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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2008
Popular conceptions of the politics of Robert Owen have changed surprisingly little since the early nineteenth century. Within a short time of the advent of his national campaign for Poor Law reform, Owen came under attack from radical parliamentary reformers on the grounds of his ostensible political conservatism. Among the rumours then afloat among the reformers, Richard Carlile later wrote, one was “that Mr. Owen was an instrument of the Government, to bring forward this plan of providing for the lower and poorer classes, for the purpose of drawing their attention from Parliamentary Reform”.
1 Republican, 14 01 1820, p. 10.Google Scholar
2 Sherwin's, Political Register, 26 04 1817, pp. 59–62.Google Scholar
3 Cobbett's Weekly Political Register, 208 1817, p. 569. The most full account of the radicals' reaction to Owen is in the Reformists' Register, 28 08 1817, pp. 129–60Google Scholar, in an article entitled “Let Us Alone, Mr. Owen”. See also Cullen, A., Adventures in Socialism (Glasgow, 1910), p. 101, and Gans, J., “Robert Owen et la Classe Ouvrière”, in: Le Mouvement Social, No 80 (1972), pp. 77–80.Google Scholar
4 Sargant, W. L.. Robert Owen and His Social Philosophy (London, 1860), pp. 37–38Google Scholar; Royle, E., Victorian Infidels and the Origins of the British Secularist Movement (Manchester, 1974), pp. 2, 44Google Scholar; Prothero, I., Artisans and Politics in Early Nineteenth Century London (London, 1979), p. 254.Google Scholar
5 Podmore, F., Robert, Owen (London, 1906), p. 427; Beer, M., A History of British Socialism (2 vols; London, 1929), I, p. 162; Harvey, R. H., Robert, Owen, Social Idealist (Berkeley, 1949), p. 87; Miii⊙and, R., “ The Politics of Robert Owen”, in: Journal of the History of Ideas, XV (1954), pp. 233–35; Garnett, R. G., Co-operation and the Owenite Socialist Communities in Britain, 1825–45 (Manchester, 1972), p. 29; Tsuzuki, C., ‘Robert Owen and Revolutionary Politics”, in: Robert Owen: Prophet of the Poor, ed. by Pollard, S. and Salt, J. (London, 1971), p. 13Google Scholar; Butt, J., “Robert Owen of New Lanark: His Critique of British Society”, in: The Victorians and Social Protest, ed. by Butt, J. and Clarke, J. F. (Newton Abbot, 1971), p. 43; Thompson, E. P., The Making of the English Working Class (Harmondsworth, 1968), p. 861.Google Scholar
6 Jones, L., The Life, Times, and Labours of Robert Owen, 2nd ed. (London, 1895), p. 213; Harrison, J. F. C., Robert Owen and the Owenites in Britain and America (London, 1969), p. 76.Google Scholar
7 Owen, R., A Statement Regarding the New Lanark Establishment (Glasgow, 1812), p.4.Google Scholar
8 “Mr. Owen's Discourse on a New System of Society”, in: Johnson, O. C., Robert Owen in the United States (New York, 1970). p. 27Google Scholar: Owen, R., Report of the Proceedings at the Several Public Meetings Held in Dublin (Dublin, 1823), pp. 14–15. On the relation of Owen's educational theories to the development of the British working-class movement, see Vester, M., Die Entstehung des Proletariats als Lernprozess (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1970), pp. 187–233.Google Scholar
9 The original regulations are reprinted in Owen, R., The New Existence of Man Upon the Earth (London, 1854), V, pp. ix–xi.Google Scholar
10 Id., “A New View of Society”, in A New View of Society and Other Writings, ed. by Butt, J. (London, 1977). pp. 63–90, 36.Google Scholar
11 Id., “Further Development of the Plan for the Relief of the Poor and the Emancipation of Mankind”, ibid., pp. 228–31.
12 Id., “Address Delivered at the City of London Tavern on Thursday, August 21, 1817”, ibid., p. 218. Bellers is identified with this general scheme at p. 213. Owen reprinted his Proposals for Establishing a Colledge of Industry (1696) the following year. See p. 16 of the original edition for Bellers's comments on supervision at age 60.
