Thomas Hodgskin | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1787-12-12)12 December 1787 |
| Died | 21 August 1869(1869-08-21) (aged 81) |
| Citizenship | British |
| Academic background | |
| Influences | John Locke,Jean-Baptiste Say,Adam Smith |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Political economy |
Thomas Hodgskin (12 December 1787 – 21 August 1869) was an Englishsocialist writer onpolitical economy,critic of capitalism and defender offree trade and earlytrade unions.
His views differ from some of the views later assigned to the word 'socialism'. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the termsocialist included any opponent ofcapitalism.[1][2][3]
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Hodgskin's father, who worked at the British Admiralty dock stores, enrolled him in the navy at the age of 12. Coming into conflict with the naval discipline of the time, Hodgskin was retired by the Navy at the age of 25. Publication of hisEssay on Naval Discipline brought Hodgskin to the attention of radicals such asFrancis Place.
Entering theUniversity of Edinburgh for study, Hodgskin later came to London and entered theutilitarian circle around Place,Jeremy Bentham andJames Mill. With their support, he spent the next five years in a programme of travel and study around Europe. In 1815 Hodgskin travelled in France and Germany, experiences which he documented in hisTravels in the North of Germany (1820).[4] He married Eliza Hegewesch in Edinburgh in 1819.[4]
In 1823, Hodgskin joined forces withJoseph Clinton Robertson in founding theMechanics Magazine. In the October 1823 edition of theMechanics Magazine, Hodgskin and Francis Place wrote a manifesto for aMechanics Institute.[5]
His main works wereLabour defended against the claims of Capital (1825) and the four lectures collected asPopular Political Economy (1827). Hodgskin's assertion of the right of workers to the whole produce of their labour was influential but gave rise to his estrangement from his previous supporters, Mill denouncing it as "mad nonsense" which amounted to "the subversion of civilised society".[6]: 288
Hodgskin retreated into the realm ofWhig journalism after theReform Act 1832. He had a family of seven children to support.[4] He advocatedfree trade and was economics editor forThe Economist from 1843 to 1857.[7][8]: 165–172 [6]: 21
In 1848 Hodgskin was also an editorial writer onHerbert Ingram'sLondon Telegraph, where he advocated "Free Trade in the enlarged sense" in all fields of life and denounced what he characterised as "the bureaucracy": "a sordid set of self-willed men associated together, and armed, to obtain their own selfish ends and object, under the name of government".[8]: 166–171
From 1855 to April 1857 Hodgskin published a series of articles setting out his views on the criminal system inThe Economist which led to the magazine's proprietor,James Wilson, breaking with him. Hodgskin then developed his theme in two lectures atSt Martin's Hall.[9]
Hodgskin was a pioneer ofanti-capitalism,individualist anarchism andlibertarian socialism.[10][11] His criticism of employers appropriation of the lion's share of the value produced by their employees went on to influence subsequent generations ofsocialists, includingKarl Marx.[4]
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