The democratic anti-capitalism of Bronterre O'Brien

Abstract

The following article analyses the political economy of James Bronterre O'Brien, arguably the single most important intellectual of 1830s' British working-class radicalism. It examines O'Brien's critique of 1830s Britain, and it examines his depiction of the society he wished to see Britain become. The article argues that O'Brien's work of the period 1832–1841 is best viewed as the first example of a genuinely democratic anti-capitalist political economy. The article goes on to analyse changes that occurred to O'Brien's democratic anti-capitalist political economy, and offers an account of why it, together with the class analysis with which it was closely connected, was partially abandoned in 1841. The article concludes that the reasons for these changes are to be found not in ideational factors internal to O'Brien's political economy, but rather in O'Brien's personal circumstances and relationship with his imagined audience.