Abstract
In the early nineteenth-century, attempts were made to apply the labor theory of value in transactions based on “labor notes, ” or certificates obliging the bearer to perform labor in exchange for goods. Robert Owen (1771-1858) and Josiah Warren (1798-1874) both made such attempts. This paper is a comparative study of the ideas on labor notes in the theories of Robert Owen and Josiah Warren. Considerable research has been done on labor note theory, but so far the thinking of Warren and his experiments in the United States have received relatively little attention. My purpose here is to clarify the ideas of Warren in their theoretical and practical dimensions and compare them with those of Owen.
Three factors may account for the still inadequate research on Warren's theory and its relation with Owen's theory. First, Marxist theory rejects the practice of labor notes as unfeasible, and considers the theory behind them to be “utopian” Second, contemporary research is affected by the failure of Owen's projects at New Harmony (1825-27, Indiana) and the National Equitable Labour Exchange (1832-34, London). This is the state of affairs in nineteenth-century English discourse. Third, most studies dealing with the theory behind labor notes are chiefly biographical treatments of Owen, despite the fact that Warren participated in New Harmony, and it influenced the development of his unique theory. In resuscitating Warren's ideas, specifically his labor notes theory, I propose that they represent a forgotten stage in nineteenth-century American thought, and for that reason merit serious study.
In order to shed light on Warren's theory and that ‘forgotten stage, ’ I examine the relationship of Owen and Warren in New Harmony from four perspectives: their ideas and practices regarding forms of ownership; the problem of evaluating labor time; how to issue labor notes; and the relationship between price as a function of labor time and price as a representation of monetary value.