Modern French Philosophy | Page 8

liberty which he held show well how he was the
real father of many later doctrines and of applications of these doctrines,
as for example by Lenin in the Soviet system of Bolshevik Russia.
Saint-Simon foreshadowed the dictatorship of the proletariat, although
his scheme of social organisation involved a triple division of humanity
into intellectuals, artists and industrials. Many of his doctrines had a
definite communistic tendency. Among them we find indicated the
abolition of all hereditary rights of inheritance and the distribution of
property is placed, as in the communist programme, in the hands of the
organising authority. Saint-Simon had a keen insight into modern social
conditions and problems. He stressed the economic inter-relationships
and insisted that the world must be regarded as "one workshop." A

statement of the principles of the Saint- Simonist School, among whom
was the curious character Enfantin, was presented to the _Chambre des
Députés_ in the critical year 1830. The disciples seem to have shown a
more definite communism than their master. The influence of
Saint-Simon, precursor of both socialism and positivism, had
considerable influence upon the social philosophy of the whole century.
It only diminished when the newer type of socialist doctrine appeared,
the so-called "scientific" socialism of Marx and Engels. Saint-Simon's
impulse, however, acted powerfully upon the minds of most of the
thinkers of the century, especially in their youth. Renouvier and Renan
were fired with some of his ideas. The spirit of Saint-Simon expressed
itself in our period by promoting an intense interest in philosophy as
applied to social problems.
Saint-Simon was not, however, the only thinker at this time with a
social programme to offer. In contrast to his scheme we have that of
Fourier (1772-1837) who endeavoured to avoid the suppression of
liberty involved in the organisation proposed by Saint-Simon.
The psychology of Fourier was peculiar and it coloured his ethical and
social doctrine. He believed that the evils of the world were due to the
repression of human passions. These in themselves, if given liberty of
expression, would prove harmonious. As Newton had propounded the
law of the universal attraction of matter, Fourier endeavoured to
propound the law of attraction between human beings. Passion and
desire lead to mutual attraction; the basis of society is free association.
Fourier's _Traité de l'Association domestique et agricole_ (1822),
which followed his _Théorie des Quatre Mouvements_ (1808),
proposed the formation of associations or groups, phalanges, in which
workers unite with capital for the self-government of industry. He, like
Saint- Simon, attacks idlers, but the two thinkers look upon the
capitalist manager as a worker. The intense class- antagonism of
capitalist and labourer had not yet formulated itself and was not felt
strongly until voiced on behalf of the proletariat by Proudhon and Marx.
Fourier's proposals were those of a bourgeois business man who knew
the commercial world intimately, who criticised it and condemned the

existing system of civilisation. Various experiments were made to
organise communities based upon his phalanges.
Cabet, the author of Icaria (1840) and Le nouveau Christianisme, was a
further power in the promotion of socialism and owed not a little of his
inspiration to Robert Owen.
The most interesting and powerful of the early socialist philosophers is
undoubtedly Proudhon (1809- 1865), a striking personality, much
misunderstood.
While Saint-Simon, a count, came from the aristocracy, Fourier from
the bourgeoisie, Proudhon was a real son of the people, a mouthpiece
of the proletariat. He was a man of admirable mental energy and
learning, which he had obtained solely by his own efforts and by a
struggle with poverty and misery. Earnest and passionate by nature, he
yet formulated his doctrines with more sanity and moderation than is
usually supposed. Labels of "atheist" and "anarchist" have served well
to misrepresent him. Certainly two of his watchwords were likely
enough to raise hostility in many quarters. "God," he said, "is evil,"
"Property is theft." This last maxim was the subject of his book,
published in 1840, _Qu'est-ce que la propriété_? (_ou, Recherches sur
le principe du droit et du gouvernement_) to which his answer was
"_C'est le vol!_" Proudhon took up the great watchword of _Egalité_,
and had a passion for social justice which he based on "the right to the
whole product of labour." This could only come by mutual exchange,
fairly and freely. He distinguished between private "property" and
individual "possession." The latter is an admitted fact and is not to be
abolished; what he is anxious to overthrow is private "property," which
is a toll upon the labour of others and is therefore ultimately and
morally theft. He hated the State for its support of the "thieves," and his
doctrines are a philosophy of anarchy. He further enunciated them in
_Système des Contradictions économiques_ (1846) and De la Justice
(1858). In 1848