French Socialists Before Marx Pamela Pilbeam FRENCH SOCIALISTS BEFORE MARX French Socialists Before Marx Workers, Women and the Social Question in France Pamela Pilbeam © Pamela Pilbeam, 2000 This book is copyright under the Berne Convention. No reproduction without permission. All rights reserved. First published in 2000 by Acumen Acumen Publishing Limited 17 Fairfax Road Teddington TW11 9DJ www.acumenpublishing.co.uk ISBN: 1-902683-16-1 (hardcover) ISBN: 1-902683-17-X (paperback) British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Designed and typeset by Kate Williams, Abergavenny. Printed and bound by Biddles Ltd., Guildford and King’s Lynn. This book is dedicated to my husband, Stephen. Contents Preface ix 1 Plural socialism 1 2 The social question 12 3 Revolutionary inspirations 26 4 Religion and the early socialists 39 5 Socialists and education: to repulse the barbarians 54 6 The “new woman” 75 7 Association: dream worlds 107 8 Worker associations before 1848 135 9 Association: socialist hopes in the Second Republic 152 10 Association: the conservative reaction in the Second Republic 173 11 Conclusion 198 Notes 207 Bibliography 229 Index 255 vii Preface Who could imagine a socialist seamstress or doctor today giving their time to running evening literacy classes and free clinics for the poor? I was drawn to the early socialists in France because I was initially intrigued by their dream worlds, but stayed the course through admiration for their selfless inspira- tion and initiative, particularly that of the substantial number of ordinary working women. The manuscript evidence is taken in Paris mainly from the Archives Nationales, the Bibliothèque de l’Arsénal and the Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris; I also worked in a selection of departments, chiefly in the south-west and west, especially in Nantes. The Goldsmiths’ Collection, University of London provided a mine of rare books and periodicals on early socialism, particularly the Saint-Simonians and Fourierists. I am indebted to the archivists and librarians of these collections. I am very grateful to the Research Strategy Fund, Royal Holloway, Univer- sity of London, which facilitated my work in Paris and to my Head of Department, Francis Robinson, who allowed me sabbatical leave to research and write; to Patrick O’Brien and the Scouloudi Foundation, Institute of His- torical Research, University of London for an award that allowed me to un- dertake my own mini “tour de France”; to the British Academy, which financed extensive work on the valuable and virtually unused papers of the femininst socialist Ange Guépin in Nantes and the Fourier and Considérant papers in the Archives Nationales; and to the Central Research Fund, University of London which contributed to my work on the Saint-Simonian archive in the Bibliothèque de l’Arsénal. The Isobel Thornley Bequest, University of London gave generous support towards the publication of this book. Many people, undergraduate and postgraduate students and colleagues have shared my enthusiasm, refined my thinking and contributed ideas. I ix