| Abstract: | John Caruthers (1836–1914), the Scottish civil engineer who built canals and railways many parts of the world, was a good friend of William Morris and an active supporter of the Scoialist League and then the Hammersmith Socialist Society. He advocated a non-bureaucratic socialism, which had only a limited state machinery and made considerable use of the market system, with money, banks and flexible prices. His ideas were elaborated in a long boon Communal and Commercial Economy (1883) and in a substantial article (1884) in To-Day (a leading London socialist periodical of the time) and elsewhere. The paper sets out his economic ideas in some detail, including his (implicit) emphasis on the Golden Rule in he choice of technique. These ideas were a considerale achievement for the early 1880s and it is perhaps unfortunate that they did not have a greater influence on the socialist movement. |
