Ricardian socialism

Early socialism in Britain. In the first half of the 19th century, especially after the Napoleonic Wars and during the height of the Chartist movement, the Industrial Revolution progressed, and as handicraft factories using tools were replaced by modern large factories using machines, traditional skilled craftsmen lost their jobs and the number of industrial workers increased, while land hoarding in rural areas progressed, and many peasants were driven off the land and replaced by agricultural laborers. Craftsmen and peasants fiercely resisted this development of capitalist production. The critical ideas of capitalist society that theoretically supported their movement are collectively called Ricardian socialism. Although not all of this was directly learned from Ricardo's Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (1817), the idea that only labor produces the exchange value of goods, and that capitalists and landlords control workers through the monopoly ownership of capital and land, and unfairly exploit labor as profits and rent, so that all ownership should belong to the worker (the right of all profits of labor), was considered a practical application of Ricardo's theory of value of invested labor. However, there is a strong opinion that it should be Smithian socialism, since it is more influenced by the theory of changes in the acquisition of the product of labor according to the stage of social development from early primitive to civilized society, which was developed in Smith's Wealth of Nations (1776). In addition, although they share the goal of realizing the full right to the profits of labor, they can be broadly divided into the following two in terms of the type of society in which this can be realized: (1) A free individualistic society in which the government that guarantees the monopoly ownership of large capital and large land by force is abolished and which is composed of independent small producers such as self-employed craftsmen and farmers. This is the argument of Charles W. Dilke (1780-1864), Piercy Ravenstone (birth and death unknown), and Thomas Hodgskin (1787-1869). (2) A communal society based on Owen's cooperative village concept, in which equal distribution is enjoyed through joint ownership and voluntary cooperation based on cooperation and division of labor. This was the argument made by Charles Hall (1745?-1825?), William Thompson (1775-1833), John Gray (1799-1883), Thomas R. Edmonds (1803-89), and John F. Bray (1809-95).

Their ideas seem to have been popularized among the working masses not so much through books, but through cheap workers' and poor people's newspapers. Furthermore, in that they applied the economic theories of the time to try to provide objective legitimacy, they were more advanced than the utopian ideas that came before them. However, at the same time, because they were unable to fully overcome the bourgeois character of classical economics, their criticism of capitalist society ended incompletely. They can be described as more romantic than the scientific socialism that was systematized around the time of the Chartist movement in 1848 and the February Revolution in France. They can be said to be socialist ideas in a period of transition.

[Takeharu Kamata]

"The Development of Classical Capital Accumulation Theory and the Working Class" by Ebihara Ryoichi (1974, Hosei University Press)" ▽ "Classical Economics and Early Socialism" by Kamata Takeharu (1968, Miraisha)" ▽ "An Introduction to the History of Social Thought" by Takashima Yoshiya, Mizuta Hiroshi, and Hirata Kiyoaki (1962, Iwanami Shoten)" ▽ "Documents on Early British Socialism, translated and edited by Tsuzuki Chushichi (1975, Heibonsha)" ▽ "A Study of Ricardian Socialism" by Hirao Satoshi (1975, Minerva Shobo)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

イギリスの初期社会主義。19世紀前半、とくにナポレオン戦争後からチャーティスト運動最盛期にかけて産業革命が進展し、道具を使う手工業工場から機械を使う近代的大工場にかわるにつれて、従来の熟練職人が失業し、工業労働者が増加する一方、農村では土地囲い込みが進み、多くの農民が農地から追放され、農業労働者がこれにかわった。このような資本制生産の発達に対して職人や農民は激しく抵抗した。彼らの運動を理論的に裏づけた資本制社会批判思想を総称してリカード派社会主義という。このすべてがリカードの『経済学および課税の原理』（1817）に直接学んだわけではないが、労働のみが商品の交換価値を生産するものであり、資本家や地主は資本や土地の独占的所有により労働者を支配下に置き、利潤や地代として労働を不当に搾取するのであるから、所有はすべて労働者に帰属すべきだという思想（労働全収益権）が、リカードの投下労働価値説の現実的応用とみなされたためである。しかし、むしろスミスの『国富論』（1776）で展開された、初期未開から文明に至る社会の発展段階に応じた労働生産物の取得形態の変化説からの影響が強く、スミス派社会主義とすべきだという意見も有力である。また、労働全収益権の実現という目標では共通していても、それがどのような社会で実現できるかという点では、次の二つに大別される。（1）大資本や大土地の独占的所有を権力によって保障する政府を廃止し、自営職人や自営農民などの独立小生産者から構成される、自由な個人主義社会。ディルクCharles W. Dilke（1780―1864）、レブンストーンPiercy Ravenstone（生没不詳）およびホジスキンThomas Hodgskin（1787―1869）の主張がこれである。（2）オーエンの協同組合村構想を基礎にした、所有の共同と協業・分業に基づく自発的な協働とによって分配の平等を享受する共同社会。ホールCharles Hall（1745？―1825？）、トムソンWilliam Thompson（1775―1833）、ジョン・グレーJohn Gray（1799―1883）、エドモンズThomas R. Edmonds（1803―89）およびブレーJohn F. Bray（1809―95）の主張がこれである。

　彼らの主張は著書によってよりも、むしろ安価な労働者新聞や貧民新聞などによって労働大衆に普及したと思われる。さらに当時の経済理論を応用して客観的正当性をもとうとした点で、それ以前のユートピア思想より前進しているが、同時に古典経済学のブルジョア的性格を十分克服できなかったため、資本制社会に対する批判が不徹底に終わった点で、1848年のチャーティスト運動高揚期およびフランス二月革命を境として体系化されていく科学的社会主義より浪漫(ろうまん)的と評しうる。転型期の社会主義思想といえる。

［鎌田武治］

『蛯原良一著『古典派資本蓄積論の発展と労働者階級』（1974・法政大学出版局）』▽『鎌田武治著『古典経済学と初期社会主義』（1968・未来社）』▽『高島善哉・水田洋・平田清明著『社会思想史概論』（1962・岩波書店）』▽『都築忠七訳編『資料イギリス初期社会主義』（1975・平凡社）』▽『平尾敏著『リカード派社会主義の研究』（1975・ミネルヴァ書房）』

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