforts which may now be purchased by abandon. any i l l ~ f e e l i n g against the upper classes, and Owen asserts again

five shillings.

tiS

Owen

does not explicitly state who is to issue the notes

and

agam that the anger of the underprivileged is entirely useless and

and take the goods in store, but apparently this is to be done either

by

even very dangerous because it frightens the ruling classes into an attitude-

the distri5utIve agency m each settlement or by a slffillar national agency in which they decline to consider any project of reform. He also refrains

for all settlements. These agencies must buy up all commodities

at

a carefully from saying that he wants the workers to ,,-,


17/26

~

5 Chapter i The Three nticapitalistic Movements 53

Owen s management from a business point of view; New Lanark

was.1- _ ~ h o u l d v a r i o ~ s

associations be permitted to exist

within

the settlement,

a profitable undertaking. But it seems that the most influential among

-

having only a few institutions in common? On the whole, although with

his partners were entirely at-variance

Wl t h

Owen's rehglOus views and i.p.terruptions, the trend was toward decentralization.

feared that theSchooling system which he had""built up would breed un All the time Owen's attitude was most generous. He greatly restricted

believers.

It

was probably on account of these quarrels that Owen desired :: ; his natural inclination toward benevolent absolutism, and accepted the

not only a new field for propaganda, but also a new field for an experi." , fact that many people with different backgrounds could not be regimented

ment in community building. . ( after the same preconceived set of ideas,

but

would have to be permitted,

Soon an opportunity offered itself. There was a colony

in

America,

in

: ~ :

i

to

a great extent, to work out their own destiny.

He

insisted, of course, on

the State of Indiana, founded on cooperative principles by a sect of Ger

;1

i themostessentialpoints of his philosophy of reronn;-"specially on com

~ ~ ~ --Protestants who had emigrated to the United States in

1803

under -;

I

preheJlsive provisions for education of children. As in New Lanark, in

the leadership of George Rapp. In the early I820'S they decided to move i struction began at an early age and was combined with productive work.

to another place, and Owen, who had been interested

in

their experiment' _ But although a rigid scheme was avoided,

New

Harmony ended

in

before, bought the settlement in Indiana in 1825 to reorganize it

a c c o r d ~ f

A social organization which provided little if any reward for

ing to his own ideas. At that time his ideas were already known in ,.:;: efficiency or punishment for unsatisfactory work had no chance to survive

America and had found a sympathetie r e c e p t i 0 I 1 ~ ; unless psychological eonditions were exeeptionally favorable.

With

the

In

the Report

to

the County

o

Lanark Owen had already come

fairly

. kind of company

whim

Owen had gathered together, these conditions

close to a recommendation of complete- economic equality among men.

,

were unfavorable. Many settlers were neither mentally nor physically

When

he testified before the House of Commons Committee on the Irish ' fit for the crude work which they had undertaken to perform. Too many

poverty, he took an even more determined position.

When

he framed ", had their own pet ideas. Owen's liberal attitude probably did more harm

his scheme for the new settlement, he accepted the equalitarian creed to its :

:

than good. The settlers were invited to New Harmony without any

full extent. But while he was convinced that full economic equality was pledge to Owen's ideas, and in fact most of them were not

Owerii. 'CS":

the most desirable eondition, he decided that it was necessary to admit The colony lacked that unity of purpose to which the Rappist and some

a- ~ e r t a i n amount of inequality

in

his colony during a probationary other religious settlements of a communistic character owed their success.

period. , Finally, Owen's propagandi st interests were not compatible

with

the

I Owen populated his colony, which he called New Harmony, with several

":

requirements of a community experiment on the American frontier. As

N.e.:\ {} H ~ r w . C vt.l

:

182 5 hundred settlers of divers background and varied opinions. Assisted by his a propagandist, Owen wanted to have as many visitors as possible come

sons, he set up the colony almost immediately upon the purchase, and f o r ~ : to the settlement. They came

in

great numbers, among them o u t s t a n d ~

I the first year everything seemed to go well-so well, in fact, that Owen r e ~

inCf ,litie


18/26

:

','

Chapter 1 ; The Three nticapitalistic Movements

55

54

.unsuccessful. However, Owen's activity in the United States in the

1820'S

munalliving into the background, since his main interest was in e d u c a ~

may. ll

ave

p r ~ p ; : t r e d . the soil for the

F o u r i e r ~ s t

and other -experiments E ~ ~ - ~ - - ~ - ~ < : ~ J < : ~ - - : } ? ; l _ ? r k ~ t ~ n g . p r o ( r t i c ~ , _ h o w ~ y e r imp9rtant, could not

; hich started about fifteen years later and were, on the whole, more suc possIbly have the mfluence on human character which could be expected

cessfuI than the undertakings of Owen and the Owenites. from new forms of community life.

