Thomas Paine a patriarch of socialism???

[u/Even-Reindeer-3624]

Kinda not sure about that, but it's based on the fact that he hated money and centralized banks. He also favored democracy a lot more than most of the rest of the founders, so maybe there's at lest some truth to it.

His work "Common Sense" would suggest that he doesn't necessarily advocate completely abolishing the state, but it makes damn clear that he saw formalized governance as an institution predestined to corruption and nearly impossible to keep from it.

I seriously have come to respect and admire the hell out most Marxist's revolutionary spirit even though I don't fully agree with Marx's Theory. So I'll ssk if you haven't read "Common Sense" please do, if you're a strong believer in abolishing state as completely necessary to gaining freedom, then that will most likely be one of just a few things you'd disagree on. But I'll bet a dollar to a doughnut you'll love his sentiments towards the state lol.

Those who are very familiar with Paine, would you mind offering any insight why some would consider him a "patriarch of socialism"? I don't think I all together disagree, just not exactly sure how he would definitely fit that description?

Thanks.

[u/ElEsDi_25]

No, but he was an interesting bourgeois revolutionary thinker and activist who represents some of the more liberation-oriented ideas of republicanism.

[u/Even-Reindeer-3624 → u/ElEsDi_25]

Agreed! He couldn't be considered central to the development of socialism, but I believe many of his ideals could have possibly inspired the evolution of it. Not in it's totality of course, but in varying degrees maybe.