The Origins of Universal Grants: An Anthology of Historical Writings on Basic Capital and Basic Income

210 Pages·2005·0.86 MB·English

by  John Cunliffe

The Origins of Universal
Grants
An Anthology of Historical Writings on
Basic Capital and Basic Income
Edited by
John Cunliffe and
Guido Erreygers
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The Origins of Universal Grants
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Also by Guido Erreygers
ECONOMICS AND INTERDISCIPLINARY EXCHANGE(editor)
IS INHERITANCE LEGITIMATE? ETHICAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF
WEALTH TRANSFERS (co-edited with Toon Vandevelde)
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The Origins of Universal
Grants
An Anthology of Historical Writings
on Basic Capital and Basic Income
Edited by
John Cunliffe
University of Warwick
UK
and
Guido Erreygers
University of Antwerp
Belgium
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Editorial matter and Selection and Chapters 5–7 and 11
© John Cunliffe and Guido Erreygers 2004
Chapters 1 and 15 © Palgrave Macmillan 2004
Chapter 3 © Burt Franklin 1964
Chapter 4 © Scholars Facsimiles and Reprints 1978
Chapter 8 © Spokesman Books 1982
Chapter 10 © University of Missouri Press 1983
Chapter 12 © E.Mabel and Dennis Milner 1918
Chapter 13 © Bertram Pickard 1919
Chapter 14 © C.Marshall Hattersley 1960
Chapter 16 © Time Warner Books 1943
All rights reserved.No reproduction,copy or transmission of this
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The authors have asserted their rights to be identified
as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2004 by
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The origins of universal grants :an anthology of historical writings
onbasic capital and basic income / edited by John Cunliffe and Guido
Erreygers.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1–4039–1896–1 (cloth)
1.Income.2.Income distribution.3.Capital.4.Basic needs.
5.Economic security.I.Cunliffe,John.II.Erreygers,Guido,1959–
HB523.O75 2005
339.2—dc22 2004048877
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Antony Rowe Ltd,Chippenham and Eastbourne
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Contents
Preface vii
Acknowledgements ix
John Cunliffe and Guido Erreygers Introduction x
Part I Basic Capital Proposals 1
1 Thomas Paine Agrarian Justice (1797) 3
2 Cornelius Blatchly Some Causes of Popular Poverty,
Derived from the Enriching Nature of Interests, Rents,
Duties, Inheritances, and Church Establishments,
Investigated in their Principles and Consequences, and
Agreement with the Scriptures(1817) 17
3 Thomas Skidmore The Rights of Man to Property! Being
a Proposition to Make it Equal among the Adults of the Present
Generation: and to Provide for its Equal Transmission to Every
Individual of Each Succeeding Generation, on Arriving
at Maturity(1829) 23
4 Orestes Brownson Brownson’s Defence. Defence of the
Article on the Laboring Classes. From the Boston Quarterly
Review(1840) 32
5 Paul Voituron The Right to Labour and Property(1848) 48
6 Napoleon De Keyser Natural Law, or Justice as a
New Governance for Society according to the Destiny
of Man(1854) 56
7 Agathon De Potter Social Economics(1874) 73
Part II Basic Income Proposals 79
8 Thomas Spence The Rights of Infants(1797) 81
9 Allen Davenport (Including Richard Carlile’s
Reaction in Footnotes) Agrarian Equality – To
Mr. R. Carlile, Dorchester Gaol(1824) 92
v
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vi Contents
10 Charles Fourier Letter to the High Judge(1803) 99
11 Joseph Charlier, Solution of the Social Problem or
Humanitarian Constitution, Based upon Natural Law,
and Preceded by the Exposition of Reasons(1848) 103
12 E. Mabel and Dennis Milner Scheme for a State
Bonus(1918) 121
13 Bertram Pickard A Reasonable Revolution. Being a
Discussion of the State Bonus Scheme – a Proposal for a
National Minimum Income(1919) 134
14 C. Marshall Hattersley The Community’s Credit.
A Consideration of the Principles and Proposals of the
Social Credit Movement(1922) 141
15 G.D.H. Cole
(I) The Next Ten Years in British Social and
Economic Policy(1929)
(II) Principles of Economic Planning(1935) 149
16 Juliet Rhys-Williams Something to Look Forward To.
