Chydenius focused his liberal writings on attacking the
mercantilism, mercantilist conquest politics,
conservatism,
protectionism and
privilege that were prevalent at the time. In his view, state offices should not be for sale and the state should not impose any restrictions or privileges on any act. He criticised the
clergy,
nobility,
civil servants and other privileged people, saying that they lived off the work of peasants, seeking to turn the debate on the status of peasants into a debate on the status of the privileged. The prevailing view was that peasants and workers had to be kept poor to prevent them from idling. Chydenius showed that, on the contrary, workers were not idlers who should be forced to make the state rich, but vital individuals who, free to pursue their own happiness, would also benefit others. Chydenius was in favour of peace, demanded full and inviolable land ownership, wanted to give refugees protection and peasants and artisans the right to sell their products whenever and wherever they wanted. He opposed price and wage regulation and the labour strike, and demanded the right of workers to choose their employers. To save sparsely populated
Lapland, he proposed turning it into a
night-watchman state.
Free trade In 1765 Chydenius published a
pamphlet called
The National Gain (
Den nationnale winsten), in which he proposes ideas of free trade and industry, explores the relationship between economy and society, and lays out the principles for
liberalism,
capitalism, and modern
democracy. The pamphlet contains ideas anticipating
Adam Smith's concept of the
invisible hand, though the resemblance is best explained by their common French sources rather than independent discovery — Chydenius himself was unaware of Smith's work, which was not published until 1776.
Freedom of expression Chydenius became a great proponent of
freedom of the press. In a report published in 1776, he wrote: No evidence should be needed that a certain freedom of writing and printing is one of the strongest bulwarks of a free organisation of the state, as without it, the estates would not have sufficient information for the drafting of good laws, and those dispensing justice would not be monitored, nor would the subjects know the requirements of the law, the limits of the rights of government, and their own responsibilities. Education and good conduct would be crushed; coarseness in thought, speech, and manners would prevail, and dimness would darken the entire sky of our freedom in a few years.
Natural equality Chydenius was outspoken about universal rights and the abolition of privilege. He wanted to give the poor the same freedom as for everybody else and argued for the good of the poor, which was then rather exceptional among politicians. He promoted democracy and defended the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of trade and industry, and the workers rights. He called for an oversight of the way the state funds were spent. In modern language we would say he advocated openness and good governance. In a 1778 essay,
Thoughts Upon the Natural Rights of Servants and Peasants, he wrote: Nature shapes them exactly like us. Their posture in the crib is the same as ours, their souls have the same reason as other peoples', whereby it is plain to see that the Lord of creation also had intended them to have equal rights with other people. == Legacy ==