'The failure of

New

Harmony did not do as much damage to Owen's However he may' have, felt, Owen accepted the opportunity for a new

reputation

as

one might have

c'


19/26

56

Chapter

\ i s o ~ t y . ~ _ m e m b c r s could not live entirely on what wa,s pro

I duced within the cooperative; they had

to

pay for

~ o o ~ s

and serVIces ,to

/

outside sellers. Tperefore

it w a ~ important

to

m a m t a ~ n

a

fi'Xcd paqt:

between the labor notes and ordinary money.

The

EqUltable Labour Ex-

,

chan c tried to maintain a parity

of

six pence for a note

certLtymg

one

\

hour's work.

At

Erst the affairs

of

the bazaar went exceedingly

well.

Not

only were

'::'

so many goods deposited that It was tcchmcally ( \ 1 : ~ c . u t n o handle them,

but there was also a satisfactory outflow

of

commodltlcs; moreover, labor

notes were willingly aecepted by outsiders

as

well

as

by members: But '.

- t h e n - - d S ~ e n s i o n s - o v c r Owens -relIgIOus- opmlOus; whIch -he

could not

re- ,

frain from propagandizing in his lectures

on

cooperation, destroyed.

the

unity among those working for

the

Equitable Labour

E x c h ~ ~ e ;

varIOUS

blunders and accidental misfortunes, such as the loss

of

the orIgmal

p r e m ~

':

ises because

of

a quarrel with the owner, contributed to

the. d e c l i ~ e . ,

haps it would have been possible to overcome all these dlfficulues, but

there was another

ap_d . m ~ ? r e

f u n ~ a m e n t a l . cause

of

tdure. Onder any

system

in ; h ; ~ h - g ; o d s

are accepted and paid for on the basis of l a b ~ r ,

time spent on their production, without regard to demand, the store

w ~ l l

:

in the long

run

at least get those products which are least. salable III ,

of

The

the market; any worker or any association

of

workers wlll be mclined to

sell

in

the open market those goods for which there

is

a g r e ~ t demand

and for which they can consequently get a good price, and wlll send to

the cooperative depository the rest of their production.

Then

the problem

of-mark';5

fa ,-:L.-TI,,-s

bring about any fundamental change in the factory system.

It .can

offer

the workers marketing facilities for

their-

own products, but

It

O ive them machines and so will have an important effect on the workers'

~ s i t i o n

only in tho;e fields where handicraft represents the main method

of production.

the Labour

had to be

with

a

considerable loss. But that

than two years and some

of

its

d a ~ g h t e r

exch.anges

~ e m a i n e d

alive

much longer, suggests some interestmg concluslOns. FIrst, there

mu.st

been a great and

O enuine

enthusiasm among the workers; second,

ll

of a number of ~ i s t a k e s the management must have displayed

consid-

T he Three Anticapitalistic Movements

57

erable

ability

in

handling the difficult problem of labor-note parity. Fi- \

the temporary success of the Labour Exchanges is a reminder that

England

in

the r830's,

in

spite of the progress of the factory system, was

still a country n which handicrafts were important.

The propaganda for labor exchanges was one of ties which,

e 1830-34:

; . t w ' 7 e : ; : e " , n ; - : : r 8 : ; 3 c : o - ; a : : : n ~ d = - : r : : , 8 3 ~ 4 t . , -.:c:::on::n:=.e ,c:;te d -,O -w=cn ;-,w ,l ,th7't ,h,,,e-,w,,,o,,,r;oki,,

class.

The men , ' \ .

'-O; '''-


20/26

58

hajJter

l

,:'

The

Three A ticapitalistic Moveme ts

the idea that the new society would be a paradise for all,

o r ~

(le>5

s t ~ V j 5 1

....

:

t ' ; M ~ O ; . a r -

"-,, .1,'.,,t

ever before or afterward, he considered :i

~ : : ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ' ~ i t t

would have

to

be applied for a very' '

;hort time a little

less

ignorant.

He

based this

idea ''

on his tremendous optimism; a rational system of production would pro-

;:

vide mankind with such an abundance of wealth that the upper classes .

would not be deprived of any important satisfaction by the loss of their.

privileges; the underdogs would gain, but nobody would really

lose.

A

better society would also create a better morality, which was the

only,;'

important thing. Why emphasize the reform of parliament, when politi. ,

caJ institutions were unimportant altogether; there was no need for any::

59

,

more

lastin , for Owenism did not

lose

strength

in

a struggle with a rival

: ~ ~ .

as

Proudhonism did in its struggle wi arxism. wen sideas

ald

not

:. oppose the trend which was soon to dominate the international socialist

'i movement;

they

merged with the main stream of

sq.cialist

ideas, which

" they widened and strengthened.

( e ~ l v < ' b , ,

o

O W R . ~ r s t

I

'f:iveYI -


21/26

le

. J . . . \ ' - . o p k

b y. ,

Q.

