History
The Equitable Labour Exchange was founded by Robert Owen in 1832 “to enable all who have wealth which they wish to dispose of for other wealth, of equal value in the present estimation of society, to do so with the least loss or trouble, without moral degradation, and ultimately to effect all exchanges between the producers of wealth or of valuable services of any kind, in a manner the most beneficial for all parties” (Robert Owen, letter to The Times, published 5 October 1832)
It opened on 17 September 1832 in the Royal London Bazaar, which Owen was already using as a base for lecturing and for his Society to Remove the Causes of Poverty and Ignorance (David Hayes, ‘ “Without Parallel in the Known World”: The Chequered Past of 277 Gray’s Inn Road’, Camden History Review, vol. 25, 2001)
It offered workers the opportunity to sell their goods for a price which reflected the cost (both materials and labour) involved in their manufacture, and in return to receive labour notes, which were to be become acceptable as a form of currency (David Hayes, ‘ “Without Parallel in the Known World”: The Chequered Past of 277 Gray’s Inn Road’, Camden History Review, vol. 25, 2001)
It was a financial success at the outset, but lasted only until 1834, when it was wound up (J. F. C. Harrison, Robert Owen and the Owenites in Britain and America: The Quest for the New Moral World, 1969)
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What was reforming about it?
Labour exchanges were a new system aimed at fairly rewarding workers instead of just profiting from their labour
The Crisis, a journal founded by Owen, “triumphantly announced that equitable labour exchanges were the bridge over which society would pass to a new and better world” (J. F. C. Harrison, Robert Owen and the Owenites in Britain and America: The Quest for the New Moral World, 1969; Crisis, 29 September 1832)
Where in Bloomsbury
It moved out of Bloomsbury in early 1833, first to Blackfriars Road, and then to Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square (J. F. C. Harrison, Robert Owen and the Owenites in Britain and America: The Quest for the New Moral World, 1969)
Website of current institution
It no longer exists
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Books about it
Its operations were detailed in Owen’s journal, Crisis; these are summarised in J. F. C. Harrison, Robert Owen and the Owenites in Britain and America: The Quest for the New Moral World (1969)
Archives
None found, although the Robert Owen Memorial Museum in Newtown (Powys) in Wales holds labour notes from the Exchange when it had left Bloomsbury, along with other Owen material; more details are available online via the Museum’s website (opens in new window)
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