Utopian socialism did not believe in class struggle nor did it aspire to revolution.
Utopian socialism is the set of socialist doctrines that were developed before the appearance of scientific socialism proposed by Karl Marx . That is why it is also known as protosocialism , first socialism or pre-Marxist socialism .
The German Friedrich Engels coined the notion of utopian socialism in 1880 , including it in "From Utopian Socialism to Scientific Socialism." According to Engels , the first socialists proposed a utopia with proposals that were impossible to achieve, unlike the postulates of scientific socialism that he developed together with Marx .
According to Engels ' vision, historical materialism was the scientific method that allowed the socialism he devised with Marx to exhibit the contradictions inherent to capitalism . Utopian socialism, on the other hand, did not consider the existence of a class struggle nor did it call for revolution to create a new society.
References of utopian socialism
The references of utopian socialism are several philosophers who, although they shared certain ideas, did not present a homogeneous thought among all. The fathers of this socialism are generally considered to have been the Frenchmen Charles Fourier and Henri de Saint-Simon and the British Robert Owen .
Fourier (1772–1837) ideó un tipo de comunidad conocida como phalanx o phalanstery que podía constituirse como la base de una sociedad igualitaria. Estos establecimientos agrícolas funcionaban como lugares de residencia y unidades de producción y consumo, sin propiedad privada, con lo cual implicaban una forma de cooperativism.
The phalanstery contemplated the idea of attractive work. For Fourier , salaries should not all be equal, but talent had to be rewarded in a special way.
This thinker indicated that humanity had to go through seven phases to achieve harmony. After the confusion , savagery , patriarchy and barbarism , Fourier considered that in his time the stage of civilization was being lived. With the phalanstery, we could move first towards guarantees and finally towards harmony , without the existence of injustices.
Utopian socialism is defined in opposition to the scientific socialism proposed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
Saint-Simonism
Saint-Simonism is the name given to the doctrine developed by Henri de Saint-Simon ( 1760 – 1825 ) , another of the precursors of utopian socialism. For this philosopher and economist, society had to be reorganized to satisfy the needs of workers.
In this framework, it was necessary to create a new State where the productive sectors were in charge of the administration, replacing the nobles, priests and other idle actors.
It is often pointed out that Saint-Simonism sought a planned and more equitable capitalism . Although he did not reject private property, he sought the elimination of inheritance, with which wealth would no longer be accumulated by generational transfer but would be directly associated with the effort of each person.
The utopian socialism of Robert Owen
The utopian socialism of Robert Owen ( 1771 – 1858 ) is based on proposals for industrial reform. This businessman implemented a series of measures in his own factory to improve the situation of the workers.
Owenism did not support class struggle or promote a revolution. On the contrary, he trusted in fraternity among people so that the privileged classes, using reason, would cede privileges to benefit the workers.
The reform of capitalism, for Owen , would allow the poor to live better and would also make possible both the transformation of human nature and the emergence of a new moral universe.
Other contributions to this branch of thought
In addition to Fourier , Saint-Simon , and Owen , other thinkers contributed to the development of utopian socialism. The Frenchman Étienne Cabet ( 1788 – 1856 ), for example, became popular after the publication of “Journey to Icaria” , a book focused on a communist utopia.
Cabet 's vision was to develop community-owned colonies. For him, the transition to communism had to be peaceful and through conviction, not through class struggle. It is important to indicate that Cabet formed the Icarian movement that created colonies of this type in several regions of the United States .
The American Edward Bellamy ( 1850 - 1898 ) also became known for a utopian novel that is known in Spanish as "Looking Back" . In Bellamy 's utopia, money and markets do not exist: people access what they need through a card that is equivalent to their contribution to society's annual product.
Utopian socialism presented a critique of capitalism, aiming to eliminate inequalities in society.
Utopian socialism and perfect societies
The fantasy of perfect societies precedes the models that the leaders of utopian socialism aspired to. Plato 's Republic is usually pointed out as the first work that proposed, from philosophy, the formation of a perfect community.
The term utopia , in any case, only emerged in 1516 when Thomas More 's work bearing that title was published. In his book, Utopia was the name of an island where society was organized in an idyllic way and all the inhabitants were happy thanks to the State's way of management.
Tommaso Campanella , for his part, unveiled "The City of the Sun" in 1602 . In this utopian treatise a new social, political and religious order is presented that is based on community equality.
Francis Bacon was another philosopher who imagined a perfect society. In 1626 , with the novel "The New Atlantis" , he designed a perfectly organized society based on the application of science and the control of natural resources.
The presentation of the Communist Manifesto
It should be noted that, taking into account Engels ' definition, utopian socialism came to an end with the development of scientific socialism. Therefore, the separation between both lines can be established in 1848 , when the Manifesto of the Communist Party , commonly called the Communist Manifesto , was published.
This text written by Marx and Engels marked the dissemination of the program of the League of Communists , a revolutionary group founded in London . There the foundations of Marxism are laid since allusion is made to the class struggle, historical materialism and the confrontations typical of the capitalist mode of production.
From the presentation of these ideas, for Engels it is possible to differentiate between previous socialism (utopian socialism) and the one that emerged with these contributions (scientific socialism), which did not seek a reform but a revolution to generate a new society.