60

Chapter

; The

Three Anticapitalistic Movements

6r

state of society;

cn

all the more so, because any human organization could

i it

in our Great Revolution and has held it against the attacks of the nobility.

only approximate perfection.

70

He therefore

worked

out the conditions i,

What

the poor arC now lacking is not the right to inherit

but

the heritage.

under which he thought property might be ,more J2roductive of good

CInstead

of abolishing the rIght, think of how the poor can cease to be d i s ~ I

than

of bad effects.

n

But

Proudhon's heart was still not in his qualified .

:

inhemed.' " ------

i

J

justification of property. In

the

concluding section of the

ThEor;, de la I;

Obviously, the real proletarian has little reason to cherish the

right

of

propriett

he writes:

:iinheritance,

but the small master in an urban trade and the peasant have

I, ~ a v e developed considerations which make property intelligible, rational, :> very

urgent

desire to

transmit

to

their

children

what

little they possess.

legw,mate, whereas otherwise it would remain an odious matter of usurpation.

;,

Among the

specific methods

which Proudhon

proposes for depriving

But even under these conditions, property retains a selfish trait with which : ;,big property of its capacity to harm the people, gramirous----credit-.plays

have no. sympathy. egalitarian, antigovernmental mind, opposed as it \the most prominent role. Other thinkers

had

proposed this remedy earlier

IS.

to rapa.clty and the

mIsuse.

of force, may admit, may even hold up, prope

r t v

; b t . h P dh . d r

I k h

ld

. . "u

wit rou on It receIve a umque empnasls . Interest, . he. proposed,

1

'e a s Ie for the protectlon of the weak, but my heart will never

be

with

p r ~ p e r t y .. 1... J'se1f, do not need it, neither to win my bread nor to fulfill my .;. should .be.abolish ed, through.

an

nnlimited. sup.ply ofexedido.r. producers

~ u u e s nor for my happiness. _

If

the majority of my ellow

citizens: o

. be,offered.by a Peo,ple's .Bank. But this credit should

not

be

s u ~

were like myself, what coUld we do with that institution? Where would then l,in ordinary money; there should be a special kind of paper, which was

be the danger of tyranny? Where would also be the wants of conceit ; ,to be issued by a People's

Bank

and which Proudhon assumed to be

of ambition, of avarice which can satisfy themselves only through I'mmense' . el h' h f f .1... . 1 h ' T h . -th h

:mer y a 1.2; er orm 0 w.c....commetna J..IJJ...- e companson WI t e

presumption?

When

I see the walls and fences which in the environs '

f

P

. d th "commercial bill, however, failed to prove

that

the bank paper would

o aflS eprive e poor wanderer of the view of the land and the enjoyment '

of the f::rtile soil, I feel violent irritation. I

am

asking myself whether p r ~ . : : : ,be essentially different

from

paper money,

and

therefore could not appease

crty which thus shuts up everyone where he

is

staying

shOuld.

not rather

be

;

he

~ e a r s

of inflation

which

were intense

at

a

time when the

public

had

called expropriation, expulsion from the land.

7

: , : not

yet forgotten

John

Law's experiment,

and most

vividly r e m c m b e ~ e d

Mistrust of state power, against which property would form a'useful

i the

fate of the assignats.

Another

of Proudhon's arguments to assnage

counterweight, was not the only motive for Proudhon's modification of : inflation fears was somewhat stronger. He said that the People's Ba'nk

his views on property: there was also the realization that the principle ; ould create means of payment only for the purpose of making advances

of property, whatever the arguments agai nst it, was nevertheless "a :

o

producers, and

that

conseQuently commodities

would

increase in

spontaneous

product

of the

P.tre

collectif and

of

society" 73

and

that

,,;:

proportion to the circulation

of

bank paper 76

therefore the struggle against that princip le was hopeless. Perh aps even . More important

than

any technicalities of Proudhon's credit scheme

marc

important,was

Proudhon's concern for the small-farmer and artisan.

. was

the philosophy on

which

it was based. Naturally, credit without i n ~

He might

record the property consciousness of these groups

with

in-

;

terest was the desire of the small artisan

and

m..e_p.asant; thus Proudhon's

dignation, and speak of the dur paysan, dur,tS arator, the hard. mind ed . proposal fitted excellently into the sociological background of his system,

peasanr,7.J: along with the "insolent baron," the "old avaricious patrician' and was equally in conformity with Proudhon's ethical ideas

and

his

without pity" and

"the

greedy bourgeois" as the other undesi rable types ,'concept of human nature. Coercion, or domination, he thought, was bad;

of p r o p r i c t o r - a L Q t 2 E . ~ r n " P r ( ) U d ~ o ~ wa,nted"to

be

the, , d ~ f e n ? ~ _ r

.of.

