The ideas of English social critic and reformer, John Ruskin (1819–1900) show elements of modernity and remarkable originality which, in contrast with many other critics of early capitalism, make reading his works both current and highly stimulating. This is particularly true of Unto This Last, his economic and social commentary magnum opus. We will consider two aspects of his thought from this book – the motives for work and wealth – which we consider particularly significant and prophetic for our present-day economy and society.

Ruskin was both a critic of capitalism – because of workers’ conditions in factories – and a critic of the economic theory of his time, that of David Ricardo, Thomas Robert Malthus and particularly that of John Stuart Mill. Today he would have been even more critical of our capitalism and economic theory, which have exacerbated those vices he identified and stigmatized in his own generation. From this perspective Ruskin was on the side of the utopian socialists (like Robert Owen, he tried to constitute an ideal community of workers), Karl Marx, US President Andrew Johnson and, in Italy, Arturo Labriola, Achille Loria, Ugo Rabbeno and the many theorists of cooperation, as well as social Christians like Giuseppe Toniolo (the Gospels and the biblical tradition are essential background for understanding Ruskin’s criticism of capitalism).