Josiah Warren (1798-1874) was an individualist anarchist, inventor, musician, and author in the United States. He is widely regarded to be the first American anarchist, and some regard the periodical he edited in 1833, The Peaceful Revolutionist, to be the first anarchist periodical ever published.^{[weasel words]} In politics, individualist anarchism is a variety of anarchism that emphasises the importance of the individual. ... Anarchism is a generic term describing various political philosophies and social movements that advocate the elimination of hierarchy and imposed authority. ...

Life

Early life

Warren was born in Massachusetts in 1798. He showed an early talent for music, and was a member of the "Old Boston Brigade Band" at an early age. He married at age 20, and in 1821 moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. He invented a tallow-burning lamp in 1821, and manufactured his invention for a number of years in Cincinnati.^[1] This article is about the U.S. state. ... Cincinnati redirects here. ...

Owenism and New Harmony

In 1825, Warren became aware of the "social system" of Robert Owen, and began to talk with others in Cincinnati about founding a communist colony.^[2] When this group failed to come to agreement about the form and goals of their proposed community, Warren decided to join Owen's community at New Harmony, Indiana. The Cincinnati colony was attempted without Warren's involvement, but failed.^[3] Warren traveled by flat-boat from Cincinnati, arriving in New Harmony in early May, 1825. By 1827, he had returned to Cincinnati, convinced that the complete individualization of interests was necessary to cooperation. He considered Owen's experiment "communism," which he rejected in no uncertain terms. For Robert Owen and his sons, however, Warren developed a warm and lasting respect. One of his earliest writings, published in The March of Mind in 1828, attests to this, as do later writings.^[4] For other uses, see Robert Owen (disambiguation). ... New Harmony is a town located in Posey County, Indiana, 15 miles (24 km) north of Mount Vernon, Indiana, the county seat, on the Wabash River. ...

Warren died on April 14, 1874 amidst his friends, after developing dropsy.^[5] is the 104th day of the year (105th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1874 (MDCCCLXXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link with display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Edema (BE: oedema, formerly known as dropsy) is swelling of any organ or tissue due to accumulation of excess fluid. ...

Philosophy

Warren, like Proudhon, chose the path of anarchy and individualism over authoritarian state socialism. Benjamin Tucker dedicated his collection of essays, Instead of a Book, to the memory of Warren, "my friend and master…whose teachings were my first source of light". Tucker credits Warren with being "the first man to expound and formulate the doctrine now known as Anarchism."^[6] John Stuart Mill said Warren's philosophy, "though being a superficial resemblance to some of the project of the Socialists, is diametrically opposed to them in principle, since it recognizes no authority whatever in Society, over the individual, except to enforce equal freedom of development for all individuals."^[7] Warren's principle of the "sovereignty of the individual" was later taken up by Mill and Herbert Spencer.^[8] Theory and practice Issues History Culture By region Lists Related Anarchism Portal Politics Portal ·        Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (pronounced [ˈpruːd É’n] in British English, [pʁu dɔ̃] in French) (January 15, 1809 – January 19, 1865) was a French mutualist political philosopher of the socialist tradition. ... Anarchist redirects here. ... State socialism, broadly speaking, is any variety of socialism which relies on ownership of the means of production by the state. ... Benjamin Ricketson Tucker Benjamin Ricketson Tucker (April 17, 1854 – June 22, 1939) was the leading proponent of American individualist anarchism in the 19th century. ... John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 8 May 1873), British philosopher, political economist, civil servant and Member of Parliament, was an influential liberal thinker of the 19th century. ... Sovereignty of the individual is the political and philosophical viewpoint that a person has complete authority only over him or herself and his/her own life. ... For other persons named Herbert Spencer, see Herbert Spencer (disambiguation). ...

Warren's individualistic philosophy arose out of his rejection of Robert Owen's cooperative movement, of which he was an early participant, witnessing in person the failure of Owen's New Harmony commune. Of it, he wrote: "It seemed that the difference of opinion, tastes and purposes increased just in proportion to the demand for conformity […] It appeared that it was nature's own inherent law of diversity that had conquered us […] our 'united interests' were directly at war with the individualities of persons and circumstances and the instinct of self-preservation". According to Warren, there should be abolutely no community of property; all property should be individualized, and "those who advocated any type of communism with connected property, interests, and responsibilities were doomed to failure because of the individuality of the persons involved in such as experiment."^[9] Warren is notable for expounding the idea of "sovereignty of the individual". In his Manifesto Warren writes: For other uses, see Robert Owen (disambiguation). ... New Harmony is a town located in Posey County, Indiana, 15 miles (24 km) north of Mount Vernon, Indiana, the county seat, on the Wabash River. ... Sovereignty of the individual is the political and philosophical viewpoint that a person has complete authority only over him or herself and his/her own life. ...

[T]he forming of societies or any other artificial combinations IS the first, greatest, and most fatal mistake ever committed by legislators and by reformers. That all these combinations require the surrender of the natural sovereignty of the INDIVIDUAL over her or his person, time, property and responsibilities, to the government of the combination. That this tends to prostrate the individual-To reduce him to a mere piece of a machine ; involving others in responsibility for his acts, and being involved in responsibilities for the acts and sentiments of his associates ; he lives & acts, without proper control over his own affairs, without certainty as to the results of his actions, and almost without brains that he dares to use on his own account; and consequently never realizes the great objects for which society is professedly formed.

