Etienne Cabet Research Articles

“I Dreamed of an Alliance between the Authority of Dogma and Political Liberty”: Mormonism and Socialism in France in the Nineteenth Century

“I Dreamed of an Alliance between the Authority of Dogma and Political Liberty”: Mormonism and Socialism in France in the Nineteenth Century

The death of utopian politics in mid-nineteenth-century France or what the Icarians can tell us about QAnon, conspiracy, and our political moment

ABSTRACT In this era of Pizzagate, QAnon, and “Stop the Steal,” where has utopian thinking gone? The historical analysis that I propose to undertake here will suggest that our current state of affairs (and its concomitant anxieties) are, at least in part, an outgrowth of the historical developments that saw utopia and its anticipatory fictions mostly driven from the political arena. In their place, there has emerged a dark ecosystem of dystopias wrought of conspiracy – stories posing as anti-fictions that function by instrumentalizing the ambiguities of the past to weave a nightmarish version of our “real reality.” To begin to understand how dystopia and its narrative forms have come to permeate the political arena, we might return to mid-nineteenth-century France, where a comparable climate existed that can serve as a sounding board for our troubling times. In this essay, I show how there emerged a movement that so thoroughly enmeshed its political aspirations with fictional praxis that the two became wholly indistinguishable. They were the Icarians and their fantasy, long before QAnon and 8kun, is that of our political modernity. In examining the cultural war that erupted with Icarians’ intriguing embrace Etienne Cabet’s 1840 utopian novel, Voyage en Icarie, we might hope to gain critical perspective on our own political moment.

Continental exiles, Chartists and socialists in London (1834–1848)

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the interactions between British Owenites and continental refugees and groups of democrats in London. The article argues that despite serious disagreements between Owenites and Chartists, their interactions were important. The article focuses on refugee groups London, in the 1830s and 1840s, and examines their links with both the democrats’ and Owenites’ networks. The article focuses first on Etienne Cabet and the French republican exiles in 1830s London, before moving on to two democratic societies of exiles of the 1840s, the Société démocratique française and the Deutscher Bildungsverein für Arbeiter (German workers’ Education society). The article concludes with an examination of the place of Owenites and Chartists in a major early experiment in radical internationalism, the Fraternal Democrats.

The Apparel of Imminent Bliss

The article considers the issues of apparel, costume, and fashion across an extensive body of literary works known as utopian fiction. These include classic utopias of Thomas More, Tommaso Campanella, and Francis Bacon, as well as socialist novels by Etienne Cabet, Edward Bellamy, William Morris, and Alexander Chayanov, or even science fiction such as the works of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Aldous Huxley, and Ivan Yefremov. Regardless of their genre, era, authors’ intents or personal preferences, when utopias are studied through the lens of fashion, dress, clothes production, and etc., they usually reveal theories on perfecting apparel in general, fashion critiques, and clothing reform ideas. Utopian fiction presents often misleading yet partially followed examples, as well as serious futuristic projections and surprisingly precise trendsetting forecasts.

Étienne Cabet e l'educazione in Icaria

According to the etymological and philological meaning given to the concept of utopia by the history of literature, philosophy and pedagogy, the article considers utopia as a criticism of the existing and a foreshadowing of a possible reality. The reference to a social order, marked by both the need for justice and the human inner harmony, is recognizable in the book Voyage en Icarie, the novel written by the French politician and reformer Etienne Cabet a few decades since the Revolution of the year 1789.

America's forgotten constitutions: defiant visions of power and community

The U.S. Constitution opens by proclaiming sovereignty of all citizens: We People. Robert Tsai's gripping history of alternative constitutions invites readers into circle of those who have rejected this ringing assertion--the defiant groups that refused to accept Constitution's definition of who the people are and how their authority should be exercised.America's Forgotten Constitutions is story of America as told by dissenters: squatters, Native Americans, abolitionists, socialists, internationalists, and racial nationalists. Beginning in nineteenth century, Tsai chronicles eight episodes in which discontented citizens took extraordinary step of drafting a new constitution. He examines alternative Americas envisioned by John Brown (who dreamed of a republic purged of slavery), Robert Barnwell Rhett (the Confederate father of secession), and Etienne Cabet (a French socialist who founded a utopian society in Illinois). Other dreamers include University of Chicago academics who created a world constitution for nuclear age; Republic of New Afrika, which demanded a separate country carved from Deep South; and contemporary Aryan movement, which plans to liberate America from multiculturalism and feminism.Countering those who treat constitutional law as a single tradition, Tsai argues that ratification of Constitution did not quell debate but kindled further conflicts over basic questions of power and community. He explains how tradition mutated over time, inspiring generations and disrupting best-laid plans for simplicity and order. Idealists on both left and right will benefit from reading these cautionary tales.

