CHAPTER III: The Sources of German Socialism

Formulæ of Saint Simon and Ricardo.

German Socialism is derived from two sources:—

• (1). The French doctrine of Saint Simon, “The way to grow rich is to make others work for one,” which became in Proudhon's works, “The exploitation of man by man.”
• (2). Three formulæ of Ricardo, viz.: (a) Labour is the measure of value; (b) the price of labour is that which provides the labourer in general with the means of subsistence and of perpetuating his species without either increase or diminution; (c) profits decrease in proportion as wages increase.

Formula (b), became the “iron law of wages” of Lassalle. The French doctrines and Ricardo's three formulas became Rodbertus' theory of the “normal time of labour,” and of Karl Marx' and Engels' “surplus labour.”

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