Kuczynski's "Rise of the Working Class"

Kuczynski, Jürgen (1975) The Rise of the Working Class. Trans. C.T.A. Ray

If  the Introduction is anything to go by, this could be a truly magnificent book. It certainly contains many intriguing illustrations including the one shown here, which shows changes in the position of the peasantry following the Renunciation of 1789aug4.

 faut espérer q'eus jeu la finira ben tôt : un païsan portant un prélat et un noble : allusion aux impôts dont le poids retombait en entier sur le peuple : M.M. les eclesiastiques et les nobles non seulement ne payoient rien, mais encore obtenoient des graces, des pensions qui épuisoient l'Etat et le malheureux cultivateur pouvoit a peine fournir à sa subsistance : Original image here. The "twin" in the double cartton is here with the following listing: "J'savois ben qu'jaurions not tour Vive le Roi, Vive la Nation ...  Print shows a peasant man riding on the back of an aristocrat who is holding onto a clergyman. A dead rabbit hangs from the peasant's sword, labeled "remplie de courage", resting on his left shoulder. The clergyman is carrying the scales of justice where "Egalité et Liberté" weighs the same as "Soulagement du Peuple." There are three dead birds on the ground at their feet. This cartoon presents a realingment of the Estates General, with the Third Estate, believing that their turn had come, rising (or riding)to the top."

.The Introduction asks what the phrase "Working class" means. In less than four pages it clarifies: "working class" means more than just "working". The key thing - and the historically important thing - is that "Workers in the modern sense of the word are the first class not to own tools .... They are therefore the first, as the great political economist David Ricardo pointed out, to compete freely with one another for jobs". 
The phrase "means of production" is not mentioned - not yet anyway.


Kuczynski the person
Kuczynski is an interesting person and comes from an interesting family - Jurgen Kuczynski (1938) and Thomas Kuczynski (2015) on René Kuczynski (1876-1947) - an early statistician and demographer. 

Kuczynski, Jürgen (1938) Hunger and Work: Statistical Studies. Lawrence & Wishart.

Kuczynski, Thomas (2015) “A Radical Democrat and a Great Demographer: For the 125th Birthday of René Kuczynski.” Radical Statistics 112: 70–75.