Utopia

The transformation of utopia in 18th-century France, from a romantic ideal to a political demand during the Revolution

Until the Age of Enlightenment, utopia was a literary genre without concrete political effects. However, in France, in the decades leading up to 1789, its status gradually changed. The ideal of a community of property and labor, not yet called communism, was taken more seriously by some thinkers: first Morelly, a fierce critic of private property; then the Abbé de Mably, a radical republican and interlocutor of Rousseau; finally, Babeuf, who, from the 1780s onwards, defended the natural right to subsistence and dreamed of a more fraternal world. In the crucible of the French Revolution, “real equality” became the goal of a small group of conspirators. Together, they laid the foundations for modern socialist movements.Stéphanie Roza is a researcher in political philosophy affiliated with CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research) and the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon.