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STORIES OF HEARTS AND MINDS IN THE 19 CENTURY

FREEDOM AND EQUALITY

3 Socialist awakening: Owen, Proudhon, Bakunin, Marx

Our theme
In these sessions, we’re exploring two themes: the “conversation” between the ideas
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of the 18 century Enlightenment and 19 century Romanticism; and how the
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various “isms” of the 19 century arose and what they might have in common. In this
session we’ll ask, how does this all apply to socialism?

What is socialism?
Socialism arose alongside the Industrial Revolution. When Enlightenment reason was
applied to manufacturing via science and technological innovation, the result was an
explosion of human mastery over nature. Steam engines, railways, steam ships and

factory machines transformed work, urban life and society. And politics too; a major
consequence was the rise of a new working class or “proletariat” who began to
demand a fairer, more equal share of the new wealth generated by industry. This
would be achieved by collective action. Many early socialists set up ideal, organic
communities based on cooperation and harmony, a direct moral challenge to the
individualism and competitiveness of the Enlightenment and industrial revolution.
This is the essence of modern socialism.

How did socialism begin?
Socialism faced an uphill battle from the start. Few mainstream thinkers took
egalitarianism seriously. After considering the matter, Dr Johnson concluded,
“Mankind are happier in a state of inequality and subordination. Were they to be in
this pretty state of equality, they would degenerate into brutes. Their tails would
grow.” Yet egalitarianism has existed in some form throughout history. Some trace it
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back to Plato, some to the teachings of Christianity, some to radical 17 century sects
during the English Civil War.

The first modern socialist was Francois-Noel Babeuf. He took the name “Gracchus”
Babeuf after the Gracchi brothers, radical tribunes of the people in ancient Rome.
Babeuf came from modest and at times poor circumstances; his father deserted from
the army. He worked as a servant and also as a land surveyor and recorder of the
feudal land titles of lords and churchmen. During the French Revolution, he allied
with the radical Jacobin party and earned a reputation as a prolific journalist and an

uncompromising and thunderous orator. He campaigned on behalf of the sans-