At the Birth of Modern Socialism: A Comparative Study of the Ideas of Thomas Paine and Thomas Spence

Abstract

Toward the end of the 18th century in Britain, early harbingers of socialism began to emerge from the radical milieu. Two of the most influential forebearers of socialism were Thomas Paine and Thomas Spence. Despite sharing similar philosophical and religious frameworks, both men embraced differing proto-socialist philosophies. Spence, a forerunner of anarcho-socialism, supported the democratic ownership of land and related utilities through local government. Paine pioneered an early version of social democracy, and thus called for the creation of a broad welfare state to care for the nation’s citizens. Using these men’s pamphlets, along with articles from Spence’s newsletters, I seek to compare how their contradictory visions of societal restructuring affected Spence and Paine’s ideas relating to equality, the power of the national government, and the nature of social justice. Finally, I will seek to use the differences between Spence and Paine to define what exactly constitutes socialism. My conclusion is that a definition of socialism is comparatively vague and includes all movements which seek to implement some level of equality in the socio-economic sphere as part of an objective to remake society on a more democratic and socially just line.