Dostoevskij y “El viaje por Icaria” de Etienne Cabet

The present study is devoted to the influence on Dostoevsky of the works by a well-known French utopian socialist Etienne Cabet (1788-1856), and first of all of his very popular novel “Voyage en Icarie” (1840). It doesn’t consist in the direct Dostoevsky’s references to Cabet in his “Winter Notes on the Summer Impressions” (1863), “The Devils” (1871-1872) and “The Writer’s Diary”. It is shown that Dostoevsky’s “Stepanchikovo Village and its Inhabitants” (1859) is in fact a crypto-parody of “Voyage en Icarie”. That is why Dostoevsky’s work has some features of anti-utopia which were felt and described by some researchers. The writer had s strong interest to Cabet’s life as well. Dostoevsky’s outlook was shaped by his reaction to Russian and French socialism, Cabet’s socialism including.

Good Music for a Free People: The Germania Musical Society in Nineteenth-Century America (review)

Good Music for a Free People: The Germania Society in Nineteenth-Century America. By Nancy Newman. (Eastman Studies in Music.) Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2010. [xv, 315 p. ISBN 9781580463454. $80.] Illustrations, chronology, biographical dictionary, translations, bibliography, index. This well-researched book provides a detailed account of the Germania Society and their activities in the United States during the years 1848-54. Although the Germania is well known in American music circles, little research has previously been done on the ensemble, and Nancy Newman has done an excellent job of gathering pertinent and intriguing information regarding the Society, as well as on the overall context of the utopian ideas that inspired its members. The strong historical and political background gives this book interest not only to the musicologist, but also to the history enthusiast. The book is organized into five chapters with three appendices, including a chronology of the Society's performances from 1848 to 1854. In addition to providing the date and venue for each performance, Newman lists partial programs for each concert, making special note of performances of complete symphonies. This appendix is helpful to the reader, for it provides in a more condensed form some of the information woven throughout the text itself. From the beginning, Newman makes the context of the Germania's travels evident. The first chapter, Musical Forty-Eighters, introduces the transatlantic migration of Europeans that took place during the midnineteenth century, and describes the general view of America as a fertile land for social and utopian experimentation. Many of these immigrants were German, spurred to leave their home country by the generally oppressive political climate. Newman also introduces the ideas of Etienne Cabet, a Frenchman who established a utopian colony in Illinois, thus laying the foundation for more detailed descriptions of this movement in later chapters. While her research here is impeccable, the detail and political references can become tedious to the uninitiated reader, and frequent references to important literary works and political movements of the time can be somewhat confusing. After setting the background for the Germania's travels, Newman begins to chronicle their American tours. She divides the years into two periods, those under the direction of Carl Lenschow (1848-50), and those under Carl Bergmann (1850-54). Of great interest in this section is her translation of Henry Albrecht's Skizzen aus dem Leben der Musik-Gesellschaft Germania (Phila - delphia: King und Baird, 1869), a memoir the orchestra member wrote fifteen years after the members of the Germania had parted ways. Newman states her rationale for including the entire Skizzen (sixteen pages in its original version) as such: I realized that Albrecht's tantalizingly brief text opened a portal into a world of musicmaking that was otherwise obscured (p. 2). She also notes that other sources which discuss the Germania Society depend heavily upon Albrecht's writing. Thus Newman builds her narrative on a strong historical foundation. The translation itself is understandable and easy to read, and provides a basic outline of the Germania's travels. To this skeleton, Newman adds considerable commentary that expounds on the people and places mentioned by Albrecht. Her research here is based on a breadth of sources including journals, newspapers, and primary material ranging from the memoirs of Max Maretzeck (a contemporary of the Germania, and director of New York City's Italian Opera Company) to relatively recent musicological studies. She also provides a list of personnel in the orchestra (pp. 67-68), which is helpful as the reader imagines the visual and aural aspects of Germania concerts. As Newman chronicles the travels of the Society, she considers the repertoire they performed in some detail, and thus provides a window into concert life of the nineteenth century. …

Narcís Monturiol (1819-1885), pioneer of submarine navigation

Narcis Monturiol (1819–1885) played an essential role in the history of submarine navigation. He was a person of strong convictions and fought for democracy at a time of changes and political convulsions in the Spanish society. Uto- pian republican and socialist, he spread the Communist ideas of Etienne Cabet in Catalonia, organizing the Cabetians around the weekly, La Fraternidad (1847–1848). He also became the leader of the Icarian community in Barcelona. Frequently persecuted because of his political beliefs, he was often forced to seek refuge in Cadaques, and it was there that he conceived his project of a submarine vessel, the Ictineu. Although treated with mistrust by the authorities, he was able to secure sufficient financial and technical support to carry out the project. Together with a team of technicians, he constructed the first Ictineu, which was launched in the waters of Barcelona in 1859, Subsequent improvements led to a second Ictineu, launched in 1864 and fitted in 1867 with a steam engine. However, economic difficulties led to eventual failure. As an autodidact, Monturiol received the support of Barcelona’s scientific elite and continued inventing until his death. His work, Ensayo sobre el arte de navegar por debajo del agua (Essay on the Art of Navigating Under Water), was a pioneering, monumental work about submarine navigation and a remarkable contribution to the historiography of science and technology.

