Utopia : from the novel to revolution / Stéphanie Roza ; translated by David Broder.
| Author/creator | Roza, Stéphanie author. |
| Other author | Broder, David translator. |
| Format | Book |
| Edition | English-language edition. |
| Publication | London ; New York, New York : Verso, 2025. |
| Copyright Date | ©2025 |
| Description | viii, 370 pages ; 24 cm |
| Subjects |
| Uniform title | Comment l'utopie est devenue un programme politique: du roman à la Révolution. English |
| Contents | Introduction: Enlightenment, Utopia, Socialism? -- I: Morelly: The Many Farewells To The Novel -- The Critical Utopia of La Basiliade: Introduction to an Atypical Utopia -- The Code de la Nature and Its Constructive Utopia -- II: The Abbé De Mably’s Utopian Republic -- Des droits et des devoirs du citoyen: Utopia in Service of the Revolution -- The Doutes proposés aux philosophes économistes: Utopia in Service of Polemics -- De la législation: Or, Utopia in Service of Reform -- III: Gracchus Babeuf, A Utopian In Revolution -- Babeuf’s 1786 Draft Letter: Utopia in the Villages -- Babeuf in 1789: The Cadastre perpétuel and the ‘Preliminary Discourse’; Utopia in the Assembly -- Babeuf During the Revolution: Utopia and the Republic -- The Conspiracy of Equals: Utopia as a Programme -- Conclusion: An Anti-School of Thought -- Epilogue: A Post-Revolutionary Avatar of Morellysm |
| Abstract | "Until 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"-- Amazon website. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Language | Translated from French. |
| Issued in other form | ebook version : 9781839767661 |
| ISBN | 9781839767654 (paperback) |
| ISBN | 1839767650 (paperback) |
| ISBN | (UK ebook) |
| ISBN | (UK ebook) |
| ISBN | (US ebook) |
| ISBN | (US ebook) |
| Standard identifier# | CIPO000239437 |