Socialist Thought: Saint-Simon, Marxism, and Early Labor Movements

Saint-Simon's Social Critique

Saint-Simon did not develop an idea of a future perfect world, but proceeded to radically criticize the society resulting from the French Revolution. In this context, he felt that governments should aim for improving the moral and material conditions of the working class, and ending poverty and war, but exercising less and less government (understood as despotism) and more administration.

Not opposed to private property, he suggested deleting the inheritance. The State should undertake great public works for the benefit of the society: railways, dams, bridges, communication channels, credit unions, etc.

Challenges for Utopian Communities

The main obstacle to the creation and consolidation of utopian communities was to find a perfect living in the midst of a world based on completely different values. This meant that these communities could not avoid a mismatch between the internal (moral values) and external (market values).

Marxism and Anarchism

During the nineteenth century, contemporary socialism appears to be characterized by a radical critique of the capitalist system, which is considered socially and economically unjust. This critique aimed to defend a model of society in which ownership of the means of production was collective and, above all, by the identification of the working class as the star of the changes.

One of the most significant concepts on which the growth of organized labor is based was the class struggle, which brought awareness by workers of their membership of a social class different from their employers and that, to improve their situation, the best way was to fight. The strike—the show of workers’ force that paralyzes the production of the factories—has been the main weapon in this working-class struggle.

International Workingmen's Association (IWA)

The First International

The First International Workers’ Association (IWA), or First International, was the first major organization that sought to unite workers from different countries.

• Founded in London in 1864.
• Initially brought together British trade unionists, French socialists and anarchists, and Italian republicans.

Its purposes were the political organization of the proletariat in Europe and the rest of the world, as well as a forum to discuss common problems and propose courses of action. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels collaborated in it.

Conflict and Split

The great tension between Marx and Mikhail Bakunin led to the split between Marxists and anarchists, after which Bakunin's supporters were expelled.