The birth of capitalism

Author: Michael Perelman
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-09-01
Features: This book elucidates the discourse system created by the founders of classical political economy—Adam Smith, David Ricardo, James Stuart, and others—and explains the logic, origins, and fundamental correctness of capitalism from various perspectives. It reveals the true purpose and goals of classical political economy, which is to separate farmers from the land. The discourse system created by the founders of classical political economy—Adam Smith, David Ricardo, James Stuart, and others—explains the logic, origins, and fundamental correctness of capitalism from many aspects. However, in many important passages of this discourse, these economists did not sufficiently emphasize a crucial condition for the birth of capitalism: for capitalism to succeed, farmers had to abandon their self-sufficient lifestyles and work in factories for wages. Why would they do that? Obviously, they were unwilling to go to factories. The author of this book, Michael Perelman, points out that they were forced into factories. The same economists who supported this process, while theoretically claiming that capitalism is a self-correcting mechanism that can thrive without government intervention, actually promoted policies that deprived small farmers of their self-sufficient lifestyles and forced them to accept wage labor. This directly contradicts the free-market principles these economists openly advocate. Perelman studied the diaries, letters, and more practical writings of classical economists, revealing that Adam Smith and others deliberately obscured the nature of labor control. Policies that undermined the economic independence of rural farmers were, in fact, fundamentally designed to foster primitive accumulation. Perelman argues that these private and practical writings of classical economists reveal the true purpose and goal of classical political economy: to separate farmers from the land.