, ~ h e Uree intercourse between

man and

man,

not

regulated by any superior

p e t S Y _ . E . < ? " ~ E g ~ ? } . ~ ~ ~

~ E ~ ~ ~ , _ ~ ~ ~ ' , , ~ ~ i ~ . l ~ > _ . ~ ~ . i ~ " ~ ~ r e __ h ~ ; ; '

-the _ d a e n . ~ e ; -

~ ( t h e

: power, was good, and exchange

of

commodities was part

of

that i n t e r ~

worizm,.ancl . he\Vasrealistenoughto see that'he'could noth;ve filled course. Cred it, in Proudhon's opinion, should be a sort of exchange. In a

that.rolehad he maint;i';ed

n q u a l i f i e d o p p o s i t i ~ n t o l " ~ p e r t y

. well ordered society, he thought, producers of various commodities store

~ r ~ u d ~ o n . : s d e s i ~ ~

to

J ~ ~ o t e _ c ~

t ? e , s m ~ l l

p r o p ~ r t y o ~ n r is

strongly

';,thcir

products until such time as they can sell

them;

but in the meantime

~ m p h a s i z e d by his attitude toward inheritance. H e blames the Saint- f hey must live, and they can only live by drawing upon their stocks.

S i m o r : i c ~ ~ n s ' ~ f ~ f ~ b " ' ~ o ~ ; t i ~ ~ _ ~ i ~ i t h ~ r i ~ ~ t of h e r i t ~ g e ~ - , Credit, therefore,' consists essentially of the miller's readiness to let the

Th .

ht

. h - . . h fa il . . shoemaker consume flour before he can sell his recently produced stock

.e ng

. to.

ID

e.nt

e."{lSts ID

t e m y of the poor

as

well

as

in that

of

'

the rtch; this rtght

1S

holy and inalienable, the proletarian

sic]

has secured,

of

shoes; or sometimes the shoemaker may have to grant the miller per-


22/26

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'00'fN/lJ r-c"?:l b'it

r \ K- r

,1:;i..c..-1I1;r",.5' .

..


23/26

The Three nticapitalistic Movements

Chapter

f a ~ from believing that society could change

guick1X.

Living in France seem surprising that a man who had said many bitter words about the ,

.:..

wlth

her

revolutionary tradition, in a period when this tradition was proletariat and some of its most CheiTslied ideas, and whose heart was r ~ 0 d . ' I e

revived, and having devoted his life to the benefit of the underprivileged most of the tim e mo re devoted to the cause of the struggli ng master i e : } U I ' ~ O ~ r o r G ~ :

who were rising against their exploiters,

-it

was psychologically and: artisan

than

to

that

of the starving factory worker,

had

a greater

w o r k i n g ~

.

i

1

" 11' 'bl f h class following in France than any other social philosopher, including

po

m.ca

y

ImpOSSl

e or 1m to repudiate revolution in principle; but

he

tned to

read an evolutionary meaning into the concept of revolution Karl Marx,

up to

the 1870'S.

The

French workers,

to

be

sure, had already \

presenting it as a particular stage

in

a continuous movement, with

t h ~

learned

through

bitter experience

that

their interests were not the same

implication

that

this stage

might

be avoided by wisdom

on

all sides. He

as

the interests of the bourgeois,

and

cer:tailJ}Y_

.

~ , ~ ~ 4 g ~ ~ ~ ~ . Y Y ~ 9 0 $ . i I ? - _

" a p . p e J 1 1 ~

2;'

" J : t ~

was deeply convinced that stability _was

as

essential for

human

society as

s a x i ~ K t l l a t . _ t P e : J ? : ~ < ? p e , . I l 1 . e ~ ~ i n g

~ ~ . _ ~ . ~ . k e . r : . s , __ ~ ~ e r ~ . _ c " ? n ~ - ~ , I l t } < ? s e ~ s()m.e

~ ' ~ e . $ r W . e ) / \

h

d

'

h'

h

of _their ..

o.

W ll._.Ru.m

.. bers

.

.b.ta i.n

.

bo

.

u.rge

oi.s

...po

.

s.iti.o. n s:"

. 3

:Bu. .

still

most of

the .J

c ange, an III t

IS

sense e wrote

to

a friend, Charles Beslay, in

r86r:

~ ~ _ e ~ c h workers had in

~ ~ i r

' ~ e a r t s

a - 1 1 1 i d d l e ~ c l ~ s ~ i J ~ , ~ ( i f t e - ;

their g r ~ a t -

~ f t e r

having been the most revolutionary spirit of my age,

it is

now my ainbi

tlon to become, without changing the slightest part of my opinions and in

consequence of the success of my opinions, the most outspoken conservative.

s

:

"

est 1 1 0 p ~ ~ - h o w - e v - e - r - r ~ m o t ~ , -

';:is"

s o m ~ d a y t o \ e c o ~ e ~ m a l l

shopkeepers

or

: artisans.

