Classical Liberalism and the Industrial Working Class

Thomas Hodgskin is sometimes considered a forerunner of Karl Marx. A closer look at his work reveals a committed advocate of laissez-faire economics, enthusiastic about labor-saving machinery and the Industrial Revolution. This book places him in the tradition of classical liberalism.

Alberto Mingardi is associate professor of the history of political thought at IULM University in Milan. He is also a presidential scholar in political theory at Chapman University, director general of the Istituto Bruno Leoni, a think tank in Milan, and an adjunct fellow at the Cato Institute.

Chapter 1: A Life in the Storm 1.1 The Early Life of Thomas Hodgskin 1.2 Utilitarian (and Useful) Friendships 1.3 A Journalistic Career 1.4 An Essay on Naval Discipline Chapter 2: Thomas Hodgskin's Peculiar Blend of "Socialism" 2.1 Hodgskin: A Ricardian Socialist? 2.2 Capital and Privilege 2.3 The Issue of Machinery 2.4 A Theorist of Human Capital? Chapter 3: Political Economy and Free Trade 3.1 A Defender of Political Economy 3.2 Labor, Knowledge and a Principle of Population 3.3 A Long-time Opposition to the Corn Laws 3.4 Hodgskin, Cobden, and the League 3.5 Hodgskin's Free Trade Manifesto Chapter 4: Free Trade in Banking 4.1 Some Thoughts on the Business Cycle 4.2 Free Banking Chapter 5: Between Liberalism and Anarchism 5.1 Private Property, Good and Bad: Hodgskin as a Lockean 5.2 Against "Scientific" Government 5.3 Public Opinion and the Middle Classes Conclusion 6.1. Herbert Spencer and Thomas Hodgskin 6.2. The Anti-Utilitarianism of Spencer and Hodgskin 6.3. A Distinct Tradition of Classical Liberalism?