“Mr Cole’s book is a restatement of the humanity of labour; a rescue of labour from the dismal penumbra of abstractions which have prevailed in industrial theory since the industrial revolution of the last century. ‘Labour,’ which the economists have loved to contrast with ‘capital,’ is an abstraction, he believes which has vitiated thinking and perverted economic science from its proper function. Mr Cole, therefore, who is one of the few members of the English intelligenzia who have gained the full confidence of the labour party, writes not of abstract labour as a ‘thing’ but of individual men and women forming the majority of the people in any commonwealth; and gives us his personal theory of labour’s place in the commonwealth and what labour and the labour movement are like. This theory is that labour should have control in the industrial sphere.”—Int J Ethics
“Of particular interest is Professor Cole’s analysis of the state. He avoids very carefully the mistake which is so often made of confusing the state and the commonwealth as a single entity.” G. S. Watkins
+ Am Econ R 10:608 S ’20 420w
“A notably interesting book.”
+ Ath p31 Ja ’19 30w
“Mr Cole’s new volumes may be heartily recommended to all who search for an understanding of the mainsprings of labour policy and of the groundwork of labour organization.”
+ Ath p61 F ’19 340w + Booklist 16:112 Ja ’20
“A pungent review of the whole range of present industrial and social life in the spirit of a revolutionary critic.”
+ Brooklyn 12:31 N ’19 40w Dial 67:498 N 29 ’19 60w Int J Ethics 29:506 Jl ’19 140w