![Claude Henri de Rouvroy](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Claude_Henri_de_Rouvroy.jpg)
Saint-Simonianism was a French political, religious and social movement of the first half of the 19th century, inspired by the ideas of
Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon
Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon (17 October 1760 – 19 May 1825), often referred to as Henri de Saint-Simon (), was a French political, economic and socialist theorist and businessman whose thought had a substantial influence on p ...
(1760–1825).
Saint-Simon's ideas, expressed largely through a succession of journals such as ''l'Industrie'' (1816), ''La politique'' (1818) and ''L'Organisateur'' (1819–20)
[Hewett, 2008] focused on the perception that growth in
industrialization
Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...
and scientific discovery would have profound changes on society. He believed that society would restructure itself by abandoning traditional ideas of temporal and spiritual power, an evolution that would lead, inevitably, to a productive society based on and benefiting from, a " ... union of men engaged in useful work"; the basis of "true equality".
Saint-Simon's writings
Saint-Simon's earliest publications, such as his ''Introduction aux travaux scientifiques du XIXe siècle (Introduction to scientific discoveries of the 19th century)'' (1803) and his ''Mémoire sur la science de l'homme (Notes on the study of man)'' (1813), (the latter of which is a eulogy to
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
), demonstrate his faith in science as a means to regenerate society. In his 1814 essay ''De la réorganisation de la société européenne (On the reorganisation of European society)'', written in collaboration with his then secretary
Augustin Thierry, Saint-Simon seems to have foreseen the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
, expecting however that
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
would take the lead in forming a continent sharing the same laws and institutions.
[Goyau (1912)]
For his last decade Saint-Simon concentrated on themes of
political economy
Political economy is the study of how Macroeconomics, economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and Economy, national economies) and Politics, political systems (e.g. law, Institution, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied ph ...
. Together with
Auguste Comte
Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte (; 19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857) was a French philosopher and writer who formulated the doctrine of positivism. He is often regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense ...
, (then only a teenager), Saint-Simon projected a society bypassing the changes of the French Revolution, in which science and industry would take the moral and temporal power of medieval
theocracy
Theocracy is a form of government in which one or more deity, deities are recognized as supreme ruling authorities, giving divine guidance to human intermediaries who manage the government's daily affairs.
Etymology
The word theocracy origina ...
.
In his last work however, ''Le Nouveau Christianisme (The New Christianity)'' (1825), Saint-Simon reverted to more traditional ideas of renewing society through
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
brotherly love. He died shortly after its publication.
The arts
In his last years and in the period after his death, Saint-Simon's ideas, which gave prominence to art as a prized aspect of work, interested numerous artists and musicians, amongst them
Hector Berlioz
In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...
,
Félicien David
Félicien-César David (13 April 1810 – 29 August 1876) was a French composer.
Biography
Félicien David was born in Cadenet, and began to study music at the age of five under his father, whose death when the boy was six left him an impoverish ...
(who wrote a number of hymns for the movement) and
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...
. For a brief period, the historian and writer
Léon Halévy
Léon Halévy (4 January 1802 – 2 September 1883) was a French civil servant, historian, and dramatist.
Early life
Born to a Jewish family in Paris, Léon was the son of the writer and chazzan Élie Halévy and the younger brother of the ...
acted as secretary to the philosopher.
The movement after Saint-Simon's death
Following Saint-Simon's death in 1825, his followers began to differ as to how to promulgate his ideas. In 1831
Barthélemy Prosper Enfantin
Barthélemy, or Barthélémy is a French name, a cognate of Bartholomew. Notable people with this name include:
Given name
* Barthélemy (explorer), French youth who accompanied the explorer de La Salle in 1687
* Barthélémy Bisengimana, Cong ...
and
Amand Bazard
Saint-Amand Bazard (18 September 179129 July 1832) was a French socialist, the founder of a secret society in France corresponding to the Carbonari of Italy.
Biography
He was born in Paris. He took part in the defence of Paris in 1815, and afte ...
purchased the newspaper ''
Le Globe
''Le Globe'' was a French newspaper, published in Paris by the Bureau du Globe between 1824 and 1832, and created with the goal of publishing Romantic creations. It was established by Pierre Leroux and the printer Alexandre Lachevardière. Afte ...
'' as the official organ for their revolutionary fraternity ''Friends of the Truth''.
