Étienne Cabet ( January 1, 1788 – November 9, 1856) was a
French philosopherJeremy Radey III originally coined the phrase French philosophy, here taken to mean philosophy in the French language, has been extremely diverse and has influenced both the analytic and continental traditions in philosophy for centuries, from René Descartes through Voltaire and Henri Bergson to...
and utopian socialist. He was the founder of the
Icarian movementThe Icarians were a French utopian movement, founded by Étienne Cabet, who led his followers to America where they established a group of egalitarian communes during the period from 1848 through 1898.-European Roots:Étienne Cabet was born in France in 1788...
and led a group of emigrants to found a new society in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
In 1831, he was elected to the
Chamber of DeputiesChamber of deputies is the name given to a legislative body such as the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or can refer to a unicameral legislature....
in
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
, but due to his bitter attacks on the government he was accused of treason in 1834 and fled to
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, seeking political asylum. Influenced by
Robert OwenRobert Owen , born in Newtown, Montgomeryshire, Wales was a social reformer and one of the founders of socialism and the cooperative movement.Owen's philosophy was based on three intellectual pillars:...
, he wrote
Voyage et aventures de lord William Carisdall en Icarie ("Travel and Adventures of Lord William Carisdall in Icaria") (1840), which depicted a
utopiaUtopia is a name for an ideal community or society, that is taken from Of the Best State of a Republic, and of the New Island Utopia, a book written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean, possessing a seemingly perfect socio-politico-legal system...
in which an
elected governmentDemocracy is a system of government in which either the actual governing is carried out by the people governed , or the power to do so is granted by them...
controlled all economic activity and supervised
social affairsSocial life may refer to:* Social relation* Social Life, an album by Koufax* Social Life, the indie/punk band from Greensboro, North Carolina....
, the family remaining the only other independent unit.
Étienne Cabet ( January 1, 1788 – November 9, 1856) was a
French philosopherJeremy Radey III originally coined the phrase French philosophy, here taken to mean philosophy in the French language, has been extremely diverse and has influenced both the analytic and continental traditions in philosophy for centuries, from René Descartes through Voltaire and Henri Bergson to...
and utopian socialist. He was the founder of the
Icarian movementThe Icarians were a French utopian movement, founded by Étienne Cabet, who led his followers to America where they established a group of egalitarian communes during the period from 1848 through 1898.-European Roots:Étienne Cabet was born in France in 1788...
and led a group of emigrants to found a new society in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
In 1831, he was elected to the
Chamber of DeputiesChamber of deputies is the name given to a legislative body such as the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or can refer to a unicameral legislature....
in
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
, but due to his bitter attacks on the government he was accused of treason in 1834 and fled to
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, seeking political asylum. Influenced by
Robert OwenRobert Owen , born in Newtown, Montgomeryshire, Wales was a social reformer and one of the founders of socialism and the cooperative movement.Owen's philosophy was based on three intellectual pillars:...
, he wrote
Voyage et aventures de lord William Carisdall en Icarie ("Travel and Adventures of Lord William Carisdall in Icaria") (1840), which depicted a
utopiaUtopia is a name for an ideal community or society, that is taken from Of the Best State of a Republic, and of the New Island Utopia, a book written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean, possessing a seemingly perfect socio-politico-legal system...
in which an
elected governmentDemocracy is a system of government in which either the actual governing is carried out by the people governed , or the power to do so is granted by them...
controlled all economic activity and supervised
social affairsSocial life may refer to:* Social relation* Social Life, an album by Koufax* Social Life, the indie/punk band from Greensboro, North Carolina....
, the family remaining the only other independent unit. Icaria is the name of the
fictional countryA fictional country is a country that is made up for fictional stories, and does not exist in real life. Fictional lands appear most commonly as settings or subjects of literature, movies, or video games...
and ideal society he describes.
In 1839, Cabet returned to France to advocate a communitarian
social movementSocial movements are a type of group action. They are large informal groupings of individuals and/or organizations focused on specific political or social issues, in other words, on carrying out, resisting or undoing a social change....
, for which he invented the term
communisme. Cabet's notion of a communal society influenced other socialist writers and philosophers, notably
Karl MarxKarl Heinrich Marx was a Germanphilosopher, political economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, communist and revolutionary, whose ideas are credited as the foundation of modern communism...
and
Friedrich EngelsFriedrich Engels was a German social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of communist theory, alongside Karl Marx. Together they produced The Communist Manifesto in 1848...
. Some of these other writers ignored Cabet's
Christian influencesChristian philosophy is a term to describe the fusion of various fields of philosophy with the theological doctrines of Christianity.-Reconciling Christianity with philosophy:...
, as described in his book
Vrai Christianisme (
Real ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
).
In 1848, Cabet gave up on the notion of reforming
French societyFrench Society may refer to:* The French National Honor Society* The Western Society for French History* The Society for French Historical Studies* The French Honor Society* The French Society for Urban Studies- See also :...
. He led a group of followers from across France to the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to organize an Icarian community. They came first to
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
, then moved to
Nauvoo, IllinoisNauvoo is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States. Although the current population is just 1,063 , and it is difficult to reach over secondary highways in a remote corner of Illinois, Nauvoo attracts large numbers of visitors for its historic importance and its religious...
to a site recently vacated by the Mormons. A new colony was established in "Icaria, Iowa" (near what is now
Corning, IowaCorning is a city in Quincy Township, Adams County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,783 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Adams County.Corning is perhaps best known as the birthplace of Johnny Carson...
). After disputes within the Nauvoo community, Cabet was expelled and he went to St. Louis,
MissouriMissouri is a state in the Midwest region of the United States bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. Missouri is the 18th most populous state with a 2008 estimated population of 5,911,605. It comprises 114 counties and one independent city....
in 1855, where he died the following year. The last Icarian colony at Corning disbanded in 1898.
External links