ABSTRACT
The most “dramatically revolutionary” revolution in history was unfolding before Thomas Hodgskin’s eyes. Behind the label of “Ricardian socialism” lay an attempt to retrieve a British lineage for Karl Marx, whom Sidney Webb and Beatrice Webb praised as “Hodgskin’s illustrious disciple”. Hodgskin admired Watt but was very careful never to embrace any sort of “great man theory of history,” to use the words that Thomas Carlyle would make popular in a few years. Truly remarkable contributions would not go very far, indeed, if they could not rely on other people’s provisions. Once again, Hodgskin sees harmony in economic life, if unhampered by politics. Hodgskin’s understanding of machinery creating prosperity for the masses was less of a blockbuster, but more accurate. Marx himself read Hodgskin as a follow-up and a “complement” to Ricardo.
