In Great Britain the germs of communism are to be found \n Roger Bacon*s New Atlantis; in More's De Optimo reipubUom statu (1616); and in Harrington's Oceana (1656) ; but no practical form of socialism ap- peared till the 18th century, when the Buchanites (q. V.) of Scotland fbrmed a religious communistic associ- ation, which lasted ftilly for half a centnry. In the 19th century, Robert Owen (q. v.) attempted to better the condition of the cotton-weavers of New Lanark. He published his system (A new View qf Society, 1813), in which, starting fh>m the principle that all men are bom equal, he maintains that they become good or bad through the influence of outward circumstances. But his political radicalism obliged him to leave England, and he came to the United States, where he founded the colony of New Harmony. The experiment was successful BO long as money lasted, but this failing, it was abandoned in 1826. See Owen. In the mean time, the Owenites had founded another colony at Or- biston, near Edinburgli, Scotland,' under the guidance of Abram Combe, but it was dissolved after his death in 1827. Owen, having returned to England, became the founder and director of the National Labor Equita- ble Exchange^ and the Community Friendly ISodety of Manchester. These Owenite working associations brought forth the Chartists, who aimed at the suppres- sion of the powers of the clergy, the land-owners, the large capitidists, and all privileged classes.
In France, the Declaration of the RighU of Man, in 1789, laid down the principle of equality as the fbund- ation of the state organization. The Constitution of 1791 acknowledged the right of property, but recog- nised also the corresponding right of emplojnnent for those destitute of property. The Constitution of 1793 aimed to establish greater material equality, and Ma- rat often expressed the idea that real equality could only be established on the basis of equality of rights and equality of tastes. Under Napoleon and the Res- toration these ideas were for a time forgotten, until the Revolution of July, 1830, showed again their existence and power among the proletariat. The Socialists be^ fore the Revolution, whose way had been prepared by other Utopists, snch as F6nelon {RepubHque de Scdente, Voyage dans VUe despkasirs, etc.), are but few in num- ber, if considered as distinct fh>m the advocates of equality. Among their works the most remarkable are La Basiliade, a novel by Morelli (Paris, 1758) ; Le Code de la Nature (1765), presenting the idea of system-
community of goods, the substitution of polygamy for atizing labor. The materialist and atheistic works of monogamy, and the abolition of all dvil and ecclesias- I Holbach, Helvetius, Diderot, Voltaire, Rousseau, Rey- tical authority. MQnzer (q. v.) went still fbrther ; his j nal, full of Utopian theories, greatly damaged the au- doctrine of the absolute community of all possessions i thority of existing institutions. Communism did not was pure communism. These doctrines were admit- 1 practically take its modem form until after the end of ted to the fullest extent by the Anabaptists (q. v.) of | the Reign of Terror ; but after the Constitution of 1795 Hunster. Some isolated followers of Anabaptism in ' had made the fhmchise of voting to depend on proper- the Netherlands disseminated these doctrines after- ty, the remaining terrorists joined the disfranchised
vards in France and the north of Germany. Follow- ing in the same road we find the Libertines of Geneva,
classes in their opposition to all right of individual property. They aimed at bringing back society to the
whom Calvin strenuously opposed, and the FamiUsts ' state of nature, claiming that in a true state of society
of Holland and England, about 1546. The commu- nistic element is also apparent in a pure form in the organization of the E[ermhuters (Moravians), and in some communities of Auvergne, which are unions of
there should be neither rich nor poor; that a common education would make all equal in their attainments. The heads of the party were Babeuf and his followers. After the fall of Babeuf, and under the military rule of
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Napoleon, arose the sodaliBtic doctrines of St. Simon and Fourier. The former expkined his views in Le CaUchitme des Industrids and Le tumveau Ckn$tiwMme^ in the former of which he proposed to establish an in- dustrial system on the basis of perfect equality ; while in the latter he attempts to demonstrate that thb equal- ity is a result of the divine commandment to love one another as brethren. In order practically to arrive at the object of St Simon, Hazard proposed that after the death of a person, the community at large, instead of his family, should inherit his estate. Fourier expound- ed his system in La Thiorie des quatre MoucemenU^ and Le Traits de VA$80C%aUon DomesUque Agricole (1822, 2d edit. 1841). He aims at the practical perfection of man- kind, and considers happiness as the aim of all living creatures. Wealth is to be increased and disseminated, and this is to be accomplished by dividing the common property and by regulating labor, uniting persons to work in groups, industrial series, and phalanges, ac- cording to their capacity for labor ; the result of the joint labor to be divided among the producers in pro- portion to their capital, labor, and talent. Fourier suc- ceeded in gaining the public ear after the faXL of St Si- monism, and was greatly helped by Victor Consid^rant. He published a newspaper, Lt Phaiansi^e^ in 1832, and in 1886 another. La Ptudange^ Journal de la Science So- dale, to disseminate his ideas.