Modernity of Simonde de Sismondi. Inequality and crisis

Luca Michelini

10/07/2013

Opinión

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1. There are many important scientific and cultural initiatives promoted by the Association for Sismondian Studies (which is based in Pescia, Tuscany) on the intellectual figure of Simonde de Sismondi, one of the most prolific and versatile thinkers that Switzerland can boast about and, more specifically, the city of Geneva[1]. Among the last, in chronological order, I remember the exchange organized on June 4, 2013 in collaboration with the Cabinet Viesseux in Florence, that hosted the presentation of several texts devoted to the thought of the Genevan: the Studies on J.-C .-L. Simonde de Sismondi, a special issue of the magazine "The Italian economic thought" (Il pensiero economico italiano), edited by Richard Faucci and Luciano Jacoponi[2]; the two volumes (the second and third, from a planned sequence of six) of the Oeuvres Economiques complètes de Sismondi, for the Economica collection (2012), edited by Pascal Bridel, Nicola Eyguesiers and Francesca Dal Degan; Sismondi and the new Italy, written by Francesca Sofia and Letizia Pagliai (Florence, Polistampa, 2012), and finally the volume of Letizia Pagliai The dilemma of Vilna. Sismondi and culture Economic Community (Edifir, 2012). The purpose of my thoughts, which I presented at the Cabinet Viesseux exchange, will be to revisit some essays that have addressed the economic thought of Sismondi, to emphasize the modern relevance of some reflections by the Genevan.

2. The special issue of the magazine "Italian economic thought" dedicated to Sismondi proposes new and promising ways of reading which harbinger additional, fruitful developments.

Pascal Bridel invites you to rediscover the "modernity" of Sismondi’s De la Richesse commerciale (On commercial wealth) in a price theory that shows the distribution of gains that takes place in the exchange between producers and consumers, offers a clear view (and clearer than that of Adam Smith) about the market self-regulation capacity and, more generally, that of a capitalist society[3]. As is argued in the introduction to Richesse commerciale (1803), the pro-liberalism of Sismondi, which translates into an appreciation of Adam Smith’s ideas, can only be understood by reading the author's reflections in the context of the economic and institutional history of Geneva, then subjected to a decidedly protectionist French rule[4]. It will be interesting therefore to read, in future, the contribution that the editors of the Complete Economic Works of Sismondi will offer to the interpretation of the New Principles (Nouveaux Principes), to understand how the link stated by Sismondi between the violent contradictions that characterize capitalism and Smith’s intellectual heritage, will be interpreted.

But let’s go back to the special issue of "Italian economic thought." Fabrizio Bientinesi shows a Sismondi who carefully points out the literally "destabilizing" role of international finance, which in no way seeks "economic development", but rather the mere "enslavement" of nations to other nations[5]. In times of economic crisis and civilization such as we are experiencing, Rosario Patalano and Guglielmo Forges Alessandra appropriately remember, didactically, the heart of the criticism that Sismondi makes of capitalism, which appears troubled by the contradiction between the forces that lead to a minimization of wages and those that are desperate for paying consumers[6]. Nicolas Eyguesier, on the other hand, emphasizes how the analysis of Sismondi is far more complex than what we might call a reassuring cycle theory: it is, instead, a reflection on the fate of capitalism and Western civilization, the extreme social and political fragility of which is shown by Sismondi[7]. A reflection, that invites scholars to overcome comfortable disciplinary borders and reassuring long-term analysis, which are likely to obscure (if not intentionally) the stakes.

As it is well-known, the analytical perspective of Sismondi on "jams" opens fruitful reflections on the subject of public intervention. Nineteenth century Italy, however, does not rise to the challenge: these, at least, the conclusions reached by the texts of Guido Tortorella Esposito and Carmen Vila on the thought of Giandomenico Romagnosi, Melchiorra Goia and Angelo Messedaglia[8], and also those of Anna Li Donni and Fabrizio Simon on Francesco Ferrara[9]. You have to wait for Giuseppe Toniolo, suggests the essay by Francesco Poggi[10], to find among Italian economists, a valuation of Sismondi’s “social” economy.