Utopian Visions in United States Urbanism

America’s appeal to Utopian visionaries is best illustrated by the Oneida Community, and by Etienne Cabet’s experiment (Moreana 31/215 f and 43/71 f). A Messianic spirit was a determinant in the Puritans’ crossing the Atlantic. The Edenic appeal of the vast lands in a New World to migrants in a crowded Europe is obvious. This article documents the ambition of urbanists to preserve that rural quality after the mushrooming of towns: the largest proved exemplary in bringing the country into the city. New York’s Central Park was emulated by the open spaces on the grounds of the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. The garden-cities surrounding London also provided inspiration, as did the avenues by which Georges Haussmann made Paris into a tourist mecca, and Pierre L’Enfant’s designs for the nation’s capital. The author concentrates on two growing cities of the twentieth century, Los Angeles and Honolulu. His detailed analysis shows politicians often slow to implement the bold and costly plans of designers whose ambition was to use the new technology in order to vie with the splendor of the natural sites and create the “City Beautiful.” Some titles in the bibliography show the hopes of those dreamers to have been tempered by fears of “supersize” or similar drawbacks.

Kos, Dresden, Utopia... A journey through Idealism Past and Present in Public Health

This essay reviews some of the sources of idealism in public health, on the basis of an intellectual journey to Kos (home to Hippocrates and his altruistic legacy), Dresden (where the Deutsches Hygiene Museum illustrates the historical connections between fascism and public health), and Utopia (exemplified by Etienne Cabet's Icarie, a fantasy of an ideal city which has nevertheless been partly realized). It is suggested that the large-scale altruism of public health has to be balanced with the value of individual autonomy, and that some degree of dreaming of a better and healthier world is indispensable for further progress in public health. The main conclusion is that the ethical foundations of public health are not always self-evident, and that critical reflection on these foundations was, is, and will always be necessary.

Les Icariens: the Utopian dream in Europe and America

This is the first complete account of the epic tale of the Icarians and their dream of creating a perfect society without money or property. Robert P. Sutton analyzes the origins of Icarianism in the milieu of French politics in the 1840s, discusses its founder Etienne Cabet, and traces the eventual creation of six communal societies in Illinois, Iowa, and California between 1848 and 1898. Les Icariens is a fascinating amalgam of biography, a history of French Socialism, and the story of one of the longest-lived secular communal experiments in America.

Early French socialism reconsidered—I. The propaganda of Fourier and Cabet

French socialism in the 1830s and 1840s has often been criticised for its motley assembly of hopes and ideals, which is perhaps another way of saying that no single thinker dominated the period with a system of ideas which formed a paradigm for the general movement. The diversity of early French socialist thought always involves studying some figures and ignoring others, thus complicating any simple or comprehensive portrayal of socialism in this period. Many socialist writers in these two decades have forced individual claims on our interest and attention, but the entire movement deserves reconsideration if we are to appreciate its variety as well as discover why French socialism has so often been misunderstood and unfairly criticised for, among other points, lacking systematic coherence and practical political realism. An analysis of early socialist writers from their rhetorical perspective, focusing upon the disposition of arguments and the rhetorical techniques employed, does not support the accepted view. It is hardly necessary to rehearse the familiar contentions that the French socialists somehow lacked originality and critical depth, that they were wildly enthusiastic but politically impractical or tlitist, or that they were hopelessly utopian and misunderstood the nature of social oppression and the play of political forces required for radical social change. The most superficial, but nonetheless frequent, of such criticism boils down, really, to saying that they were ‘French’-emotional, dilettante, ingenious but unmethodical-as opposed to English (cool, rational, sceptical) or German (systematic, thorough, stolid). The merits of that criticism are not enhanced by the charge that a viewpoint is ‘unoriginal’ simply because a number of able writers happen to share it. One must also be unpersuaded by an argument that a thinker is ‘utopian’ when he is criticised on other points for being unsystematic or reformist. 1 Having sprung to an early defence of the French socialists, one must at the same time concede that there are a number of problems involved in trying to make sense of these writers, especially for the modern reader of from any ‘postMarxist’ critical perspective. But this difficulty may well be more our own problem than it is an indictment of a particular writer. Indeed, our present concern is to reveal the preconceptions and misconceptions that stand in the way of a clear view of what the French socialists were trying to do, and how they did it. It is true that such writers as Etienne Cabet (1788-1856), ThCodore Dezamy (1808-50) and Jean-Jacques Pillot (1808-77) were remarkably enthusiastic. The