This

state of

mind

has survived

in

France for many decades

after the Industrial Revolution

had

greatly reduced the chances of the

There

are abundant passages in Proudhon's writinO s which show that average worker to escape from a proletarian position; to this day the

he considered

e c o ~ ~ m I c

lllterests the very essence of a ~ ~ political str-uggle. hope has

not

been extinguished. Since the hopes of the

French

workers

He had a clear vl$lon of the class stratification of socie y,

The

existence ' were tied

so

closely to the existence of a middle class, they did not mind I r

,tt",

; , : :

of

a

~ a s s s t r u g g l e

was always

in

his

mind; but

the most important

phase:

me fact

that

Proudhon's socialphilosophy favored

the

middle class; they , ,

of thls struggle, as

he

saw it, was

not

between the bourgeoisie and the

.

found it easier to identify h,s approach

with

their own

than

the approach I t k SQ ?,

P oletariat-it was between an alliance of the petite bourgeoisie

(the,'

of other authors whose ideas were better fitted to actually existing condi

j

lower m i ~ d l e - class), and the workers on the one hand, an d the money: dons but contradicted the individual expectations of the proletarian. --1 .\

lenders,

bIg-

merchants, and big industrialists

on

the other. His".desire-to

A

characteristic phase of Proudhon's social philosophy

is

his attitude

1- 1 1 ;' . .(...-'- estab-ltsh-the

.

aHiance .-between-c-the----little

-bo:Urgeois,-

and the---worker _was toward the dialectic philosopn:yo Hegel. 1he Important point for an

t \ \ f ( i ; t 1 ~ ~ ) , ; - ( . p ~ l r l - -.

> ,

, I mO.5Lurgent;-..but

he

hved 10 a penod in which the differentiation of understanding of Proudhon is the theorem

that

contradictions between I

, , . h

lXiU'-:- JIJ.-Ol $I'e

C ; ~ d ,

t ese two classes, though far from being complete, was

making

quick ideas and the resulting antagonism between the representatives of these \

\ ( r . c ~

... \Ct.I. 5

I progress. Thus he was frequently disappointed, and he blamed his dis- ideas are, in Hegel's opinion, the moving force

o'f

history; whenever twO (

f

:E.e:0intment sometimes

on

the lower middle class, sometimes

on

the principles

are.

in conBict, the historical development which originates \

I

:orkers; among

the former he missed the fighting spirit which he con. from this conflict finally leads to a realization of a third principle which

I

sldered necessary for the. accomplishment of any change;

on

the other means a reconciliat ion of the two former,

Proudhon

accepted the theorem

hand, the. proletariat, in his opinion, fell

an

easy prey to the demagogy , of the struggle of antagonistic principles and their representatives as the

, of Caesansm,

as

represented by Napoleon III,

On

the wh.ole...iu.e.ems that . moving force of progress, but, after having fully assimilated the me aning

toward the end of his life he became more inclined to expect social reo of the dialectic philosophy with which he became familiar first through

I

form from the proletariat rather

than

from the midd le class, Marx, he rejected the idea

of

a third reconciling principle,

Thus,

in his

N o ~

only did P-r.o'u_dhon.lackfull.confidencejn _the ability-

the, workers opinion, the struggle is -endless; of a plurality of principles, each one)

tc;>,

' ~ y . ~ J c ; l

thc_$pcie.ty __o thcJuture;

he

was also opposed 'to 's0me:,-of >their-'

has

a legitimate existence. . ---------.

mo_st.i.mportant

demands-the

right, to form-t.fnions;-which,he:considered The recognition of a legitimate plurality of principles and the o p p o s i ~

I11onopolistic _ ass_ociations;-

and-.

'strikes, which- he. reo-arded -as:,actions ( tion to the concept of necessary unity have a fund amental relat ionship to

d'

d '

th 0 I b d

1

1ecte :.agalllst, e ~ m t e r e s t s - o f - ~ h e

c o m ~ u n i t y .

On the other hand, he

P r o u d h ~ n ' s

love

or

Ii e ~ t y . F ) : _ < : : ~ _

.. _ ~ j ~


24/26

Chapter

The

Three Anticapitalistic Movements

67

ultimate truth and the ways to the absolute good are not yet known; for li But if Proudhon was in many ways opposed to Marxian ideas, he was

we, ~ n e w e ~ a c t l y

what

is

good and true there would

be no

reason

fo,also

very different from the other French socialists and from his great Eng

leglamate d l s a ~ r e e m ~ n t , the:e would

be

complete unity among all

peo-;Ush

predecessor, the only pre-Marxian socialist who might be

c o n s l d ~ e d

pIe of good wIll. It IS the hberal creed that the ultimate truth and the his rival in importance, Robert Owen. First of all, he was not a U t o p a ~ .

absolute good can only.be gradually approaChed, and that they may:To be sure, he had a vision of a future soeiety; but he saw nopurpose.1O

never be completely attamed. Proudhon, being essentially an

a n a r c h i s ~

: describing it in detail. Nor did he believe 1 e.-xpcnroents wlth

s O C l a l i ~ t

goes furt.he: than the liberals. To him even the tendency toward the ulti.

model

groups. The only experiment which he ever :mdertook was h,s

mat:

u n ~ f y l l l g

truth seems

sometimes doubtful,

and

therefore he

denies

;:People s

Bank; and

it

was

an

experiment

in

a

very

different

s e n s ~ .

