ABSTRACT
In 1825 an experiment, inspired by John Gray, was initiated by the London Co-operative Society. Gray, at the age of 26, had just published his Lecture on Human Happiness. 153 This attempted to prove, on the basis of figures given in Colquhoun's Treatise on the … Resources of the British Empire (1814), from which Robert Owen had built his ‘cubes’, that labour was being robbed of four-fifths of its produce. What he said in his Lecture on Human Happiness was enough for the London working men. They drew up articles of agreement for the formation of a community based on principles of mutual co-operation, calculating that if £20,000 were subscribed, they could go ahead at once. Interested parties were invited to get in touch with James Cross at 108 Strand, London, for further information.