Initially both men were supposed to be co-leaders naming themselves ''Supreme Fathers''. However Bazard left the group as it became increasingly ritualistic and religiously minded with Enfantin founding a community at
Ménilmontant
Ménilmontant () is a neighbourhood of Paris, situated in the city's 20th arrondissement. It is roughly defined as the area north of the Père Lachaise Cemetery, south of Parc de Belleville, and between ''Avenue Jean-Aicard'' on the west and ...
where he decried marriage as tyranny, promoted
free love
Free love is a social movement that accepts all forms of love. The movement's initial goal was to separate the state from sexual and romantic matters such as marriage, birth control, and adultery. It stated that such issues were the concern ...
, declared himself "chosen by God", and began predicting that a "female Messiah" would soon save humanity.
In 1832 the group led by charismatic Enfantin was brought to trial by the
July Monarchy
The July Monarchy (french: Monarchie de Juillet), officially the Kingdom of France (french: Royaume de France), was a liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 26 July 1830, with the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 23 F ...
on charges of public indecency specifically in regards to Enfantin's beliefs and practices associated with free love.
The group was later banned by the authorities in 1832 although it had already been suffering severe internal disputes.
Following this some of Enfantin's followers visited
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
and then
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
and influenced the creation of the
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...
in search of
Messianic revelations, and the formal Saint-Simonian movement expired.
However, others who had been associated with the group and were not followers of Enfantin, (such as
Olinde Rodrigues
Benjamin Olinde Rodrigues (6 October 1795 – 17 December 1851), more commonly known as Olinde Rodrigues, was a French banker, mathematician, and social reformer. In mathematics Rodrigues is remembered for Rodrigues' rotation formula for vectors, ...
and
Gustave d'Eichthal
Gustave Séligmann d'Eichthal (3 March 1804, Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle - 9 April 1886, Paris) was a French writer, publicist, and Hellenist.
Life
At the age of thirteen he became a convert to Roman Catholicism from Judaism, and when he left the ...
) developed Saint-Simonian notions practically and involved themselves in the development of the French economy, founding a number of leading concerns including the
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...
Company and the bank
Crédit Mobilier
The Crédit Mobilier (full name Société Générale du Crédit Mobilier, "general company for movable ollateral-backedcredit") was a French banking company created by the Pereire brothers, and one of the world’s most significant and influenti ...
.
[Leopold, 1998]
It has also been noted that Saint-Simonian ideas exerted a significant influence on new religious movements such as
Spiritualism
Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase) ...
and
Occultism
The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism an ...
since the 1850s.
[Strube, 2016] Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
considered the Saint-Simonians to be the "patriarchs of socialism."
People associated with the Saint-Simonian movement
*
Amand Bazard
Saint-Amand Bazard (18 September 179129 July 1832) was a French socialist, the founder of a secret society in France corresponding to the Carbonari of Italy.
Biography
He was born in Paris. He took part in the defence of Paris in 1815, and afte ...
(1791–1832), socialist
*
Philippe Buchez
Philippe-Joseph-Benjamin Buchez (1796–1865), more commonly called Philippe Buchez, was a French historian, sociologist, and politician. He was the founder of the newspaper ''L'Atelier'', and he served briefly, in 1848, as the president of the C ...
(1796–1865), historian, sociologist, and politician
*
Michel Chevalier
Michel Chevalier (; 13 January 1806 – 18 November 1879) was a French engineer, statesman, economist and free market liberal.
Biography
Born in Limoges, Haute-Vienne, Chevalier studied at the ''École Polytechnique'', obtaining an engineering d ...
(1806–1878), statesman, economist
*
Auguste Comte
Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte (; 19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857) was a French philosopher and writer who formulated the doctrine of positivism. He is often regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense ...
(1798–1857), first philosopher of positive science
*
Félicien David
Félicien-César David (13 April 1810 – 29 August 1876) was a French composer.
Biography
Félicien David was born in Cadenet, and began to study music at the age of five under his father, whose death when the boy was six left him an impoverish ...
(1810–1876), composer
*
Claire Demar (1799–1833), author, feminist
*
Jeanne Deroin
Jeanne Deroin (31 December 1805 – 2 April 1894) was a French socialist feminist. She spent the latter half of her life in exile in London, where she continued her organising activities.
Early life
Born in Paris, Deroin became a seamstress. In ...