13 The Age of Civilization, 11 04 1818, p. 80Google Scholar; Owen, R., “An Address to the Inhabitants of New Lanark”, in A New View of Society and Other Writings, op. cit., p. 118; The Mirror of Truth, 1 10 1817, p. 8; 7 11, p. 59.Google Scholar
14 R. Owen, “Report to the County of Lanark”, in New View of Society and Other Writings, p. 287; Proceedings of the First General Meeting of the British and Foreign Philanthropic Society (London, 1822), pp. 46–56; Permanent Relief for the British Agricultural and Manufacturing Labourers and the Irish Peasantry (London, 1822 or 1823), p. 9
15 “Mr. Owen's Discourse on a New System of Society”, loc. cit., p. 31. See the New Harmony Gazette, 25 April 1827, p. 234. A general history of government at New Harmony is given ibid., 28 March, pp. 206–07. See also Bestor, A. E., Backwoods Utopias: The Sectarian and Owenite Phases of Communitarian Socialism in America, 1663–1829 (Philadelphia, 1950), pp. 160–202.Google Scholar
16 “Mr. Owen's Second Discourse on a New System of Society”, in: Johnson Robert Owen in the United States, op. cit., pp. 53, 56; New Harmony Gazette. 7 February 1827, p. 145; 21 February, p. 161.
17 Ibid., 28 March, p. 206.
18 Ibid., 23 August 1826, p. 383: 10 January 1827, p. 113; London Co-operative Magazine, 1 March 1830, p. 37. For a bitterly critcal reflection upon Owen's goverment at New Harmony, see P.Brown, Twelve Months in New Harmony (Cincinnati, 1827).
19 Proceedings of the Third Co-operative Congress (London. 1832), pp. 53–54.Google Scholar
20 Ibid., p. 93.
21 Lovett, W., The Life and Struggles of William Lovett (London, 1967), pp. 40–41.Google Scholar
22 Ibid. For other accounts of Owen's behaviour at this congress, see Holyoake, G. J., The History of Co-operation (2 vols; London, 1906), 1, p. 120Google Scholar, and R. K. P. Pankhurst, William Thompson (London, 1954), pp. 157–79.
23 Rules and Regulations of the Equitable Labour Exchange (London, 1832), pp. 4–6; Proceedings of the Third Co-operative Congress, p. 47.
24 Pioneer. 7 June 1834, p. 393.
25 Crisis, , 19 04 1834, pp. 12–13: Pioneer. 26 April, pp. 317–19: A. Somerville. Autobiography of a Working Man (London, 1967), p. 286.Google Scholar
26 See for example Owen's comments in the Poor Man's Guardian, 14 March 1835, pp. 460–61, and O'Brien's response ibid., 21 March, pp. 465–68.
27 Trades' Newspaper and Mechanics Weekly Gazette. 2108 1830.Google Scholar
28 Robert Owen's Reply to the Question, “What you Do If You Were Prine Minister?” (London, 1832), pp. 12, 3. Owen had also run for Parliament twice in 1819–20.Google Scholar See Podmore, , Robert Owen, op.cit., p. 264, for details.Google Scholar
29 New Moral World, 1710 1835, pp. 401–03; 24 10, p. 409; Robert Owen's Opening Speech, and His Reply to the Rev. Alex. Campbell in the Recent Public Discussion in Cincinnati (Cincinnati, 1829), pp. 141–42.Google Scholar