Of course, the reader is curious to know whether and on what arguments Catholic thought, from which Toniolo is an authoritative expression, has faced, and faces, the notorious merciless criticism that Sismondi makes to the spiritual and temporal power of Rome. It is enough to recall a well-known passage of the History of the Italian Republics (1832): "[...] the court of Rome, since it ceased to respect the ancient municipal liberties, never failed to extend its power over a new province without ruining its population and resources. Legality and order appeared to be incompatible with the rule of priests; intrigue and favour took the place of laws; monopolies destroyed trade; justice abandoned the courts" (pp. 319-20). Remarkable that the issue should be addressed in the page, a classic one, that Sismondi dedicated to the exaltation of the Italian republics' freedom, that freedom that the Genevan considered the pinnacle of civilization. From concerns for military defence, in Italy concerns had moved to health care, from those of "private rights" and "personal ownership", it had passed to "the rights of all" and then to the study of politics and how governments pursued the happiness of nations. And while those Frenchmen who were not being stupefied in the war with the British "threw themselves with passion into scholastic theology", "commented and developed with subtlety principles that they were not allowed to judge" and while at the Sorbonne "the greatest spiritual depth" lived alongside "the most submissive faith", in Italy, on the contrary, "the mind, accustomed to examine the rights of authority, produced [...] thinkers that priests accused not of heresy but of incredulity or Epicureanism" (p. 155).

Returning to the Italian fortune of Sismondi, the issue of the "Italian economic thought" is in itself a testimony of how, especially after World War II, the methodological guidance of Sismondi aimed at transforming the science of economics into a moral science, capable of crossing every disciplinary fence, found application. I refer to the texts by Luciano Jacoponi[11] and Massimiliano Ferrara[12], dedicated, respectively, to fertilization between quantum theory and Sismondi’s economic thought that gave birth of modern economic development indexes that try to simultaneously measure economic growth, happiness and well-being.

Of course, the fate of Sismondi in Italy is due to the reflections on sharecropping and the "Tuscan Model" an argument debated by historians and retraced in the issue of "Italian economic thought", by Marie-Lucie Rossi[13]. There is no point in dwelling on the "conservative" connotation in this model, because it is widely known. It is perhaps more important to emphasize that this topic is rich in implications. Not only because Sismondi offers a pioneering economic analysis of agricultural contracts. Not only because he anticipates a reflection on the "development model" for countries that face the unfolding of economic power of England[14], even with its social and political destabilizing implications. The argument involves interdisciplinary considerations of a more general nature. This is clearly demonstrated in the essay by Francesca Dal Degan, who stops to analyze the characteristics which, in the opinion of Sismondi, innervate a viable society: participation, independence and reciprocity[15]. More precisely, by reading pages of Sismondi, it emerges that one fundamental task of economic science should be to indicate what is the "best distribution of wealth" in order to achieve "social happiness".

3. I believe this type of argument to be of remarkable importance and deserves from today's economic scholars, especially if Italians and with the slightest interest in the Italian nation - the "homeland"[16] - far more attention than what they have given and give it. On the other hand, one should remember that Italy, for centuries has been a kind of laboratory where "new" forms of politics and "modernity" have occurred over time and have developed their own potential on a European and World-wide scale. Let me explain.

There are well-known passages in New Principles lauding the small capitalist property[17]. Those passages show, on the political level, Sismondi’s distance from socialism and also from Marxism, whose traditional thought has greatly enhanced his theoretical contribution. Those are passages that have led some Italian historians, like Piero Barucci, to affirm that in the opinion of Sismondi, private property is "untouchable" (p. LI).

Sismondi, in fact, at least on this issue, is explicitly opposed to Rousseau: "He who, after having enclosed a field, uttered the first: This is mine, has summoned him who possesses no field, and who could not live if the fields of the first would not bring forth a surplus product. This is a fortunate usurpation, and society for the benefit of all, does well to guarantee it”. But the immediately following reasoning is a very interesting one and makes Barucci’s observation rather problematic: "However, it is a gift of society and in no way a natural right which pre-existed. History proves this, since numerous nations exist which have not recognised private possession of land at all; this argument proves it also, because property in land is not in any way completely created by industry, like a work of man.” (p. 106).

"Good governance", therefore, when it addresses the issue of private property is not at all facing a taboo. It is not a small thing to say, when addressing the issue of natural resources that private property becomes an institution of a purely social nature; it is, in general, an institution that can and must be bent and shaped to achieve collective happiness. It follows that the reader is encouraged to read carefully, and enhance, the first pages of New Principles, those that define with precision the duties of the "science of government." If the purpose is the "happiness of the greatest number," the precise declination you want to give to the term equality is of fundamental importance. (p. 19).

Refusing egalitarianism[18] (whose criticism, it is good to remember, is not only of conservative but also of a socialist matrix and even Marxist), Sismondi’s traits of conservatism - perhaps of Platonic origin - emerge clearly: "It is not equality of ranks, but happiness in all ranks, which the legislator ought to have in view" (ibid., pp. 23-24). But far more bold and significant are other steps proposed. For example: "A nation is enslaved where the great mass of people is exposed to constant privation, to painful anxieties about its existence, to anything which will suppress its will, corrupt its morals, stain its character, even though it may count among its upper classes newly successful men who have achieved the highest degree of happiness, whose every ability has been developed, whose every right is guaranteed, whose every enjoyment is assured."(p. 19).

