Thomas Hodgskin Quotes
Whether an instrument shall be regarded as productive capital or not depends entirely on its being used, or not, by some productive labourer…
Thomas Hodgskin, 1787-1869, English Naval Officer, Journalist and Political Philosopher, Labour Defended against the Claims of Capital, 1825
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Ironically, Fitzhugh who detested socialism, held this basic socialist principle. His solution however, was that the profits were necessary for society, and therefore slavery was the solution for Blacks AND whites.
This is a classic illustration of a quotation illustrating the problem that political discussions have with the issue of causality. Conrad is absolutely correct in stating that investment and innovation as the direct cause for most productivity. However, without the demand created by consumption (or the prospect of it) there will be little capital and effort at innovation. There is a causal chain and different ideological proponents argue for their preferred link in the chain tending to ignore the other links. Many liberals tout increasing consumption and pay little attention to the investment and innovation—an error of the opposite of Conrad’s.
America’s first political economist
This was a virtually unheard of idea at the time.
the Bolshevik Communists of Russia Zenzinov was often a critic of the Bolsheviks.
Thomas Hodgskin was an English socialist writer on political economy, critic of capitalism and defender of free trade and early trade unions. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the term socialist included any opponent of capitalism, at the time defined as a construed political system built on privileges for the owners of capital.
