Adam Smith’s Economic Theory in Socialist Political Economy

Plamen Tchipev

A chapter in 300 Years of Adam Smith, 2024, pp 97-111 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract 300th anniversary of Adam Smith’s the birth is a good reason to look how his theoretical legacy was accepted throughout different countries and within various, sometimes controversial scholar environments. The paper aims at revealing the place, role and importance devoted to Smith’s economic theory by Socialist Political Economy. Analysis is focused primarily on Bulgarian sources, with few exceptions, where Soviet authors are used directly. The overall assessment of Smith’s theory in the SPE was positive. He was regarded as creator of the overall structure of categories of the history, theory, and politics of the economic system. Smith was seen as the author, who allowed the discerning and overcoming mercantilist and, in particular, the physiocratic views. His experience in developing and applying the principles of the labour theory of value was particularly valuable. At the same time, this contribution was placed in a critical, and in places, in a decidedly negative light. Marxism viewed Smith’s theory as a bourgeois, though not grossly vulgarizing, but still theory, aimed at justifying and defending existing capitalism. The most common, and most basic blame used for, practically, all Smith’s crucial categories is, that he applies methodological dualism and even eclecticism although a more precise view of Marx’s system of economic categories cannot deny, in my opinion, the presence of a deep inner connection with the Smith system.

Keywords: Socialist political economy; Adam Smith; Smith’s labour theory of value; Division of labour; Productive and unproductive labour; B120; B240; B310; P160; P260 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:euhchp:978-3-031-63261-7_7

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-63261-7_7

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