The Secret History of Primitive Accumulation and Classical Political Economy

Classical political economy, the core works of economic literature from the time of William Petty through that of David Ricardo, presents an imposing facade. These towering figures of early political economy forged a new way of thinking systematically about economic affairs with little more than the writings of business people and moral philosophers to guide them. For more than two centuries, successive generations of economists have been grinding out texts to demonstrate how these early economists discovered that markets provide the most efficient method possible for organizing production. This conclusion is ostensibly the intended lesson of classical political economy. Most contemporary readers of Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and the other classical political economists accept their work at face value, assuming these early writers to be uncompromising advocates of laissez faire. For the most part, even many Marxists accept this interpretation of classical political economy. Alongside their work on pure economic theory, the classical political economists engaged on a parallel project: to promote the forcible reconstruction of society to remake it into their a purely market oriented society. While economist historians may debate how deeply most people wer