Contradictions of Liberalism

For Liberal Economics certain requirements were demanded from the State, Low Taxes, Low Regulation, Cheap Labour, Materials and Land.

Growth came from the exploitation of resources and labour. It also ment an avoidance of the rule of law. By exploiting these, Capital Acquisitions could be made to advance industry. This leads to the dominance of Capital and the subservience of the Social.

People have to give way to the needs of industry.
But Ricardo introduced dissent from individual rights by explaining the general labour theory of value. If productivity and profit are created by the work force then why are profits not fairly shared out but given mostly to the owners. This lined up with the writings of Marx.

The effects of the Industrial Revolution made the idea of the universal self made man implausible. The fact of poverty, unemployment and deprivation was not the panacea that Free Enterprise was supposed to produce.
Everybody does not have an equal start or resources. Markets do not always work well, they work in cycles and monopoly practices undermine them.

So a new social contract was needed. Conditions of squalor are only remedied through Collective Action, leading to a Welfare orientated, Interventionist State.