In light of the present economic and social crisis, those words seem to be very timely, especially when read in close continuity with some pages of the History of the Italian Republics (1832). I refer to those pages where Sismondi identifies the reasons for the profound decadence into which the Italian republics of the Middle Ages eventually fell, and above all that of Florence; a decadence that paved the way for foreign domination.

4. What is the origin of this decadence, which is also the decadence of that form of civilization that brought "light" to the entire world? For Sismondi the origin of this decadence was not of an institutional nature. Indeed, the republican institutions had remained the same as ever, even if so emptied of content that they ended up being reformed. Rather, the origin was to be found in the profound economic and social inequality.

"[] In vain had been preserved all that external structure of popular power, an extreme inequality was born from the immeasurable growth of opulence, and citizens felt that there was such a big distance from each other to still recognize their equal rights. Many Florentine citizens could be seen whose income exceeded those of the greatest monarchical princes; their palaces, still the object of our admiration, already exhibited all the signs of the arts, presenting them to the public with a crowd of servants that filled them as fortresses in which public justice dared not penetrate. On the other hand, the artisans no longer demanded political rights; besides them those citizens who had remained in modest comfort had lost the sense of independence; they knew that the credit, the protection of the wealthy citizens was needed to prosper in their activities "(pp. 246-247).

Sismondi presses on: "It is because of this deep inequality that a small aristocracy had completely taken over the direction of the State. It recognized as its leaders Cosimo de Medici, the richest among the Italians, and Neri Capponi, the most skilled statesman of Florence. The first made the most generous use of his heritage: built palaces everywhere, churches, hospitals; handed out gifts, loans or the use of his credit among poor citizens, granted pensions to all scientists, to all artists, collected and made manuscript copies throughout Europe and throughout the Levant; people celebrated his taste and his knowledge. Without having written anything himself, he passed for a knowledgeable man and was credited with the renewal of the Platonic philosophy, because of the translations he had commissioned." (P. 247).

Exiled opponents, "Medici and Capponi managed to find men who sacrificed to them the liberties of their country just because they lent themselves to the lowest passions of their associates. They allowed them to distribute among themselves all the governments of the subjected small cities, and all well paid employments. Those, not content with this first injustice, imposed taxes unevenly, making them weigh on the poor, but sparing the rich, and exempting themselves completely. Finally, they began to sell their protection, both in the courts or the city counsels; favour silenced justice, and in the midst of peace and apparent prosperity, the Florentines felt their republic wasted away, undermined by a deep and secret corruption."

The crowd of exiles had as counterpoint the satisfaction of the "lower classes", that the Medici entertained with "continuous shows and parties, in a sort of carnival; and in the midst of these public festivities, the people forgot their freedom" (pp. 251-252).

The emptying and instrumental use of republican institutions presuppose, therefore, a process aimed at polarizing inequality. Which, in turn, reveals an influence in every area of social life: from the institutional, to the intellectual and moral level.

"As long as the habits of freedom are conserved among all the people, until all classes have also horror of slavery, a sudden explosion of feelings that are found in all the hearts is enough to make a revolution, to thwart the efforts of the usurpers, or to overthrow a tyranny." "The despot, even when he silences by terror the people he has disarmed and oppresses, always knows he is at war with them" (p. 260).

"But when the absolute power has managed to persist long enough to make forgotten the violence of its first origin, when most of the men who have come of age were born under its yoke, and have never known better times, it finds itself very soon supported by all the inert part of the nation, by all those who, unable to think and educate themselves alone, are content with borrowed ideas and blindly accept all notions that are convenient for the government to inculcate."

"In fact, with the loss of freedom those free and animated exchanges should cease, that heat up spirits and breed noble sentiments in classes that are not enlightened by the knowledge of the past or from the experience of foreign nations. The prince, in a universal silence, is the only one to speak in enslaved countries. He dictates what is proclaimed by the authorities and the judgments of the courts; he even inspires the words of the priest in the pulpit or in the confessionary. Since he expends the income of society, he presents himself as providence, and makes people believe that he gives them all that he does not take away from them.

