GRAY, John.

A Lecture on Human Happiness; being the first of a series of lectures on that subject, in which will be comprehended a general review of the causes of the existing evils of society, and a development of means by which they may be permanently and effectually removed ... To whih [sic] are added the articles of agreement drawn up and recommended by the London Co-operative Society, for the formation of a community on Principles of Mutual Co-Operation, within fifty miles of London.

Philadelphia, D. & S. Neall, 1825. 8vo, pp. 51, 11; scattered light browning and spotting; still a good copy, stab-sewn in contemporary drab paper wrappers, slightly dust-soiled, spine perished in places, but good; preserved in a cloth box. First American edition of a scarce and fragile pamphlet (which was published the same year by Sherwood, Jones, & Co. in London), described by Herbert Somerton Foxwell as ‘the most striking socialist manifesto of the little group of English socialists from whom Marx derived the ideas he popularised and perverted. Extremely rare & valuable; in fact one of the rarest tracts in socialist literature’ (note in Foxwell’s own copy).John Gray (1799–1850) ‘was the pioneer of state-socialism; he envisaged a nation in which anarchic freedom should be entirely superseded by rigid regimentation under the control of a strong and all-embracing executive. Reaching young manhood, as he did, precisely at the time when the cessation of the great wars inaugurated a period of unprecedented disorder and distress, he became convinced that the chaos and conflict which he saw around him could be resolved into cosmos and peace only by the strong hand of state authority. This view he expressed in a lecture on Human Happiness (1825), and in a larger work entitled The Social System (1831). He did more, however, than advocate collectivism. He tried to penetrate to the root causes of the disorders of his time, and, being inadequately equipped for the task, he arrived at some strange conclusions … On his way, however, … he delivered himself of a system more decidedly socialistic than that of any of his contemporaries. First, he proclaimed the labour theory of value in its most extreme (and therefore most absurd) form. “Labour is the exclusive source of property,” he said; and he went on to maintain that “labour” meant “manual labour” and nothing else. Hence “only those are productive members of society who apply their own hands either to the cultivation of the earth itself, or preparing its materials for the uses of life.” Whence it followed that merchants, managers, medical men, lawyers, governors, educators, et hoc genus omne are unproductive, living on the wealth provided by the workers. He calculated that out of a national income of £430,000,000 the non-producers secured £340,000,000. Secondly, and as a natural sequel to his labour theory, he denied the right of anyone to receive either rent of land or interest on capital. Thirdly, he maintained that “barter is the basis of society”; that the proper principle of barter is the exchange of equal quantities of labour; and that, consequently, not gold and silver, but labour-notes are the only defensible media of exchange. Fourthly, he denounced competition as the chief cause of poverty and injustice, and finally set forth his new “social system,” according to which the land and capital would be nationalised, competition eliminated, labour made compulsory and organised by the state, and each labourer supplied with paper money in proportion to his productiveness. There can be no doubt respecting the full-blooded socialism of John Gray. He satisfies all the tests. Professor Foxwell looks upon Gray’s lecture as “perhaps the most striking and effective socialistic manifesto of the time” and adds that “Gray must be regarded as the pioneer of modern, militant, agressive socialism” (Introduction to Menger’s Right to the whole produce of labour)’ (Hearnshaw, A Survey of Socialism, p. 184f).Very rare: this edition not in Goldsmiths’ or Kress (cf. 24744 and C.1436 respectively for the British edition), or Einaudi or Menger; OCLC locates only 2 copies of this edition, at the Library of Congress and Rutgers.

• GBP 4,750.00 > otras divisas
• nº de pedido: H883.2

• librero: Bernard Quaritch Ltd. (GREAT BRITAIN)