ABSTRACT
Prior to the 1880's there were those like J. F. Bray in Labour's Wrongs and John Gray in his Treatise whose thinking had led them to propose an important role for the state or some central authority in the conduct of a future socialist economy. One who would seem to fall into this category was James 'Bronterre' O'Brien. For O'Brien in the 1850s as for O'Brien in the 1830s, the evils of competitive capitalism originated in the sphere of exchange. The nationalisation of money and credit and, in particular, the state control of exchange would end all this. In place of a market determination of price there would be the deliberate determination of value by state officials- 'all commerce must be gradually reduced to equitable exchange on the principle of equal values for equal values, measured by a labour or corn standard. Thus the state would assume the function of pricing which the c had so inadequately performed.