, the

l ~ e v l : a b . l e

forthcoming of the reconciling principle in which

Hegcl :People's

Bank

was to be

the beginning of that credit reform which

n

and his d,sc,ple Marx believe. ; Proudhon's opinion would

Change

society

as

a whole, and therefore the

Howe.vcr, ~ r o u d h o n

is not basically skeptic; on the

contrary, he

is

a ~ . p u r p o s e

of the venture was not merely demonstration

but

the

start

of

firm behever m values., Consequently, he could not follow up consistently.

complete

social reorganization.

:he line of thought whIch

hIS

opposition

to

Hegel indicates.

He is wavet-

.

, ~ g b e , , : , e e ~

the belief in the eternity of the mutual struggle of irrecon. :'From Saint-Simon, Proudhon differs in his opposition to authority. The

cIled pnnclples and the belief in a social development

whiCh

will ap- issue between Proudhon and Cabet is that of decentralization

versuS

cen

p r o a ~ h the ultimate good. Since Proudhon doubted, however, that all r tralization. From the Babouvists, proudhon is separated not merely by

COnflIctS

between principles would inevitably

be

solved by a final synthesis;: opposition

;0

the latter's authoritadan

t e n ~ e n c i e s

but

also by his

averSIOn

he dId not attribute

to

socialism the same finality

whiCh

it has in

M a t J c i a ~

,from revolutionary violence.

W,th

LoUIS Blanc, proudhon, d l ~ ~ g r ~ e s

t h ~ u g h t : To Marx, soeialisa: means the end of the fundamental antag- mainly about the role of the state, which Blanc wishes to orgamze SOCIal

orusrns

human hfe and, SInce change visualized as originating from: . w o r k ~ h o p s . " Closer is Proudhon's position to that of F o u n ~ r . Both are

antagolllsms,

the end of

fundamental

social change. This idea is missing :

group

socialists and,

essentially,

anarchists;

both.

are

~ a d u a l i s : s a n ~

o p ~

in

Proudhon's philosophy. , posed to violence. But not only is F o u r i ~ r an.

e . . " ( p e ~ l m e n t a l i s t ,

a true

Proudhon is the most profound thinker among pre-Marxian socialists 'Utopian; his system also contains p h a n t ~ s t l C , tralts whIch, on the whole,

~ o u g h

he

is

pre-Marxian only in a restricted sense; while his essential.,

are

alien

to

Proudhon's mind. Moreover, h,s

Qu est-ce que

la

proprzete?

Ideas

w e r ~

w o r ~ e d out before he met Karl Marx, the meeting with

this

Proudhon takes Fourier to task for rejecting equality and even granting

great spmt left Important traces in Proudhon's mind.

The

two men

feli

. "capital" along with "labor" and "talent" a share in the pr.oduct of tI;e

themselves separated by as wide an abyss as can exist between two phi- phalange. This objection, however, must have lost some of Its w e l ~ h t

l

l o s o p h e ~ s ;Vho

both thmk along socialist lines and consider the will of

the later years,

when Proudhon modified his oPPo:ition

to p r o ~ e r t y

nghts;

u n ~ e r p r l V 1 l e g e d

to

improve their lot the most important force making

for

his ideas of a desirable social order,

as

sketChed l the

Idee generale de

la

SO Ial change. Even If

Marx

had not written his severe criticism of revolution by no means implies complete equality;

s p e c i f i ~ l 1 y ,

there was

Proudhon in the Poverty o Philosophy, and if Proudhon had not ex- to be no equality of compensation in the "workers' compames." _ _

p:essed his antagonism to communism -meaDing

by

this term the very One

of

Proudhon's great difficulties was the conflict between his desl:C

dIfferent schools of Marx, Babeuf, and

Cabet-we

should still have to to influence events and his love for intellectual independence whIch, 10

: e c o ~ n i z e the e:dstence of a fundamental antagonism. Proudhon

was

an combination with the very distinctive character of his ideas, made t hard

Ideahs , Ma rx a materialist; Proudhon

was

essentially a gradualist, for him

to

establish good working relationships with fellow reformers.

