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147-532: Looking Backward: 2000–1887 is a utopian time travel science fiction novel by the American journalist and writer Edward Bellamy first published in 1888. The book was translated into several languages, and in short order "sold a million copies." According to historian Daniel Immerwahr , "In the 19th-century United States, only Uncle Tom’s Cabin sold more copies in its first years" than Bellamy's book. The novel inspired several utopian communities . In

294-484: A decentralised model of self-governance , envisioning free association based on co-operative or participatory economics . Some libertarian socialists see such systems as complementary to statism , while others hold them to be an alternative to the state . Libertarian socialists tend to reject the view that political institutions such as the state represent an inherently good, or even neutral, power. Some libertarian socialists, such as Peter Kropotkin , consider

441-430: A social revolution . Libertarian socialists reject private property , as they consider capitalist property relations to be incompatible with freedom . Instead, libertarian socialism upholds individual self-ownership , as well as the collective ownership of the means of production . In the place of capitalism, libertarian socialists favour an economic system based on workers' control of production, advocating for

588-723: A "comprehensive libertarian socialist theory and practice". Libertarian socialist activism became focused on achieving practical reforms and theoretical developments centred around common "core values" such as economic democracy , economic justice and sustainable development , without building a coherent critique of capitalism. Activists from the 1970s and 1980s influenced by libertarian socialism did not advance coherent alternatives to markets and central planning, and had no reformist campaign. Eventually, Hahnel argues, they turned to traditional single-issue campaigns and abandoned their "big picture" libertarian socialist approach. These movements were somewhat successful in achieving their goals:

735-705: A "libertarian socialist alternative to the colonially established state boundaries in the Middle East." Various sources have drawn parallels between the Rojava Revolution and the Zapatista uprising of 1994 or the Spanish Revolution of 1936 , and noted the influence of libertarian socialist Murray Bookchin, specifically his concept of libertarian municipalism , on the revolution. Libertarian socialist ideas have influenced some currents of

882-528: A New Unionist leader, was one of the first British syndicalists). The Socialist League was dominated by anarchists by the 1890s. The Common Wealth Party was inspired by Christian socialism as well as libertarian socialism. Others in the tradition of the ILP and described as libertarian socialists included G. D. H. Cole (the founder of guild socialism and influenced by Morris), George Orwell , Michael Foot , Raymond Williams , and Tony Benn . Another

1029-698: A book format. This first translation, the first piece of science fiction from a Western country published in Qing dynasty China, was done in an abridged format by Timothy Richard . The novel was again serialized in China in 1898, in Zhongguo guanyin baihua bao (中國官音白話報); and in 1904, under the title Huitou kan (Looking Backward), within Xiuxiang xiaoshuo (繡像小說; Illustrated Fiction). The book remains in print in multiple editions, with one publisher alone having reissued

1176-588: A concept of "credit" cards in chapters 9, 10, 11, 13, 25, and 26, but these actually function like modern debit cards . All citizens receive an equal amount of "credit." Those with more difficult, specialized, dangerous, or unpleasant jobs work fewer hours. Bellamy also predicts both sermons and music being available in the home through cable "telephone" (already demonstrated but commercialized only in 1890 as Théâtrophone in France). Bellamy's ideas somewhat reflect classical Marxism . In chapter 19, for example, he has

1323-456: A contest which lasted for over fifty years. Libertarian socialism proved attractive to British writers such as Edward Carpenter , Oscar Wilde , and William Morris , the latter of whom developed a kind of libertarian socialism based in a strong critique of civilisation , which he aimed to overthrow and replace with what he called a "beautiful society". Morris drove the development of impossibilism , which became increasingly concerned with

1470-635: A greater "utopian socialist" movement, due to their shared characteristics. A once common characteristic is an egalitarian distribution of goods, frequently with the total abolition of money . Citizens only do work which they enjoy and which is for the common good , leaving them with ample time for the cultivation of the arts and sciences. One classic example of such a utopia appears in Edward Bellamy 's 1888 novel Looking Backward . William Morris depicts another socialist utopia in his 1890 novel News from Nowhere , written partially in response to

1617-592: A libertarian socialist is Robin Cook . American economist Robin Hahnel claimed that libertarian socialists "were by far the worst underachievers among 20th century anti-capitalists ." He contrasted libertarian socialist failings with those of social democracy , arguing that while the latter had abandoned their principles of economic democracy and justice in favour of reformism , the former had proved incapable of sustaining anti-capitalist uprisings and largely ignored

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1764-442: A new space. Utopia is not kind of a free imagination utopia is a matter of inner most urgency, you are forced to imagine it, it is the only way out, and this is what we need today." Philosopher Milan Šimečka said: ...utopism was a common type of thinking at the dawn of human civilization . We find utopian beliefs in the oldest religious imaginations, appear regularly in the neighborhood of ancient, yet pre-philosophical views on

1911-560: A number of democratic socialists , including some prominent members of the British Labour Party . The Socialist League was formed in 1885 by William Morris and others critical of the authoritarian socialism of the Social Democratic Federation . It was involved in the new unionism , the rank-and-file union militancy of the 1880s–1890s, which anticipated syndicalism in some key ways ( Tom Mann ,