A Suggestion for a New Social Contract(1943) 161
References 170
Index 172
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Preface
For about ten years we have been researching various aspects of social
liberalism, or liberal socialism, focusing primarily on the historical roots
of particular versions of this strand of thought. In the course of our
research we more than once stumbled upon embryonic formulations of
the modern ideas of ‘basic income’ or ‘basic capital’. Yet, surprisingly,
many of these early formulations are hidden in dark corners of our
knowledge, or even (almost) completely forgotten. The present anthol-
ogy assembles a few of these remarkable early contributions, some of
which are hard to find and are published here for the first time in
English. What we have learned from our research is that it would be pre-
tentious to claim that this is a complete overview – certainly it is not.
We are convinced that in the coming years similar contributions will be
unearthed from dusty archives and libraries. What we do claim is that
our collection shows that the origins of the basic income and basic cap-
ital proposals are deep and diverse. Of course this is not a new insight,
but we think that our selection makes it clear that the sources of these
proposals are more widespread than is usually believed.
Over the years we have benefited greatly from the support, encour-
agement and advice of a large number of colleagues and scholars of basic
income and basic capital. We would like to thank Tom Schatteman,
Hillel Steiner, Robert van der Veen, Gijs van Donselaar, Philippe Van
Parijs (without whom we would probably have never met each other),
and Peter Vallentyne. A special word of thanks goes to Matthew Clayton
and Andrew Reeve for their comments on the Introduction. We are also
very grateful to Klaartje Verbelen and Jo Clijsters, who in the tranquil-
lity of their house La Vigne Roussein the Provencelaboured on the incom-
prehensible French texts of three obscure nineteenth century Belgian
writers and made a first draft of the English translations.
Initially the anthology was to be edited by three authors.
Unfortunately Walter Van Trier had to abandon as editor because of an
overload of work. Nobody has done more to write the history of the
basic income idea than Walter. His PhD thesis Every One a King is a
goldmine for those interested in the British antecedents of basic income.
We hope that one day he will find the time to rewrite it and make it
available for a wider audience.
vii
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viii Preface
Separately or jointly we have been supported in our research by grants
from the Nuffield Foundation, the British Council, and the FWO (the
Flemish Fund for Scientific Research). John Cunliffe spent considerable
time at the University of Antwerpas invited professor of the Department
of Economics. We thank all these institutions for their generous finan-
cial support.
The Editors
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Acknowledgements and
General Editing Observations
We thank the following persons and institutions for the permission to
reprint extracts from previously published material:
– Palgrave-Macmillan for Paine’s Agrarian Justice, Cole’s The Next Ten
Years in British Social and Economic Policy, and Cole’s Principles of
Economic Planning.
– Spokeman’s Books for Spence’s The Rights of Infants.
– University of Missouri Press for Fourier’s Letter to the High Judge.
– John H. Milner for E. Mabel and Dennis Milner’s Scheme for a State
Bonus.
– Martin Hattersley for C. Marshall Hattersley’s The Community’s Credit.
– Time Warner Books for Rhys-Williams’s Something to Look Forward To.
A Suggestion for a New Social Contract.
Any remaining copyright holders which we might have failed to locate
are requested to contact the editors and the publisher.
The translations of the texts of Voituron, De Keyser, De Potter and
Charlier have been made by John Cunliffe and Guido Erreygers.
Any material which has been deleted from the original texts is indi-
cated by the symbol ‘(…)’. All material which has been inserted is in
square brackets. This refers in particular to the notes of the editors.
ix