As

~ a r x ,

WIth more than half

of

himself, a revolutionary; Marx believed a jou rna lis t-h e edited several newspapers in

s ~ c c e s s i o n - h e

took the part

10

the proletariat alone, Proudhon

also

in the lower middle class. Finally, of the people in the revolution of 1848 and bItterly attacked the

~ o v ~ r n -

and most Important, Marx had the vision of a far more centralized and ment after the June massacre. He denounced the monarchical aspIrauons

even authorir.aria.n system

of

socialism than Proudhon, who was opposed of Louis Napoleon and, after the latter's

a c c ~ s s i o n

to the

~ p e r i a l

throne,

to

all centrahzatlOn and really

to

all authority. paid for that opposition with prison and CXlle. He later trIed to come to


25/26

I

I

1

I,

:

II

,.

I

I

II

II.

II

68 ChapterfM Three nticapitalistic Movements 9

terms with the

r e g i ~ e

perhaps partly

as

a result

of

personal

discourag{ifsurplus

value and of the economic interpretation of history, though not

m e n t ~ b u t m the mam he was guided by a tendency to recognize the e . ( i j ~ ~ n

the

precise forms which Marx worked out. .

ence of the Second Empire as evidence that it had a historical functionJ

Sismondi's

most original contribution to anticapitalist philosophy IS

n ~ t in vain w ~ s

P r ~ u d h o n

a disciple of Hegel's who had said that e v e r ~ i, his theory of crisis. He is one of the first scholars. who in :onscious

thmg

that

eX sts 1

somehow consonance with reason. H o w e v ~ ~

~ ~ p p o s i t i o n

to the classical theorems worked o ~ t the l ~ e a

that

l ~ c r e a s e d

Proudhon never made enough fnendly gestures to satisfy Napoleon m; p,oduction does not necessarily and automatlcally w,den. the c tcle of

who d,d not revoke the sentence to exile until three years before Prou ,,,change and there't'ith provide for larger markets; he beheves that pro

dhon's death; even after the latter's return to France the imperial

g o v e r ~ i , ~ u c t i o n

may be too great to be sold, and that this

is

what happens

in

the

ment continued to plague him with restrictions on his activities. P r o u d h o ~ : ~ ~ d u s t r i a l

and

commercial crises of the capitalistic system.

sa

He sees

the

was vain and not always consistent, but he was honest, courageous, aria; ~ ~ r i g i n of overproduction primarily, if not exclusively, in the introduction

warm:-hearted-and perhaps more gifted as a writer than as a social

archil \6

machines, since machinery not only adds to the product but also

tecto By combining political activity, supported by stron& appeals

to

thi

lOiminishes

employment

and

therefore the purchasing power of the masses.

workers, with his analysis of conditions and potentialities social

c h a n g ~

iSismondi does not deny that t he reduction of the cost of. production, as

he powerfully promoted the merger between socialism and the laWi" result of the employment of machines, releases purchaslOg power and

:"ovement.

In

this respect, despite all differences of opinion, he b e l o n ~ : ;ilierefore ultimately leads to reemployment of the displaced m a ~ p o w e r

m the same group

as

Cabet and Louis Blanc.

. . : but

he contends that the classical economic school overemphaSlzed the

:: "remedial

effects of this compensatory employment because

in

its abstract

SISMONDI . ~ ; ; ::'sCheme there was no place to describe the pains of transition. While the

Among the French writers of the early nineteenth century who led t h ~ :

l:'individual

act of displacement has only a temporary effect, other acts of

o p p o ~ i ~ o n

against l a i ~ s e z f a i ~ e there

is

one who can hardly be classified

ai; \(displacement

follow,

so

that technical

i m p r ~ v e m e n t . c o n t i ~ u e s t ~ .

be

a s ~ c l a h s t .or as a socIally mmded Tory, though he has some communitY,:' ijeifective as a source of unemployment. From tlme t I m ~ this condltIon

of ,deas wlth both groups; he

is

primarily a critic of capitalism and not

ani

'.leads to the well-known symptoms of general paralySlS of mdustry. .

advocate of any particular alternative. This

is

Simonde de

Sismondi."'

j The disastrous effects of the introduction of machinery appear to

S15-

His importance

is

based on two qualities of his writing: the ethical

force: ;:mondi

merely a special form of the greatest evil of capitalism-dissocia

of his indictment of capitalism, and his knowledge of economic

theory;) .':cion

and even antagonism of interests within society as a r e s ~ l t .of class

thanks to the latter, he was able to meet the defenders of the

capitalist;

:'stratification.

f

society were not divided into classes of capltalists and

order on their own ground.

i;'workers

interests would be harmonious; the greatest development of

The objections which Sismondi raises against the classical approach arc; ",productivity of labor and capital would then lead to the best

s a t i s f a ~ t i ~ n

much the same as brought forth later by the German historical school and,):'.,f everybody's wants. But a change which

is

favorable for productlvlty

by the .American institutionalists. He blames dam Smith and

Ricardo ::,may

be unfavorable for the conditions under which .Iabor can sold.

for thelt purely abstract and deductive methods; he thinks that they

neg.) ,: Such

a change may, therefore,

in

our class-stratified socty, be

d e ~ n m ~ n t a l

I ~ c ~ :t

e

human element in economic life, and that a strong dose of em .: o the masses of the people, and may ultimately damage productlo." ~ t s ~ f

pmClSm should be added to their abstractions. He wants to see the con. throu&h restriction of their purchasing power. Aside from some Slmllan

cept of the "economical man" replaced by a fuller understandin& of the

'.' ties

of Sismondi's theory of depression to the Marxian theory, the em

motives behind c:onomic actions.

