William Thomas Thornton on Trade Union Efficacy: A fraction too much friction

Mark Donoghue

Review of Political Economy, 1999, vol. 11, issue 2, 205-219

Abstract: William T. Thornton's contribution to developments in late nineteenth century political economy is generally associated with his criticism of John Stuart Mill's 'supply and demand' theory of value and his attack on Henry Fawcett's version of the wage fund doctrine. In a Fortnightly Review article (published in May and June 1869) on Thornton's book, On Labour, Mill publicly deferred to Thornton's criticism of the wage fund doctrine but did not accept his criticism of the theory of value. There is another aspect of Mill's review article, however, which historians of economic thought seem to have overlooked: his enthusiastic discussion of Thornton's treatment of trade union efficacy and industrial co-partnership. The question explored in this paper is whether Thornton's work on labour relations, trade union efficacy and cooperativism helped shape Mill's own thinking on these subjects during the 1860s. We begin by documenting Thornton's views on trade unionism and then examine Mill's evolving sympathy toward trade unions-an important feature of his social reform program. It is sometimes claimed that nineteenth century economists tended to ignore the role played by trade unions in industrial society. This paper points out that Mill and Thornton, two leading economists during the second half of the nineteenth century, did not oppose trade unions and were favourably impressed with the advantages for society of labour combinations. Nonetheless, they looked forward to the gradual supplanting of the system of collective bargaining by 'higher' cooperation.

Date: 1999
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DOI: 10.1080/095382599107129

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