Paine—as an English revolutionary and an actor, witness, and interpreter of the Age of Revolutions—developed a democratic vision during the period of the Convention initiated on 9 Thermidor (1794-1795) that distanced him from both Jacobin formulations and practices, and from legislations and speeches by Thermidorian deputies.
Thomas Paine and the French Revolution Read Post »
Paine’s Agrarian Justice most resonates with my own personal sensibilities. He says, “Civilization, therefore, or that which is so called, has operated two ways, to make one part of society more affluent, and the other part more wretched, than would have been the lot of either in a natural state.”
Paine’s Agrarian Justice Resonates Most with Me Read Post »
Thompson’s interpretation underlined Paine’s importance in what was labelled by historians as the ‘Atlantic-Democratic Revolution’. In the 1960s, my undergraduate days, this exercise in comparative history breaking through the constraints of nation state historiography was as fashionable as Thompson’s history from below.
Thomas Paine, the Rights of Man and the Rights of the Freeborn Englishman Read Post »
This fundamental contribution to Paine’s political thought, based on a Ph. D thesis at the Sorbonne, deserves to be translated into English so that it becomes available to all Anglophones interested in the subject.
BOOK REVIEW: La Pensee Politique de Thomas Paine en Contexte: Theorie at Pratique Read Post »
In his book, Professor Jack Fruchtman writes that there is insufficient evidence to answer the question: “It has long been questioned whether Paine was a member of the Masons. There is no definitive proof either way. There is no specific date known on which he joined nor a specific lodge.”
Thomas Paine and Masonry Read Post »
When Spence spoke of ‘the real rights’, or ‘the whole rights’ of man, he was signalling that the profoundly radical prescriptions of Thomas Paine had to become more radical still. Republicanism, even accompanied by a fiscal regime of progressive taxation, would not alone suffice to restore humanity.
Paine, Spence, Chartism And ‘The Real Rights Of Man Read Post »
Described by T. E. Uttley of the Daily Telegraph as “that evil man Tom Paine”, Thomas Paine was for generations of radicals, secularists and republicans an example and an inspiration. My first port of call was the Great Harry public house in Woolwich.
Paine’s Influence On 19th And 20th Century Radicals, Secularists And Republicans Read Post »
Paine suggested in 1796 that every young person should receive an inheritance of capital of £15 at the age of 21, financed by a fund to be created out of a levy on inheritance. I unknowingly reinvented this idea and named it Universal Inheritance.
Universal Inheritance, Universal Suffrage And Thomas Paine Read Post »
It is refreshing to read an essay about Thomas Paine which not only places him in his historical context but also emphasises his relevance oday. This essay is part of a book which was compiled in 1991, when the fall of the Berlin Wall had just come down.
BOOK REVIEW: Thomas Paine – At the Limits of Bourgeois Radicalism Read Post »
Paine’s ideas on economics and finance were of a piece with his approach to politics. Applied science and the development of industry could bring benefits to humanity, but only so long as their fruits accrued to the labouring men and small property owners who were the creators of wealth.
Thomas Paine’s Economic Ideas Read Post »
AGRARIAN JUSTICE (from the Bache edition, Philadelphia, 1796, with the French introduction of 1796 added) AUTHOR’S INSCRIPTION To the Legislature and the Executive Directory of the French Republic: The plan contained in this work is not adapted for any particular country alone: the principle on which it is based is general. But as the rights
