Early Socialist Thought - History of Economic Thought - Lecture Slides, Slides of Economics

Download Early Socialist Thought - History of Economic Thought - Lecture Slides and more Slides Economics in PDF only on Docsity! Early Socialist Thought docsity.com Utopian Socialists • Henri Comte de Saint-Simon (1760-1825) • Charles Fourier (1772-1837) • Simonde de Sismondi (1773-1842) • Robert Owen (1771-1858) docsity.com Utopian Socialists • First of the moderate reformers were the utopian socialists • They regarded the competition-based market economy to be unfair and irrational • They imagined—and described in detail— various social arrangements that they considered ideal and appealed to the whole world to adopt them docsity.com Utopian Socialists • The workers were politically weak in the early stages of the industrial revolution • The utopian socialists preached universal togetherness rather than class conflict • They expected capitalists to lead the implementation of their utopian plans • Some model cooperative communities were actually tried • But without much success docsity.com CLAUDE HENRI DE ROUVROY, COMTE DE SAINT-SIMON (1760-1825) docsity.com Henri Comte de Saint-Simon (1760- 1825) • Saint-Simon envisaged the reorganization of society with an elite of philosophers, engineers and scientists leading a peaceful process of industrialization • This was one of the earliest proposals for central planning by educated elites – Note that he rejected the classical economists’ faith in the free market • His advocacy of a “New Christianity” -- a secular humanist religion to replace the defunct traditional religions -- was to have scientists as priests. docsity.com FRANCOIS MARIE CHARLES FOURIER (1772-1837) 3 docsity.com Francois Marie Charles Fourier (1772- 1837) • Unlike his contemporary, Saint-Simon, the half- mad Charles Fourier was an outright utopian. • He was anti-state, anti-industry, anti-competition and anti-urban. • Yet, he distanced himself from the socialists who wanted the abolition of private property. • He envisaged a utopian society in “natural harmony” with the cosmos that could be achieved by non-violent means. docsity.com JEAN CHARLES LÉONARD SIMONDE DE SISMONDI (1773-1842) docsity.com Simonde de Sismondi (1773-1842) • French historian, early socialist and great rival of Jean- Baptiste Say and the French Liberal School. • Simonde de Sismondi was no friend of the rising capitalist industrial system, which he viewed as detrimental to the interests of the poor and particularly prone to crisis brought about by an insufficient general demand for goods. • His under-consumption thesis was shared by Malthus, and sparked off the General Glut Controversy of the 1820s where their theories were pitted against those of Say, Ricardo and the Classicals. docsity.com Simonde de Sismondi (1773-1842) • Gluts lead to widespread unemployment • The poor go bankrupt and more wealth gets concentrated in the hands of the wealthy • This narrows the domestic market for industry • Hence industry needs to open up foreign markets • This necessarily leads to nationalistic wars • Economic imperialism is inherent in capitalism docsity.com Robert Owen (1771-1858) • Utopian socialist • A “doer” more than a “talker” • Owen founded the famous model community of New Lanark Mills in Scotland to demonstrate the viability of co- operative factory communities. • Owen paid his employees high wages, and still made good profits, because his grateful employees worked hard – This could be seen as an early use of efficiency wages: the purposeful payment of above-market wages to increase productivity and reduce labor turnover • Nevertheless, the enterprise failed because of unrelated conflicts between Owen and his partners. docsity.com Robert Owen (1771-1858) • Many industrialists actually visited these “model factories” and some even adopted parts of Owen’s system. • Owen attempted to extend these into agriculture - advocating collective farming, as in New Harmony, Indiana. • Owen believed that his type of cooperative system would sweep away capitalism and the competition- based system. • Although most of these efforts failed, he continued with his social work and became the head of one of the largest trade union federations in Britain in 1843. docsity.com