Joseph L. Blau writes: Joseph Leon Blau (born May 6, 1909, Brooklyn, New York; died December 28, 1986, Bronx, New York) was an American scholar of Jewish history and philosophy. ...

Warren's economic theory was by no means a rejection of the "classical" theory of capitalism: if anything, it was an extreme insistence upon the most individualistic features of capitalist economies, repudiating the residual coercive political actions of the state that still survive in Adam Smith's theory while attempting (even as Smith himself) to eliminate the coercive economic activities of "monopolies."^[10]

Ethics of pricing

Warren termed the phrase "Cost the limit of price," with "cost" here referring not to monetary price paid but the labor one exerted to produce an item.^[11] This understanding of cost is congruent with that of the classical economist Adam Smith who said "The real price of every thing, what every thing really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it," though Warren reached different conclusions. He believed that goods and services should trade according to how much labor was exerted to produce them and bring them to market, instead of according to how individuals believed them to be subjectively worth. To charge more labor for something that entailed less labor was "cannibalism," according to him.^[12] Moreover, he believed that trading according to "cost the limit of price" would promote increasing efficiency in an economy, as he explains in Equitable Commerce: Cost the limit of price is a maxim coined Josiah Warren that holds that it is unethical to charge a higher price for a commodity than the cost of producing or acquiring, and bringing it to market. ... Classical economics is widely regarded as the first modern school of economic thought. ... For other persons named Adam Smith, see Adam Smith (disambiguation). ... Economic subjectivism is the theory that value is a feature of the appraiser and not of the thing being valued. ...

If cost is made the limit of price, every one becomes interested in reducing COST, by bringing in all the economies, all the facilities to their aid. But, on the contrary, if cost does not govern the price, but every thing is priced at what it will bring, there are no such co-operating interests. If I am to have my supply of flour at cost, then, any facility I can afford to the wheat grower, reduces the cost to me, and it does the same for all who have any portion of the wheat, I am promoting all their interests while pursuing my own…Now if the wheat were NOT TO BE SOLD TO us AT COST, but at "whatever it would bring" according to our necessities, then none of us would have any interest in affording facilities, repairing breaches, nor in any other way co-operating with the producer of it. The same, motive would act in the production, preservation, and use of every thing." ^[13]

He put his theories to the test by establishing an experimental "labor for labor store" called the Cincinnati Time Store where trade was facilitated by notes backed by a promise to perform labor. The store proved successful and operated for three years after which it was closed so that Warren could pursue establishing colonies based on mutualism. These included "Utopia" and "Modern Times." Warren said that Stephen Pearl Andrews' The Science of Society, published in 1852, was the most lucid and complete exposition of Warren's own theories.^[14] The Cincinnati Time Store was a successful retail store that was created by American individualist anarchist Josiah Warren to test his theories that were based on his strict interpretation of the labor theory of value. ... For other meanings of Utopia, see Utopia (disambiguation) Utopia (sometimes known as Trialville) was an individualist anarchist colony begun in 1847, by Josiah Warren and associates, in the United States on a tract of land approximately 30 miles from Cincinnati, Ohio. ... This is a list of past and present anarchist communities. ... Stephen Pearl Andrews (March 22, 1812 - May 21, 1886) was an anarchist. ...

Notes

Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 345th day of the year (346th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Anarchy Archives project is a self-described online research center on the history and theory of Anarchism. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 349th day of the year (350th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 8 May 1873), British philosopher, political economist, civil servant and Member of Parliament, was an influential liberal thinker of the 19th century. ... Oxford University Press (OUP) is a highly-respected publishing house and a department of the University of Oxford in England. ... Stephen Pearl Andrews (March 22, 1812 - May 21, 1886) was an anarchist. ... The Journal of Libertarian Studies is a scholarly journal published quarterly by the Ludwig von Mises Institute and Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. ...

See also

• Mutualism (economic theory)
• Local currency

Theory and practice Issues History Culture By region Lists Related Anarchism Portal Politics Portal ·        Mutualism is a political and economic theory or system, largely associated with Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, based on a labor theory of value which holds that when labor or its product is sold, it ought to receive... In economics, a local currency, in its common usage, is a currency not backed by a national government (and not legal tender), and intended to trade only in a small area. ...

Academic references

• Bailie, William. Josiah Warren: The First American Anarchist. Boston: Small, Maynard & Co., 1906.
• Martin, James J. Men Against the State: The Expositors of Individualist Anarchism in America, 1827-1908. Colorado Springs, CO.: Ralph Myles Publishers, 1970.
• Wunderlich, Roger. Low Living and High Thinking at Modern Times, New York. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1992. ISBN 0-8156-2554-5

External references

• The Josiah Warren Project, dedicated to publishing material by and about Warren
• A biography of Warren by his son George W. Warren
• Josiah Warren's Manifesto
• Equitable Commerce by Josiah Warren
• Plan of the Cincinnati Labor for Labor Store by Josiah Warren
• True Civilization by Josiah Warren, hosted by the Anarchy Archives
• Josiah Warren: The First American Anarchist, by William Bailie
• Josiah Warren and the Sovereignty of the Individual by Ann Caldwell Butler
• Josiah Warren at Blackcrayon.com