Thomas Spence


Spence, Thomas

 

Born June 21,1750, in Newcastle-on-Tyne; died Sept. 8,1814, in London. English Utopian socialist and economist.

Spence was influenced by the theorists of natural law. In his pamphlet The Real Rights of Man (1775), he supported the abolition of private ownership and the transfer of land to church parishes for free rental to parishioners. He considered it thus possible to create a new social structure—a free association of self-governing communities. Spence was repeatedly subjected to repression. His teachings influenced R. Owen.

REFERENCES

Volgin, V. P. Istoriia sotsialisticheskikh idei, part 1. Moscow-Leningrad, 1928.
Cherniak, E. B. Massovoe dvizhenie v Anglii i Irlandii v kontse XVIII-nachaleXIX v. Moscow, 1962.
Rudkin, O. D. Thomas Spence. New York, 1927.