Atlas / Comparisons / Classical Liberalism vs Classical Marxism
Classical Liberalism and Classical Marxism
Measured distance across six axes
Opposed programmes with little shared ground. No axis places them within three points of each other. They diverge by eight points or more on EC, AU, CH.
Axis by axis
| Axis | Manchester School | Scientific socialism | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | +09 | −10 | 19 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | −02 | −06 | 4 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| AU · Organisation of power | −07 | +02 | 9 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| SC · Scale of decision | −03 | +04 | 7 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| ID · Rule of membership | −03 | −09 | 6 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| CH · Method and tempo | −04 | +08 | 12 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
Each axis runs from −10 to +10; the distance is the straight-line separation across all six at once, out of a maximum of 49.0. How the scoring works →
The evidence behind the widest gaps
A distance figure is worth nothing unless the scores behind it can be checked. These are the artefacts supporting the axes that separate these two most.
Manchester School · EC +09
Coded +9: free exchange as the organising principle of policy.
- Documented act or statuteThe Anti-Corn Law League secured repeal in 1846, the defining victory of the school.
Scientific socialism · EC −10
At the floor: abolition of private property in the means of production.
- Programme textThe Manifesto states the theory of the communists in a single sentence: abolition of private property.
Manchester School · AU −07
Coded −7: constitutional limitation as the school's founding commitment.
- Programme textWealth of Nations and On Liberty both treat concentrated authority as the standing danger.
Scientific socialism · AU +02
Coded +2: a transitional dictatorship of the proletariat theorised as majority rule, followed by the withering away of the state.
- Programme textThe Critique of the Gotha Programme names a transitional period; Engels' Anti-Dühring describes the state dying out.
- ScholarshipThe gap between that endpoint and every regime built in its name is the most important discontinuity in this dataset.
What this comparison does not establish
Proximity means similarity of stated position. It carries no claim about competence, circumstance, scale of operation, or what either organisation actually did to the people under it. Two organisations can sit close together and produce entirely different histories, because those things are not on any axis and could not be.
Classical Liberalism
1776–1900 · Britain, Europe
Individual liberty, free trade, freedom of contract, religious toleration, constitutional and limited government.
Classical Marxism
1848–1914 · Germany, Europe
History driven by class struggle; capitalism generates its own gravediggers; proletarian revolution abolishes classes and eventually the state.
Distance is not the whole answer. Two organisations can sit the same distance apart for entirely different reasons, and the reason is the content of any claim about them. Open the comparison in the atlas to weight the axes yourself.
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