Utopia: From the Novel to Revolution
THE TRANSFORMATION OF UTOPIA IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, FROM A ROMANTIC IDEAL TO A POLITICAL OBJECTIVE

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.
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Utopia: From the Novel to Revolution
THE TRANSFORMATION OF UTOPIA IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, FROM A ROMANTIC IDEAL TO A POLITICAL OBJECTIVE

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.
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Utopia: From the Novel to Revolution

Utopia: From the Novel to Revolution

by Stéphanie Roza
Utopia: From the Novel to Revolution

Utopia: From the Novel to Revolution

by Stéphanie Roza

Paperback

$49.95 
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Overview

THE TRANSFORMATION OF UTOPIA IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, FROM A ROMANTIC IDEAL TO A POLITICAL OBJECTIVE

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781839767654
Publisher: Verso Books
Publication date: 07/01/2025
Pages: 384
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.93(d)

About the Author

Stéphanie Roza is a researcher in political philosophy affiliated with CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research) and the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon.
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