30 Cole, G. D. H., The Life of Robert Owen. 3rd ed. (London, 1965), p. 11.Google Scholar
31 Owen, , “An Address to the Inhabitants of New Lanark”, loc. cit., p. 106.Google Scholar
32 Id., Report of the Proceedings at the Several Public Meetings Held in Dublin, op. cit., pp. 55–56.
33 Ibid.,p. 152.Google Scholar
34 Owen, , “Report to the County of Lanark”, loc. cit., p. 269.Google Scholar
35 Ibid.
36 “Socialism” first occurs in the London Co-operative Magazine, November 1827, p. 509, note. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the first English usage of “individualism” as 1840, and presumes it to be taken from the French. I have found it used in English as early as 1834, however, and it is obvious that the conceptual opposition between “socialism” and“individualism” had begun to assume a new form as early as the turn of the century. On the new “social” language of the early-nineteenth-century working-class movements, see in particular Stedman Jones, G., “Rethinking Chartism”, in: Studies in English Working Class Radicalism and Culture, 1830–1860Google Scholar, ed. by D. Thompson and J. A. Epstein (forthcoming, 1982).
37 Owen, R., A Development of the Principles and Plans on which to establish Self-Supporting Home Colonies (London, 1841), p. 34.Google Scholar
38 Id., letter to the Times, 29 04 1817, excerpted in the Evening Mail, 30 May; id., Lectures on an Entire New State of Society (London, 1830), p. 61; Permanent Relief, op. cit., p. 4.Google Scholar
39 Robert, Owen's Opening Speech, op. cit., p. 214.Google Scholar
40 Owen, , “Address Delivered at the City of London Tavern”, bc. cit., p. 218.Google Scholar
41 Id., Lectures on an Entire New State, op. cit., p. 148.
42 Robert, Owen's Opening Speech, p. 43.Google Scholar
43 Poor Man's Guardian, 7 11 1835, p. 731.Google Scholar
44 Owen, R., Public Discussion Between Robert Owen and the Rev.Google ScholarRoebuck, J. H. (London, 1837), p. 115.Google Scholar
45 New Moral World, 3 April 1835, p. 178.
46 Owen, R., A Dialogue between the Founder of the Association of All Classes of All Nations and a Stranger (Leeds, 1838), p. 19.Google Scholar
47 Robert, Owen's Journal, 8 11 1851, p. 12.Google Scholar See also ibid., 27 march 1852, p. 170, where Owen contrasts party and national interests at some length.
48 Owen, R., The Marriage System of the New Moral World (Leeds, 1838), pp. 25–27.Google Scholar For a general discussion of Owen's view of marriage, see Saville, J., “Robert Owen on the Family and Marriage System of the Old Immoral World”, in: Rebels and Their Causes, ed. by Cornforth, M. (London, 1978), pp. 107–21Google Scholar. An extremely comprehensive treatment can be found in Taylor, B., “The Feminist Theory and Practice of the Owenite Socialist Movement in Britain, 1820-1845” (Ph.D. thesis, Sussex University, 1980).Google Scholar
49 New Moral World, 27 December 1834, p. 67. This text is from lectures given by Owen in 1834, which were reprinted, substantially unchanged, as The Marriage System of the New Moral World, op. cit.
