McCabe, Helen (2015) John Stuart Mill’s analysis of capitalism and the road to socialism. In: Harrison, Casey, (ed.) A New Social Question : Capitalism, Socialism and Utopia. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 8-22. ISBN 9781443883740

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Abstract

In Principles of Political Economy, John Stuart Mill both provides an assessment of the workability and desirability of some prominent contemporary forms of socialism, and sketches his own view of how society might be transformed from capitalism into socialism. His assessment of contemporary forms of socialism–particularly Owenite communism, Saint-Simonism and Fourierism–in the main determines, not that the schemes are themselves wholly unworkable, nor that the criticisms socialists level against contemporary capitalism are entirely unwarranted, but that a better solution could be found which would also not involve their potential problems (particularly for the free development of individuality). Co-operative socialism, which avoids these problems, whilst also providing solutions to the problems of capitalism, is far more favourably reviewed. It is true that Mill’s language regarding the transformation of capitalism is possibilistic rather than deterministic or normatively prescriptive (often using “may” rather than, say, “will”), but there are both clues in his work that he thought some of these changes would come about (perhaps so long as dominant class-interest did not actively seek to prevent it), and that it should–after all, Mill describes a similar set of reforms as his “Utopia” and declared that, by the mid-1840s, his political philosophy was “under the general designation of Socialist”.

Although the Saint-Simonian scheme called for state-wide adoption of socialism, and the Owenite and Fourierist schemes Mill assessed called for small intentional communities, they were linked by their demand for whole-scale adoption of socialism, and, therefore, for total, immediate, root-and-branch reform. Mill’s preferred model of transformation to socialism is piece-meal, peaceful, small-scale, incremental, voluntaristic, organic and grass-roots-led–but his proposed, and favoured, transformation is no-less radical or, in the end, wide-reaching. Although wary of being too prescriptive, the socialist proposals Mill did make, ultimately, call for some state-action, provision and ownership (at both national and local level), alongside agricultural and industrial producer- and consumer-cooperatives, which could be as communal in their living arrangements as members wished, and which would implement just distributions of the surpluses of co-operation according to principles of justice democratically determined by all members. He also envisaged radical reform to the family, to religion, to the social ethos and, ultimately, to human nature itself. This chapter sketches, firstly, Mill’s analysis of capitalism, and, secondly, his preferred road to socialism.

Item Type:	Book Item
Subjects:	J Political Science > JC Political theory
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Politics and International Studies
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Socialism, Capitalism
Publisher:	Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Place of Publication:	Cambridge
ISBN:	9781443883740
Book Title:	A New Social Question : Capitalism, Socialism and Utopia
Editor:	Harrison, Casey
Official Date:	2015
Dates:	Date Event 2015 Published
Page Range:	pp. 8-22
Status:	Not Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
Related URLs:	Publisher

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