Classical Liberal exploitation theory：a comment on Professor Liggio's paper


In the popular academic mind, the doctrine of class-conflict seems to be inextricably linked to the particular Marxist version of the idea. Lip-service is often paid - especially by those eager to diminish the claims to originality of Marx and Engels - to the fact that these writers had precursors in this approach to social reality. Frequently a certain "French school," preceding Marx and Engels and influencing their views, is alluded to, and the names Guizot, Thierry, Saint-Simon and a few others are sometimes mentioned in this connection. But what that earlier perspective consisted in, and how it might differ from the more familiar Marxist model, is rarely if ever broached. And yet this earlier view is not only more correct and faithful to socio-economic reality than the Marxist version (a point which must be assumed here, since there is no space to demonstrate it) but may well account for a discrepancy and contradiction within Marxism which has been noticed and commented upon but never explained.