50 Owen, , The Marriage System, pp. 71–72.Google Scholar
51 New Harmony Gazette, 30 08 1826, p. 390.Google Scholar
52 Robert, Owen's Weekly Letters to the Human Race. IV (1850), pp. 33–34.Google Scholar
53 A Full Account of the Farewell Festival Given to Robert Owen on his Departure for America (London, 1844), p. 4.
54 Owen, R., The Catechism of the New Moral World, 2nd ed. (Leeds, 1838), p. 7.Google Scholar An earlier treatment of this theme is in Claeys, G. and Kerr, P., “Mechanical Political Economy”, in: Cambridge Journal of Economics, V (1981). pp. 268–71.Google Scholar
55 New Moral World. 26 September 1835. p. 382. For further treament of the productive/unproductive distinction and its implications, see my “The Role of ‘Unproductive Labour’ in the Development of early British Socialist Theory: Form Godwin to 1850”, in After Adam Smith: Essays on the Development of Political Economy in the early Ninteenth Century, ed. by Hont, I. (Cambridge, forthcoming).Google Scholar
56 Owen, R., Six Lectures Delivered in Manchester, previous to the Discussion between Robert Owen, Mr. and the Rev. Roebuck, J. H. (Manchester, 1839), pp. 73–83; Robert, Owen's Address, Delivered at the Meeting in St. Martin's Hall (London, 1855), p. 17. The first statement of this scheme was probably in 1835. See the New Moral World, 9 05 1835, p. 221.Google Scholar
57 New Moral World, 24 05, p. 388.Google Scholar
58 Permanent Relief, p. 4; New Harmony Gazette. 7 02 1827, p. 146; 21 02, p. 161. The last cited work, entitled The Social System, was written about 1821, though it did not appear in print until 1826Google Scholar. See ibid., 22 November 1826, p. 63.
59 Robert, Owen's Opening Speech, p. 49.Google Scholar
60 A Supplementary Appendix to the First Volume of the Life of Robert, Owen (London. 1858), p. iii.Google Scholar
61 The Daily Union (New York), 11 03 1846, University of London Manuscript 578 (Pare Papers). f. 147.Google Scholar
62 New Moral World, 10 05 1845, p. 365.Google Scholar
63 Spirit of the Age, 2 12 1848, p. 298.Google Scholar
64 Owen, R., The Book of the New Moral World (London. 1842–1844), VI, p. 64: Letter from Mr. Owen to the President and Members of the New York State Convention (New York, 1846), p. 26.Google Scholar
65 New Moral World, 26 09 1835, p. 380.Google Scholar
66 Northern Star, 18 03 1843, p. 7.Google Scholar
67 Owen, , The Marriage System. p. 3.Google Scholar
68 Robert, Owen's Weekly Letters to the Human Race. XIII (1850), p. 127; Owen. The Book of the New Moral World. op. cit., II. pp. 42–43; VI, p. 61.Google Scholar
69 New Moral World, 22 11 1834, pp. 27–28; Jones, , The Life, Times, and Labours of Robert Owen, op. cit., p. 314. The full constitution of the AACAN is given in the New Moral World, 7 03 1835, pp. 145–47.Google Scholar
70 This was a shortened version of the Universal Community Society of Rational Religionists. the branch and financial associate of the AACAN. The two organisations merged in late 1839. See the AACAN Minute Book of the Central Board. Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, f. 428 (24 April 1839).
71 New Moral World, 10 03 1838. p. 153; 21 08. p. 309; 27 10, p. 1.Google Scholar
72 Ibid., 1 08 1835. p. 317; 10 06 1837, pp. 247–48: 18 08 1840, p. 43; 3 04 1841. p. 211.Google Scholar
73 Owen, R.. An address to the Socialists on the Present Position of the Rational System of Society (London, 1841), pp. 11–13.Google Scholar
74 New Moral World, 6 06 1841, pp. 348, 353–55.Google Scholar
75 Ibid., 3 08, pp. 1–2; 13 08 1842, p. 52; The Union, 1 12, p. 366.Google Scholar
76 New Moral World, 19 06 1841, p. 380.Google Scholar
77 Rational Society, Minute Book of Directors, No 2, 18 10 1844, Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis.Google Scholar
