ABSTRACT
From its origins in the early nineteenth century, British socialist political economy embodied a powerful moral dimension. This was particularly apparent in its critique of capitalism but it was evident too in the nature of the prescriptions that many socialist writers put forward. As regards critique, capitalism was to be condemned not just because it was productive of waste and inefficiency, not just because it failed to raise working-class living standards and make effective use of the productive capacity it created but also (for many primarily) because it was productive of injustice, iniquity and the degradation of humankind. It failed to match reward with desert, it induced self-seeking amoral and immoral behaviour, it fostered predatory and acquisitive instincts, it atrophied humanity’s creative abilities, it encouraged the abuse of power and inculcated its corollary servility. Not only did it materially impoverish and demean, it also irredeemably corrupted Man’s soul. Such was the tenor and substance of the moral condemnation of capitalism that ran through much of the work of socialist political economists in nineteenthand early-twentieth-century Britain.
