Early Socialists: From Utopias to Workers' Movements

Industrial inequality inspired thinkers who imagined societies based on cooperation rather than competition. In France, Henri de Saint-Simon called for society to be organized by experts for the benefit of the poorest, while Charles Fourier proposed communal settlements called phalanxes. Robert Owen promoted cooperative villages in Britain and America. Later writers dismissed these thinkers as 'utopian socialists' because they hoped to persuade the wealthy to adopt their plans.

Others were more confrontational: Pierre-Joseph Proudhon declared in 1840 that 'property is theft', and Louis Blanc proposed state-funded workshops. In 1844 the Rochdale Pioneers founded a cooperative shop that became a model for the cooperative movement. Socialism took many forms, from peaceful cooperatives to revolutionary programs, and historians stress that these ideas were direct responses to the social problems industrialization created.