78 New Moral World, 18 12 1841, pp. 193–94.Google Scholar
79 Ibid., 9 04 1842, pp. 322, 324; 3 06 1843, p. 406.Google Scholar
80 Ibid.
81 Owen, , A Development of the Principles, op. cit., pp. 40–41; The Movement, Anti Persecution Gazette, and Register of Progress, No 19 (1844), p. 148.Google Scholar
82 New Moral World, 18 08 1840, pp. 36–37; Northern Star, 15 04 1843, p. 7.Google Scholar
83 See Yeo, E., “Robert Owen and Radical Culture”, in: Robert, Owen: Prophet of the Poor, op. cit., pp. 84–114.Google Scholar
84 Robert Owen's Reply to the Question, op. cit., p. 12; Crisis, , 1 03 1834, p. 219; New Moral World, 23 04 1842, p. 337; Preliminary Charter of the Rational System (London, 1843) (broadside).Google Scholar
85 Rothstein, Th., From Chartism to Labourism (London, 1929), p. 8: University of London Manuscript 578, f. 173; Reasoner, , III (1847), p. 446; Owen, R., Practical Measures Required to Prevent Greater Political Changes in Great Britain and Ireland (London, 1848) (broadside), also printed in the Northern Star, 25 03 1848. p. 3.Google Scholar
86 Spirit of the Age, 21 august 1848. p. 203; Northern Star. 21 10, p. 1.
87 Owen, R., Socialism Misrepresented and Truly Represented (London, 1848), 16.Google Scholar
88 Owen to Thomas Allsop, 14 04 1848, British Library. Additional Manuscripts 46344. ff. 57–58.Google Scholar
89 Spirit of the Age, 4 11 1848, p. 235.Google Scholar See also Owen, R., Dialogue entre La France, le Monde, et Robert Owen (Paris, 1848); id., Dialogue entre les Membres de la Commission Exécutive, les Ambassadeurs d'Angleterre, de Russie, d'Autriche, de Prusse, de Hollande, des Etats-Unis, et Robert Owen (Paris, 1848). On this episode in Owen's life, see Tsuzuki, C., “Robert Owen and Revolutionary Politics”, in: Robert Owen: Prophet of the Poor, pp. 13–38.Google Scholar
90 New Moral World, 30 04 1842, p. 349.Google Scholar
91 Weekly Tribune, 16 03 1850, p. 3.Google Scholar
92 Northern Star, 26 04 1845, p. 6.Google Scholar
93 Robert, Owen's Journal, 28 12 1850, p. 65.Google Scholar
94 “Reminiscences of Thomas Dunning”, in Testaments of Radicalism: Memoirs of Working Class Politicians, 1790-1850, ed. by Vincent, D. (London, 1977), p. 223; Robert, Owen's Millennial Gazette, 1 05 1850, pp. 13, 40.Google Scholar
95 A Full Account of the Farewell Festival, op.cit., pp. 7–8.
96 Owen, R., Lectures on the Rational System of Society (London, 1841), p. 164.Google Scholar
97 Schochet, G. J., Patriarchalism in Political Thought (Oxford, 1979), pp. 10–14, 20–22, 54–58, 271–75.Google Scholar
98 Ibid., p. 273; Roberts, D., Paternalism in Early Victorian England (London, 1979), pp. 273, 2–3, 270–71.Google Scholar
99 Ibid., pp. 187–89, 202–03.Google Scholar
100 Crisis, , 15 02 1834, p. 207.Google Scholar
101 The Educational Circular and Communist Apostle, December 1841. p. 11; May 1842, p. 44.
102 Thimbleby, J., Monadelphia (London, 1832), p. 40.Google Scholar
103 Craig, E. T., A Remedy for the Pacification of Ireland (Dublin. 1870), p. 12: see Bray, C., Phases of Opinion and Experience During a Long Life (London, 1879), pp. 73–77: Bray to Combe, National Library of Scotland, Manuscript 7305, f. 65.Google Scholar
104 Combe to Owen, 28 01 1824, National Library of Scotland, Manuscript 7382, f. 368.Google Scholar See Combe, G., “Phrenological Analysis of Mr. Owen's New Views of Society”, in: Phrenological Journal, I (1823–1824), pp. 218–37.Google Scholar The commentary below the text of this article by “a zealous and able advocate of the new views” is identified as that of Abram Combe, George Combe's brother and one of the founders of the Orbiston community, in National Library of Scotland, Manuscript 7383, f. 14. On Owen's relations with the Combe circle, see Grant, A. C., “George Combe and His Circle: with Particular Reference to His Relations with the United States of America” (Ph.D. thesis, Edinburgh University, 1960), pp. 55–67.Google Scholar
105 New Moral World, 3 04 1835, pp. 180–83: 18 04 , p. 200;Google ScholarOwen, R., A Dialogue in Three Parts Between the Founder of the Association of All Classes of All Nations and a Stranger (London, 1838). p. 13.Google Scholar
106 See Claeys, G.. “A Tory Utopian Revolutionary at Cambridge: The Political Ideas and Schemes of James B. Bernard. 1834-39”, in: The Historical Journal (forthcoming, 1982).Google Scholar
107 Holyoake, G. J., Life of Joseph Rayner Stephens (London, 1881), p. 188;Google Scholar see Sargant, , Robert, Owen, op. cit., p. 267,Google Scholar and Harvey, Robert Owen, op. cit., p. 137.
