Mr Smith goes to Moscow: Russian editions of The wealth of nations

Abstract

Adam Smith never travelled to Russia but his published works certainly did. This short research note chronicles some pertinent facts on this topic, tracing the publication of editions of Smith's The Wealth of Nations in Russia in the nineteenth century and early part of the twentieth century; in particular it highlights a remarkable edition of this work published in the USSR in 1935. It also sketches some interpretations of Smith's ideas as given in Russian encyclopaedias and journals, and briefly chronicles the influence of some of Smith's ideas on policy-makers and economists in Russia in the nineteenth century. This account does not claim to be definitive, only to provide an introductory description of the propagation of some aspects of Smith's teachings in Russia from the end of the eighteenth century to World War Two. Smith himself was at least a little interested in Russia, as the three volumes on various aspects of Russia in his personal library indicate (Bonar, pp. 51, 111, 161), although unlike John Milton he never wrote a history of Moscovy.

Citation

Barnett, V. (2002), "Mr Smith goes to Moscow: Russian editions of The wealth of nations", Samuels, W.J. and Biddle, J.E. (Ed.) A Research Annual (Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, Vol. 20 Part 1), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 35-42. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0743-4154(02)20020-6