Response to Harold Benenson, “Victorian Sexual Ideology and Marx’s Theory of the Working Class”

Karl Marx radically shifted the terms of socialist discussion of women's needs, in Harold Benenson's view, by ignoring concerns with the authoritarian structure of families that had been raised by earlier Utopian criticism, by accomodating himself to the hegemony of skilled males over the working class through trade unions and the suffrage movement, and by legitimizing that hegemony in his basic theoretical concepts. Despite the validity of some points Benenson raises along the way, his exercise in the intellectual history of socialism is misleading, and his condemnation of Marxist methods of analysis, if accepted, would deprive those of us who are attempting to conceptualize the historical relations of gender and class of analytical tools that are indispensible to that task. If a fundamental contrast existed between the views of Utopians and those of Marxists on women's needs and women's activity, it was not of the type described in this paper. Benenson himself notes that forthright of the rights of were few in Utopian ranks, though he quite rightly adds that those whom he discusses (especially Flora Tristan and Frances and James Morrison) were remarkably perceptive and suggested a much more thorough analysis of women's position under capitalism than was to be found in The Communist Manifesto. To understand the history of socialism, however, it is equally important to compare those forthright champions with the attitudes toward women and toward the expressed in other dominant currents of Utopian criticism, especially with those of Etienne Cabet, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, and Wilhelm Weitling. The com parison should be made, not to score a debating point, but to ask why utopias with widespread appeal among artisans of the 1830s-1850s should have offered a roman tic reification of the and (especially in the case of Weitling) celebrated family love as proof that a non-competitive society could be created by the proper exercise of human reason. An important task confronting historians is to explain why these ideas flourished in particular artisan circles at the time (especially among tailors and shoemakers), and how they reflected and perhaps influenced the changing relation ship of women to the trades involved. Benenson's arguments steer us away from this historical problem, and consequently from investigating the role played by influen tial Utopians in creating a plebeian version of the Victorian sexual ideology.

Harmony and Cooperation: Attitudes toward Physical Education and Recreation in Utopian Social Thought and American Communitarian Experiments, 1825–1865

Abstract The creation of perfection on earth is an age-old and recurrent dream. In the first half of the 19th century the social utopian philosophies of Robert Owen, Charles Fourier, and Etienne Cabet spread through western Europe and were soon exported to the United States. The importance of physical education for children and recreational activities for adults was repeatedly stated in the proposals of each of these social reformers. In the United States between 1825 and 1865 there occurred a dramatic and unprecedented rise in secular communitarian endeavors. The Owenite community at New Harmony, Indiana, Brook Farm, Massachusetts (which began as a transcendental utopia and soon became attracted to Fourierist ideas) and the Oneida Community of Perfectionists are usually considered to be the most important of the period. These communities produced, by and large, a rather high standard of workmanship and living and were pioneer contributors to such humanitarian social concepts as equality of the sexes, emancipation, democratic government, and liberal education. At a time when physical education was not usually a part of the school curriculum, they each provided a program of physical education activities for their children as well as recreational activities for adults and children alike. The New Harmony community attracted a number of former Pestalozzian educators and was an important force in disseminating the views of the famous Swiss educator in the United States. The communitarian's emphasis upon harmony and cooperation as opposed to the more prevalent American spirit of competition, ambition, and rugged individualism was evident again and again in their attitudes expressed toward physical education and recreation. Amusements which stressed fellowship rather than rivalry and those which were not restricted to the young or to one sex were considered to be the best. Games, sports, dancing, and the like were to be activities of edification. Their efforts contributed to the advancement of humanitarian attitudes toward physical education in the United States.

Etienne Cabet and the Problem of Class Antagonism

The place of Etienne Cabet in the history of French and European socialism has been misunderstood and its real importance diminished in part due to the only detailed study of his life and thought, Jules Prudhommeaux's Icarie et son fondateur Etienne Cabet (Paris: Cornély, 1907). This work possesses many merits but is limited by the framework made explicit in its subtitle: “a contribution to the study of Experimental Socialism”. The author is principally concerned with Cabet as the creator of a communist colony in the backwoods of America. This emphasis relieved Prudhommeaux of the task of investigating the role of Cabet in the turbulent politics of France before and during the Revolution of 1848. By ignoring this period of Icarian history, he inadvertently strengthened the impression that Cabet's historical significance was as the Utopian archetype. Such was not the unique image of the father of Icarian communism during the 1840's, however.