Utopia: From the Novel to Revolution

Synopsis

THE TRANSFORMATION OF UTOPIA IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, FROM A ROMANTIC IDEAL TO A POLITICAL OBJECTIVEUntil the Age of Enlightenment, utopia was a popular literary genre, but without concrete political effects. However, in the decades leading up to 1789, its status gradually changed from an entertaining thought experiment to a socialist project. Imagining the ideal city took on the task of articulating revolutionary transformation of society towards equality and social justice.In Utopia, Stéphanie Roza explores the nascent ideal of a community of property and labour, not yet called communism, and the thinkers who engaged with it in the lead-up to the French Revolution. These philosophers included Étienne-Gabriel Morelly, a fierce critic of private property and the mysterious author of the Code de la Nature; the Abbé de Mably, a radical republican and interlocutor of Rousseau; and Gracchus Babeuf, who, from the 1780s onwards, defended the natural right to subsistence and dreamed of a more fraternal world.Together, they laid the foundations for modern socialist movements. In the crucible of the French Revolution, &‘real equality&’ became the goal of a handful of conspirators gathered around Babeuf, who had meanwhile become the &‘tribune of the people&’. The Conspiracy of Equals was considered by Marx to be &‘the first active communist party&’: the hopes and questions that ran through the group prefigured those of the militants of later periods, including today.

Copyright:

2025

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

Book Size:

416 Pages

ISBN-13:

9781839767678

Related ISBNs:

9781839767654

Publisher:

Verso Books

Date of Addition:

07/01/25

Copyrighted By:

Stéphanie Roza

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

History, Nonfiction, Politics and Government

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.