"The poor man is grateful to him for public charity, the farmer, for justice and police to protect his property; the urban populace claps at the rigors that affect the upper classes; national pride resents the foreigner who pities an unhappy and misruled people, and vulgar vanity is interested in maintaining that which is. If any remembrance of the times of freedom is preserved by ignorant classes, it only refers to traits that can move them with images of suffering; they have heard of the efforts with which their fathers had defended the rights of the people, of the price that such sacrifices cost them, but they only see the evils of the struggle, while its result escapes their imagination, because there is nothing material.

"They draw the conclusion that bread was just as expensive in times of freedom, that the work was just as tiring, and that the hardships they bear were then joined by the dangers of those violent disasters, from which the fathers passed on to their children some scary particulars. Slavery, it has been said, degrades man until it makes him love it; and observation confirms this maxim: everywhere nations seem attached to their governments, due to the imperfection of their regime; everywhere they love most in their institutions their most vicious features, and the most stubborn resistance of all is the one peoples oppose to their moral progress" (ibid., pp. 260-261).

5. There is no one that does not see and does not feel in the soul, the extreme topicality - especially in Italy - of this analysis. It is a thought that, if developed, and if studied in-depth for a while, could offer, and could have offered a significant contribution to understanding the "Italian servitude" of today, since its inception. Servitude on economic, social, political, intellectual, moral and geopolitical issues; a sequence that Sismondi invites us to consider not only terminologically but also in a cause and effect relationship and thus also a disciplinary one, as we may say.

It is true, those are reflections of a "liberal aristocrat," as Sismondi is defined by Piero Schiera in his presentation to the History of the Republics (p. XXIV). In any case, of that kind of "liberal aristocrats" in Italy, today, it seems, unfortunately, there is almost no trace. Of course, there are endless legions of economics scholars, of intellectuals, as well as of political groupings, which claim to refer to the liberal tradition.

Considering Marx's thought essential, I can not find Sismondi’s anti- egalitarianism outrageous. Appreciating the original "economic constitution" (not the disfigured one, with the fiscal compact, of prevailing neo-liberalism at the level of the European Community) of republican Italy, the one that came out from the Second World War, a constitution which emerged from the liberation struggle against Nazism and Fascism, I find Sismondi’s reflection on property extremely fruitful. Persuaded by the analysis of Polanyi, I rate Sismondi’s attempt to implement forms of protection of human society from the disintegrating and destabilizing forces of capitalism, to be very interesting. Well disposed toward the thought of Keynes, I class as essential Sismondi’s attempt to devise forms of public governance of the capitalist economy that preserve it from the involution of civilization. Bent on overcoming capitalism, I find it important that Sismondi relates the end of Italian republican freedom to the failure of the Revolt of the Ciompi, that is, to the failure of a democratic revolution, which resulted in an over-reaction that opened the doors to lordship and foreign domination (History of the Italian Republics, p. 221). Knowing the limits of revolutionary intentions over the centuries, I appreciate the realism and liberalism of Sismondi, even if he did not reach the shores of representative democracy. It is certain, however, that, today, an economics student who read Sismondi would be catapulted, in fact, into a language and a civil ethic that appear simply revolutionary: "if the government, writes Sismondi, were to seek as a purpose the advantage of one of the classes of the nation at the expense of the other, it should promote that of wage earners. Among those who participate in the cost of production they are the most numerous, and to ensure their happiness is to make happy the vast majority of the population happy" (New Principles, p. 226). I doubt that similar words can be found printed on any economics textbook of the last forty years, of any university in the “western” world, dedicated to the preparation of the so-called "ruling classes".

- Luca Michelini, Department of Political Science, University of Pisa.

(Translation to English from Italian by Umberto Mazzei)

Bibliographic References

- P. Barucci, Introduzione, - J.-C.-L. Simonde de Sismondi, Nuovi principi di economia politica o della ricchezza nei suoi rapporti con la popolazione, Milano, ISEDI, 1974.

- P. Schiera, Presentazione, in J.-C.-L. Simonde de Sismondi, Storia delle Repubbliche italiane, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri editore, 1993.

- J.-C.-L. Simonde de Sismondi, Storia delle Repubbliche italiane, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri editore, 1993.

- J.-C.-L. Simonde de Sismondi, Nuovi principi di economia politica o della ricchezza nei suoi rapporti con la popolazione, Milano, ISEDI, 1974.

- J.-C.-L. Simonde de Sismondi, Fragments de son journal et correspondance, Genève, Cherbuliez, 1857.

