The Second Industrial Revolution and Advanced Capitalism

• Laissez-Faire Economics

  • Adam Smith: The Principle of the Mercantile System, 1776, from Wealth of Nations.

  • Adam Smith: The Wealth of Nations, 1776, an epitome,

  • Thomas R. Malthus (1766-1834): First Essay on Population, 1798, excerpts

  • Thomas Malthus: An Essay on the Principles of Population, 1798

  • Thomas Malthus: The Corn Laws

  • Thomas Malthus: The Grounds of an Opinion on the Policy of Restricting the Importation of Foreign Corn

  • Thomas Malthus: The High Price of Provisions

  • Thomas Malthus: An Inquiry into the Nature and Progress of Rent

  • David Ricardo (1772-1823): The Iron Law of Wages, 1817, excerpts

  • David Ricardo: The Principles of Political Economy, 1817, an epitome

  • David Riccardo: Principles of Political Economy

  • Pamphlet: In Defence of Laissez-Faire, c. 1840 

• Early Socialism

  • Robert Owen (1771-1858): A New View of Society, Or, Essays on the Principle of the Formation of the Human Character, and the Application of the Principle to Practice, 1813-16  or here

  • Samuel Bamford (1788-1872): Passages in the Life of a Radical-on the Peterloo Massacre, 1819 

  • The Peterloo Massacre, 1819 [At spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk]

  • Chartism: The People's Petition, 1838, excerpts

  • Charles Fourier (1772-1837): Theory of Social Organization, 1820

  • Louis Blanc (1811­1882): The Organization of Labour, 1840, excerpts

• Marxism

  •  Marx/Engels Internet Archive
  • Karl Marx (1818-83) and Frederich Engels (1820-1895): Communist Manifesto, 1848, extracts and Study Guide
  • Karl Marx (1818-83) and Frederich Engels (1820-1895): Communist Manifesto, 1848 Full Text]
  • Karl Marx (1818-83): Scientific Socialism, 1844-1875, an epitome
  • Karl Marx (1818-83): On Alienated Labour, from Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts, 1844
  • Karl Marx (1818-83): The Fetishism of Commodities, from Das Kapital, Vol 1: chap 3
  • An Interview with Karl Marx, The Chicago Tribune, January 5, 1879
  • Frederich Engels (1820-1895): Speech at the Graveside of Karl Marx, 1883

  • Friederich Engels (1820-1895): The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State, 1884

   

• Economic Thought

  • The Crystal Palace International Exhibition of 1851
  • George Friedrich List (1789-1846): National System of Political Economy, excerpts
  • Walter Bagehot (1826-1877): A New Standard of Value, The Economist, November 20, 1875 [At McMaster]

  • Walter Bagehot  (1826-1877): Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market. [At McMaster]
    A classic analysis of the British banking system which was the basis for reform for many other European banking systems.

• The Consumer Marketplace

  • Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929): The Theory of the Leisure Class, 1899,

  • Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929): Conspicuous Consumption, 1902