108 Robert Owen's Opening Speech. p. 189.
109 Owen, . The Book of the New Moral World, I, pp. 65, 63.Google Scholar
110 Robert, Owen's Journal, 8 11 1851, pp. 14–15.Google Scholar
111 Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Michael Thomas Sadler (London, 1842), pp. 33, 67-68, 379, 447.
112 The Fleet Papers, 31 08 1841, p. 247:Google ScholarDriver, C.. Tory Radical: The Life of Richard Oastler (Oxford, 1946), pp. 130, 203, 427.Google Scholar
113 The Official Gazette of the Trades' Unions, 1406 1834, p. 14.Google Scholar See Hill, R. L., Toryism and the People. 1832-46 (London, 1929), p. 178, for a discussion of Owen which terms him “the very incarnation of benevolent Toryism applied to industry”.Google Scholar
114 Herzen, A., My Past and Thoughts (3 vols; London, 1968). III, pp. 1236, 1240. Thanks to Christine Lattek for this reference.Google Scholar
115 Robert, Owen's Weekly Letters to the Human Race, XI (1850). p. 99.Google Scholar
116 New Harmony Gazette, 23 05 1827, p. 265.Google Scholar
117 Economist, 18 08 1821, p. 66.Google Scholar
118 Maclure, W.. Opinions on Various Subjects (3 vols; New Harmony, 1831–1838). 1, p. 33.Google Scholar
119 Ibid., p. 83; II, pp. 317, 452; Thompson, W., Labor Rewarded (London, 1827), pp. 121–24.Google Scholar
120 Robert Owen's Opening Speech, pp. 139–40.
121 Manifesto of Robert Owen (Washington, 1844), p. 5: Communitist. 12 September 1845, p. 21 Robert, Owen's Journal, 8 11 1851, p. 14; 6 03 1852, p. 149: Spirit of the Age, 7 10 1848, p. 171;Google ScholarOwen, R.. Reasons for Each Law Proposed to be Introduced First into the State of New York (Washington, 1846), p. 21.Google Scholar
122 Owen, R., The Millennium in Practice (London, 1855), p. 20.Google Scholar
123 Id., “A Catechism of the New Society”, in A New View of Society and Other Writings, p. 184; The Times, 7 august 1853, quoted in Roberts, Paternalism, op. cit., p. 203.
124 Robert Owen's Journal, 1 02 1851, p. 108.Google Scholar
125 Herzen, , My Past and Thoughts, op. cit., III, pp. 1207–08.Google Scholar
126 Letter from Robert Owen, Mr. to the President and Members of the New York State Convention, op. cit., p. 27.Google Scholar
127 Robert, Owen's Journal, 24 01 1852, pp. 103–04.Google Scholar
128 Owen, , The Book of the New Moral World, I. p. 52.Google Scholar
129 Ibid., II, pp. 32–33.Google Scholar
130 Owen to Brougham. 1855, Owen Collection, No 2533, Holyoake House, Manchester.
131 Owen, , The Book of the New Moral World, II, p. 44.Google Scholar
132 For Oastler's opposition to centralisation see, e.g., The Fleet Papers, 1704 1841, p. 122.Google Scholar
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