He

also stresses the fact that

historical:::; phasis

on the diversity of class inter.ests constitutes the most important

development contmually changes the character of institutions which teach.: \ trend of thought common to both thinkers.

ers a b ~ t r ~ c t e c o n o ~ i c s often assume to be rigidly determined; he '

applIes

thIS

Idea espeCIally to the content of the right of property, and RICARDIAN

SOCIALIsts AND EARLY

GERo.VfAN

ADvoCA'l'ES OF

SOCIALISM

t h ~ s .

o e ~

some

p r c p a , ~ a t o r y

work for Marxism which considers

capital LThe

scope of this book makes it.'necessary to restrict

dis.cu.ssion

to those

a h i ~ : o n c a l cate?ory. Other elements of Marxism are present in Sis-: theorists who have exerted a lasting influence on the soclalIst movement.

mond, s theory; hke many of his contemporaries, he had the conceptions r. Hence some English socialists of the Chartist-Utopian period can only


26/26

7

0

Chapter

I :

The Three Anticapitalistic Movements

be summarily mentioned, although their ideas would be interesting . Owen yet Weiding favors some degree of decentralization alon

enough for a place of honor in a pure history of doctrine. , donalist lines: a

Landwirtschaftsrat

(agricultural council) for 0

The socalled Ricardian socialists wrote between r800 and

r850.

They.:

ture

and a Gewerbeausschuss (craftsmen's committee) for industry, both

accepted thelabor-value theory and based on it the contention that labor,

,

dected

by

the working citizens in either field, are to guide production,

has an ethical claim to the whole product. This postulate is closely related ,'under the general supervision of the

Dreimannerrat

(council of three),

to

the

Marxian theory of exploitation,H although Marx wished the

latter

consisting of scientists.

Further

differing with Cabet, Weitling is con

to be understood

as

an instrument of analysis and not

as

an ethical:;: cerned over the fate of minorities. His distrust of majority rule, and his

proposition.

:

:

belief

that crime will disappear with the removal of the old order seem to

The most important writers usually regarded as Ricardian socialists

re

reveal anarchist leanings.

9

Weiiling participated in 'the evolution of

William Thompson, John Gray 87 Thomas Hodgski n, and Francis : workers' groups

which

were the first to take up Marxian ideas. This most

Bray. The latter's book was regarded by Socialists and Chartists

as

a important phase of Weiding 's activities will be discussed in the context of

standard work. 90 Hodgskin, for a time, was in close contact with

the

: ; the early history of Marxism.

labor movement; almost all writers of this group somehow participated

in cooperative action and helped disseminate Owen s ideas, with whom

they were in agreement at least on many practical measures.

The Ricardian

socialists were also strongly influenced by Bentham and, like Owen and .

later to some extent John Stuart i l ~ tried to turn utilitarian philosophy' i

away from laissez faire conclusions. They therefore had some limited

significance

as

bridge builders between different schools, but they never

came even near to e.xerting an influence like that of the French Utopians.

However, the Ricardian socialists were more realistically minded

than

Fourier or the disciples

of

Saint-Simon, and Hodgskin

at

least surpassed

both Cabet and Louis Blanc in intellectual power.

By the yardstick of long-lasting influence, two German socialists must

also be excluded from the first rank of importance. One is Karl Rod

benus, mentioned earlier as a socially minded conservative who developed

into a real socialist. He has a place in the history of economic doctrine,

especially because of his contributions to the theory of unemployment, a

field in which he took up threads of thought originating from Sismondi.

e

could have played a great role in Germany if his social idealism

had

found a receptive audience among the upper classes;

as

t

was, he be- '

came only a forerunner of the

Kathedersozialisten

( socialists of the 1

chair))), and his influence was not very great even on this group. On

the

'

whole, he was one of the lost prophets who have been frequent in the :

history of socialism. I

Another German socialist who shared that fate was Wilhelm Weiding. :

As a traveling journeyman, he got to know the ideas of the French

Utopians, and he has always remained under their influence. With Cabe,

he believes that the national economy should

e

managed from a center

rather than by local communities in the manner visualized by Fourier and

the three anticapitalist movements

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