John Gray (socialist)
John Gray (* 1799 in Scotland ; † April 26, 1883 in London ) was a British utopian socialist and author of economic writings.
Life
Gray was from Scotland. He spent his school years in Repton ( Derbyshire ). When he was fourteen he came to London to do business training with a businessman.
Interested in all possible economic questions, he made the acquaintance of the entrepreneur Robert Owen in August 1817 . Gray was enthusiastic about Owen's ideas and from 1821 helped to set up a model settlement according to his plans in Orbiston , near Glasgow .
From 1825 Gray acted as editor and publisher of various magazines and newspapers, such as: Edinburgh Leith , Glasgow and North British Commercial and Literary Adviser . During this time he also emerged with economic and political works, some of which sparked fierce controversy.
reception
In The Social System , John Gray systematically developed the doctrine of working time as a direct unit of measurement of money for the first time, making him the forerunner of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon , according to Karl Marx in his work On the Critique of Political Economy . Marx therefore mentions Gray in his criticism of Proudhon's "time sheet".
Gray posed the problem of why all goods have their value in one exclusive commodity, i.e. H. the money , appreciate. But instead of solving the problem, he imagined that goods could directly relate to one another without money, according to Marx. Gray's thesis was therefore: "Every commodity is directly money".
Works (selection)
- The social system. A treatise on the principle of exchange . Edinburgh 1831
- Lectures on the nature and use of money. Delivered before the members of the "Edinburgh Philosophical Institution" during the month of February and March, 1848 . Edinburgh 1848.
- On human happiness ( A lecture on human happiness ). Leipzig 1907.
- An efficient remedy for the distress of nations . Edinburgh 1842.
- John Gray: The Currency Question. A Rejected Letter to the Editor of "The Times", on the Subject of the Currency 1847, pp. 21f.
literature
- Werner Krause u. a. (Ed.): Ökonomenlexikon . Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-320-00908-7 , SS 181–184.
- Janet Kimball: The economic doctrines of John Gray (1799-1883) . Dissertation, Catholic University, Washington, DC 1948.
Individual evidence
- ↑ according to Krause deviating from 1798
- ^ Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels: Works, Vol. 13 (MEW), pp. 66–68
- ^ Karl Marx: Grundrisse der Critique of Political Economy . Berlin 1974, p. 55.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gray, John |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British utopian socialist and economic writer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1799 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Scotland |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 26, 1883 |
| Place of death | London |