An Early Anticipation of Market Socialism? Liberalism, Heresy, and Knowledge in John Stuart Mill's Political Economy of Socialism.

This article examines John Stuart Mill's political economy as an early anticipation of market socialism, highlighting his gradual intellectual shift toward socialist ideas influenced by French utopian socialists. Mill envisioned a "stationary state" following the commercial stage of capitalism, characterized by the socialization of capital and knowledge, widespread cooperative associations, and continued competition within a decentralized and democratic framework. His version of socialism combined communal ownership of production means with individual ownership of consumption goods, emphasizing liberty, equality, and gradual reform through state intervention such as inheritance taxes and education. Mill's synthesis of cooperative production and market mechanisms anticipates 20th-century market socialism by proposing a peaceful, evolutionary transition from capitalism to a more egalitarian and intellectually advanced society.