Robert Owen Analysis

The nineteenth-century played host to the rise of socialist thinking. Prominent socialist writers, such as Owen, Saint-Simon, Fourier, Simonde de Sismondi, and the Ricardian Socialist, rose to fame for their writings and, in the case of Owen, their actions. By no means accepted by economist, socialism was generally dismissed or derided by the brightest economic minds of the time. The notable exception, however, was John Stuart Mill, who was the most generous in his treatment of socialist among economist of the nineteenth century. The socialism of Mill is not directly compatible with the early socialist of his time, however, his more optimistic view of human behavior led him to hold a more generous view towards the socialist than did his early

A poor boy from Wales, who seemed destined to become a linen draper, Owen was able to talk his way up in the work force, eventually creating the profitable and utopian-like city of New Lanark. While New Lanark’s organization and success were unprecedented, Owen had a plan for a new socialist utopia, which he termed “Villages of Cooperation.” These villages would house “eight hundred to twelve thousand souls [who] would work together on farm and in factory to form a self-sustaining unit.” In addition, families would households would have shared living spaces and children would be housed communally at the age of three to begin their education. Owen’s radical idea never materialized in the British Isles and was a massive failure in the United States, but this did not deter him from continuing to introduce groundbreaking ideas to the English people. While notables focused on Owen’s idea of Villages of Cooperation, “real working cooperative societies based on his

Mill, while not the passionate advocate for socialism that Owen was, proved to be sympathetic to the socialist cause. Key to Mill’s argument was that the laws of economics do not cover distribution and “Once we have produced wealth as best we can, we can do with it as we like.” According to Mill, “The distribution of wealth, therefore, depends on the laws and customs of society.” While not explicitly endorsing socialism with these words, it cannot be denied that Mill leaves open the possibility of socialism being an option, a notion that no prior economist had considered. Mill’s interpretation of the economy left open the reform of capitalism giving him an air of generosity toward the socialist. The key component of Mill’s beliefs that allowed his work to be generous to socialist thought was that Mill “thought that the working classes could be educated to understand their Malthusian peril, and would thereupon voluntarily reduce their numbers.” Therefore, Mill’s work was no longer constrained by the Malthusian thinking and he could advocate for his belief in the possibility of social change. The higher stationary plateau that Mill’s denial of Malthusian principles leads to would lead to economic and social progress similar to the ideas of the socialist