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Audio: Early Irish communist - William Thompson cork |
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 Thursday March 29, 2007 19:25 by Joe
 From 2007 Dublin Anarchist Bookfair William Thompson was one of the of the first people to critically engage with political economy and attempt to turn it around to defend the improvement of the condition of the working class and rural poor. He was from a Anglo- Irish landowning family from West Cork and was to become a leading figure in the early Co-operative movement. In this talk from the anarchist bookfair Paul Bowman talks about the importance of Thompson and the relevance of his ideas today Download is 9.1 mb MP3 file, just over 41 minutes in length.
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Jump To Comment: 1There is quite a comprehensive wikipedia entry on Thompson at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Thompson_%28Cork%29
On the WSM site there is a page on him at http://www.wsm.ie/thompson which includes links to three of his key writings
Inquiry: Preliminary Observations
http://www.wsm.ie/story/2142
The "Preliminary Observations" is the introduction to his first, and possibly most important book, the lengthily entitled "An Inquiry into the Principles of the Distribution of Wealth most conducive to human happiness; applied to The Newly Proposed System of Voluntary Equality of Wealth" of 1824. It is this work of which the anarchist historian Max Nettlau remarks: "[this] book, however, discloses his own evolution; having started with a demand for the full product of labour as well as the regulation of distribution, he ended up with his own conversion to communism, that is, unlimited distribution".
Inquiry: Chapter 5
http://www.wsm.ie/story/2047
This is the crucial fifth chapter of the Inquiry. This is the turning point of the book where Thompson accepts that his original project of creating a liberatory economics on the basis of classical liberalism, albeit taken far further than any previous exponent had dared, had been overtaken by an acceptance of the limits of even the most perfected system of "free" exchange.
Practical Directions: Explanation of Leading Terms
http://www.wsm.ie/story/2143
From the opening of Thompson's last book before his untimely death, "Practical Directions for the Speedy and Economical Establishment of Communities, on the Principles of Mutual Co-operation, United Possessions and Equality" of 1830. In the main was a practical "build your own community" manual