Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

 Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow CHAPTER III: The Sources of German Socialism - Socialistic Fallacies

Return to Title Page for Socialistic Fallacies

Search this Title:

CHAPTER III: The Sources of German Socialism - Yves Guyot, Socialistic Fallacies [1910]

Edition used:

Socialistic Fallacies (London: Cope and Fenwick, 1910).

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


CHAPTER III

The Sources of German Socialism

Formulæ of Saint Simon and Ricardo.

German Socialism is derived from two sources:—

  • (1). The French doctrine of Saint Simon, “The way to grow rich is to make others work for one,” which became in Proudhon's works, “The exploitation of man by man.”
  • (2). Three formulæ of Ricardo, viz.: (a) Labour is the measure of value; (b) the price of labour is that which provides the labourer in general with the means of subsistence and of perpetuating his species without either increase or diminution; (c) profits decrease in proportion as wages increase.

Formula (b), became the “iron law of wages” of Lassalle. The French doctrines and Ricardo's three formulas became Rodbertus' theory of the “normal time of labour,” and of Karl Marx' and Engels' “surplus labour.”