(1805-1894), author, journalist, feminist, seamstress, social reformer
*
Gustave d'Eichthal
Gustave Séligmann d'Eichthal (3 March 1804, Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle - 9 April 1886, Paris) was a French writer, publicist, and Hellenist.
Life
At the age of thirteen he became a convert to Roman Catholicism from Judaism, and when he left the ...
(1804–1886), writer and publicist
*
Barthélemy Prosper Enfantin
Barthélemy, or Barthélémy is a French name, a cognate of Bartholomew. Notable people with this name include:
Given name
* Barthélemy (explorer), French youth who accompanied the explorer de La Salle in 1687
* Barthélémy Bisengimana, Cong ...
(1796–1864), social reformer
*
Simon Ganneau
Simon Ganneau (born circa 1805 in Lormes, died 14 March 1851 in Paris) was a French socialist, feminist, sculptor, and mystic.Julian Strube, ''Sozialismus, Katholizismus und Okkultismus im Frankreich des 9. Jahrhunderts: Die Genealogie der Schri ...
(1805–1851), sculptor, socialist, feminist, mystic
*
Désirée Gay (1810–1891), publisher, feminist, seamstress, social reformer
*
Henri Germain
Henri Germain (1824–1905) was a French banker and politician.
Early life
Henri Germain was born on 19 February 1824 in Lyon.Jacques-Marie VaslinHenri Germain, prudent banquier du Crédit lyonnais ''Le Monde'', August 15, 2013 His father, ...
(1824-1905), businessman and founder of
Crédit Lyonnais
The Crédit Lyonnais (, "Lyon Credit ompany) was a major French bank, created in 1863 and absorbed by former rival Crédit Agricole in 2003. Its head office was initially in Lyon but moved to Paris in 1882. In the early years of the 20th c ...
*
Floresca Guépin
Floresca Guépin (née, Leconte; 26 March 1813 – 11 November 1889) was a French feminist and teacher. She co-founded the "Société Nantaise pour l'Enseignement Professionnel des Jeunes Filles" (The Nantes Society for the Vocational Education ...
(1813-1889), feminist, teacher, school founder
*
Charles Joseph Bay, explorer and engineer
*
Suzanne Voilquin (1801–1876), author, editor, midwife, feminist
*
Rosa Bonheur
Rosa Bonheur (born Marie-Rosalie Bonheur; 16 March 1822 – 25 May 1899) was a French artist known best as a painter of animals ( animalière). She also made sculpture in a realist style. Her paintings include '' Ploughing in the Nivernais'', fi ...
(1822-1899), painter
References
Bibliography
* Butler, Eliza Marian
''The Saint-Simonian Religion in Germany; A Study of the Young German Movement'' New York: H. Fertig, 1968.
* Carlisle, Robert B. ''The Proffered Crown: Saint-Simonianism and the Doctrine of Hope'', Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1987.
* Durkheim, Emile.''Socialism and Saint-Simon (Le Socialisme)'', Ed. and with Intro by Alvin W. Gouldner. Charlotte Sattler (Translator). Yellow Springs, OH: Antioch Press, 1958.
* Gerits, Anton
Amsterdam: A. Gerits, 1986.
* Goyau, G. ''Saint-Simon and Saint-Simonism'' in the
Catholic Encyclopedia
The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...
, New York, 1912.
* Hewett, Caspar
''Henri de Saint-Simon, the Great Synthesizer'' 2008.
* Leopold, David, ''Saint-Simon, Claude-Henri de Rouvroy'' in E. Craig (ed.). ''Routledge Encyclopaedia of Philosophy'', London, 1998.
* Osama W. Abi-Mershed. ''Apostles of Modernity: Saint-Simonians and the Civilizing Mission in Algeria.'' Palo Alto: Stanford UP, 2010.
* Pankhurst, Richard K. P. ''The Saint Simonians, Mill and Carlyle: A Preface to Modern Though'', Norwood, PA: Norwood Editions, 1976.
* St-Simon,
at the Marxist Internet Archive.
* Shine, Hill.''Carlyle and the Saint-Simonians: The Concept of Historical Periodiciy'', New York: Octagon Books, 1971.
* Strube, Julian
''Socialist Religion and the Emergence of Occultism: A Genealogical Approach to Socialism and Secularization in 19th-Century France'' ''Religion'', 2016.
External links
*
*
{{Socialism
Eponymous political ideologies
Social theories
Socialism in France
19th century in France
Utopian socialism