[1] These are the publications promoted by the Association in chronological order: Tableau de l’agriculture toscane (1801). Avant-propos de Jacqueline de Molo-Veillon. Introduction (en français et en italien) by Francesca Sofia, Genève, Slatkine reprints, 1998; Edited by F. Sofia, Sismondi e la civiltà toscana. Atti del Convegno internazionale di studi (Pescia, 13-15 aprile 2000), Firenze, L.S. Olschki, 2001; Edited by L. Pagliai In onore di Mirena Stanghellini Bernardini, Firenze, Polistampa, 2005 (Coll. «Sismondiana», n. 1); Maria Pia Casalena, F. Sofia, “Cher Sis”. Scritture femminili nella corrispondenza di Sismondi, Firenze, Polistampa, 2008 (Coll. «Sismondiana», n. 2); A.G. Ricci, Esercizî sismondiani, 1970-2005, edited by L. Pagliai, Firenze, Polistampa, 2008 (Coll. «Sismondiana», n. 3); Edited by L. Pagliai, F. Sofia, Sismondi e la nuova Italia, Firenze, Polistampa, 2012 (Coll. «Sismondiana», n. 4).

[2] It is the number 2 of year 2001, which in fact was printed in May 2013.

[3] P. Bridel, Origines et détermination du «prix de chaque chose»: la Richesse commerciale entre le coût de production de Smith et la ‘catallactique’ de l’offre et de la demande de Canard, pp. 85-92.

[4] Introduction by the editors, in J.C.L. Simonde de Sismondi, Oeuvres économiques complètes, II, De la Richesse commerciale, éditée par P. Bridel, F. Dal Degan, N. Eyguesier, Economica, Paris, 2012.

[5] F. Bientinesi, «A rather slavish disciple of Adam Smith»? Notes on Sismondi and (dis)equilibria in international trade, pp. 93-104.

[6] L’economia come scienza morale: sottoconsumo e crisi nel pensiero di Sismondi, pp. 121-138.

[7] Importance du modèle anglais dans l’élaboration du concept de crise chez Sismondi, pp. 139-150.

[8] Il metodo sismondiano e il ruolo dello Stato nell’economia: riflessi sul pensiero economico di Melchiorre Gioja, di Giandomenico Romagnosi e di Angelo Messedaglia, pp. 151-170.

[9] Sismondi nel giudizio di Francesco Ferrara, pp. 171-186

[10] L’economia sociale nel pensiero di J.-Ch.-L. de Sismondi e di G. Toniolo: un confronto nel segno della continuità, pp. 187-198.

[11] Sismondi e la nascita del paradigma economico, pp. 11-52.

[12] Crescita, felicità e benessere: l’idea di Sismondi alla base di nuovi indicatori di contabilità nazionale, pp. 67-84.

[13] Le revenu foncier social légitime: le partage des fruits à moitié, pp. 105-120.

[14] Cfr., about the period before Nouveaux Principes, a volume by L. Pagliai Il Dilemma di Vilna. Sismondi e la cultura economica europea, cit., pp. 49-71.

[15] L’economia e gli interessi vivants negli scritti di Sismondi, pp. 53-66.

[16] “Only those that have a homeland can understand the duty to sacrifice themselves to it.” Freedom and patriotism go hand in hand, as Sismondi states in History of the Italian Republics pp. 199-200. “In Italy […] freedom ensured the full enjoyment of intellectual life; every one made efforts to develop his own capabilities, because everyone was aware that the wider the eyes of the spirit were opened, there was more enjoyment; everyone used the power of his spirit for a useful goal, a practical, positive one, because everyone felt positioned in a society were he could exercise his own influence, for his own good and that of his fellow citizens”(ivi, p. 154)

[17] I wish that the industry of the towns, as those of the land, be divided among a large number of independent business, and not brought together under a great single head that commands hundreds or thousands of workers; I wish that the ownership in factories be divided among a large number of average capitalists, and not concentrated in a single man, master over many millions; I wish that the industrious worker have before him the opportunity, almost the certainty, to be a partner to his master, in order that he will marry only when he will have a share in the business, instead of growing old, as he does today, without the hope of advancement. But , in order to bring about these reforms, I only ask for gentle and indirect legislative measures only the administration of a thorough justice between the master and the worker, which would lay on the former all the responsibility for the injury he does to the latter (Nouveaux Principes, p.469)

[18] “The object of government is or ought to be, the happiness of men united in society […]. He has in no way accomplished this task if, in order to assure equal enjoyment of happiness to all, he makes it impossible for outstanding individuals to develop fully” (ivi, p.19) Sismondi has a triple critique of egalitarian ambitions: they tend to reject meritocracy, tend to disobey established laws and rules (even if Sismondi doesn’t speak of inalienable rights) and it hides, regardless of appearances, oligarchic purposes: History of the Italian Republic, respectively p. 222, p.227,p.189.

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