Radical Ideas and Early Socialism

1. Radical Ideas and Early Socialism By Derek Siegal, Emily Ryan, and Melissa Titolo

2. Liberalism • Old tradition rejected • Principle ideas were liberty and equality • Alternative ideologies and tried to convince society to act to which they were very successful • Equality before law • Rights such as freedom of speech • Opponents favored laissez-faire • Businessmen favored the liberalism in the economy because it allowed them to do as they wish in their factories • Workers and peasants didn’t own enough property to vote

3. Nationalism • Nationalism was a radical idea which came around the years of 1815 • Nationalism had its immediate origins in the French revolution and the Napoleonic wars • Early advocates of the “national idea” argued that each people had its own genius and its own cultural unity • Nationalism in the nineteenth century mostly manifested itself in language, history and territory • New communication needs promoted the creation of a new standardized national language which encompassed the entire country population through mass education • Nationalism was utilized meant bringing citizens together with emotionally charged symbols and ceremonies, such as independence holidays and patriotic parades. • Early nationalism developed a strong sense of “we” and “they”, this was caused by the nationalists’ adding two ingredients to their influence; a sense of national mission and a sense of national superiority.

4. French Utopian Socialism • Socialism: new radical doctrine after 1815 beginning in France • Early French socialist thinkers were acutely aware that the political revolution in France, the rise of laissez faire, and the emergence of modern industry in Great Britain were transforming society. • Goals of socialism were to prevent selfish individualism and establish a new sense of community • The government should rationally organize the economy and not depend on constructive competition • Parasites: the court, the aristocracy, lawyers and churchmen • Doers: leading scientists, engineers, and industrialists • Charles Fourier wanted a socialist utopia consisting of the abolition of marriage, free unions based only upon love, and sexual freedom • The aspirations of French workers and socialists reinforced each other

5. The Birth of Marxism Socialism • Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published The Communist Manifesto- bible of socialism • Marx ridiculed people who tried to appeal to the middle class and state to help the poor • Believed one class exploited the other • The bourgeoisie- the middle class • The proletariat- the modern working class • Karl Marx predicted the proletariat (workers) would overthrow capitalists in a violent revolution. • His ideas united sociology, economics, and all human history • Marx was “the last of the classical economists,” influenced strongly by David Ricardo and his “iron law of wages.” • Marx’s thinking built on the philosophy of Hegel