2058-474: A period of turbulent development of capitalism that highlighted antagonisms of capitalist society ( Saint-Simon , Fourier , Owen , Cabet , Lamennais , Proudhon and their followers). Famous quotes from writers and characters about utopia: Utopian socialist Étienne Cabet in his utopian book The Voyage to Icaria cited the definition from the contemporary Dictionary of ethical and political sciences : Utopias and other models of government, based on

2205-525: A regimented labor force. In this he was not alone—between 1860 and 1887, no fewer than 11 such works of fiction were produced in the United States by various authors dealing fundamentally with the questions of economic and social organization. Bellamy's book, gradually planned throughout the 1880s, was completed in 1887 and taken to Boston publisher Benjamin Ticknor, who published a first edition of

2352-491: A revival during the 1960s, when it was reconstituted as part of the nascent New Left . This revival occurred largely unconsciously, as new leftists were often unaware of their libertarian socialist predecessors. The concepts of grassroots democracy , workers' control , solidarity and autonomy were thus reinvented by the new generation. They also picked up the principles of decentralisation , participatory democracy and mutual aid . These libertarian socialist themes drove

2499-459: A rigorous 50-year-long educational program to be benign oligarchs, the "philosopher-kings." Plato stressed this structure many times in statements, and in his published works, such as the Republic . The wisdom of these rulers will supposedly eliminate poverty and deprivation through fairly distributed resources, though the details on how to do this are unclear. The educational program for the rulers

2646-482: A sequel, Equality , dealing with women's rights, education, and many other issues. Bellamy wrote the sequel to elaborate and clarify many of the ideas merely touched upon in Looking Backward . The success of Looking Backward provoked a spate of sequels, parodies, satires, dystopian, and ' anti-utopian ' responses. A partial list of these follows. The result was a "battle of the books" that lasted through

2793-423: A series of recessions during the 1880s, the rise of organized labor and strikes , and the 1886 Haymarket affair and its controversial aftermath. Moreover, American capitalism's tendency towards concentration into ever larger and less competitive forms— monopolies , oligopolies , and trusts —began to make itself evident, while emigration from Europe expanded the labor pool and caused wages to stagnate. The time

2940-424: A significant current of anarchism and explicitly identified as libertarian socialist. Anarcho-syndicalist Gaston Leval explained: "We therefore foresee a Society in which all activities will be coordinated, a structure that has, at the same time, sufficient flexibility to permit the greatest possible autonomy for social life, or for the life of each enterprise, and enough cohesiveness to prevent all disorder. [...] In

3087-404: A social framework characterized by vigorous competition between alternative philosophies. The English political philosopher James Harrington (1611–1677), author of the utopian work The Commonwealth of Oceana , published in 1656, inspired English country-party republicanism (1680s to 1740s) and became influential in the design of three American colonies. His theories ultimately contributed to

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3234-539: A species to become extraordinarily cooperative and capable of creating culture . The Book of Revelation in the Christian Bible depicts an eschatological time with the defeat of Satan , of Evil and of Sin . The main difference compared to the Old Testament promises is that such a defeat also has an ontological value: "Then I saw 'a new heaven and a new earth ,' for the first heaven and

3381-489: A system of cooperative economics , or common ownership . Libertarian socialists tend to see the working class as agents of social revolution , reject representative democracy and electoralism , and advocate for self-organisation and direct action as means to engage in class conflict . Libertarian socialism has a grassroots and direct democratic approach to socialism , rejecting parliamentarism and bureaucracy respectively. Libertarian socialists advocate

3528-409: A system of cooperative economics , or common ownership . They also advocate for workers' self-management , as they consider workers able to cooperate productively without supervisors , whether appointed by employers or by the state. They also tend to see free trade as inevitably resulting in the redistribution of income and wealth from workers to their corporate employers. They advocate for

3675-455: A time, even the American anarcho-capitalist theorist Murray Rothbard attempted to make common cause with libertarian socialists, but later shifted away from socialism and towards right-wing populism . Many libertarian socialists of this period were particularly influenced by the analysis of Cornelius Castoriadis and his group Socialisme ou Barbarie . This new generation included the non-vanguardist Marxist organisation Facing Reality ,

3822-520: A totally changed world: It is the year 2000 , and while he was sleeping, the United States has been transformed into a socialist utopia. The remainder of the book outlines Bellamy's thoughts about improving the future. The major themes include problems associated with capitalism , a proposed socialist solution of a nationalization of all industry, and the use of an "industrial army" to organize production and distribution, as well as how to ensure free cultural production under such conditions. The young man

3969-529: A utopia, dystopia is a concept which surpassed utopia in popularity in the fictional literature from the 1950s onwards, chiefly because of the impact of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four . In 1876, writer Charles Renouvier published a novel called Uchronia ( French Uchronie ). The neologism , using chronos instead of topos , has since been used to refer to non-existent idealized times in fiction, such as Philip Roth 's The Plot Against America (2004) , and Philip K. Dick 's The Man in

4116-563: A well-organised society, all of these things must be systematically accomplished by means of parallel federations, vertically united at the highest levels, constituting one vast organism in which all economic functions will be performed in solidarity with all others and that will permanently preserve the necessary cohesion". Significant thinkers in the anarchist tradition who are described as libertarian socialist include Colin Ward . A broad scope of economic and political philosophies that draw on

4263-555: Is Held in Common' Tianxia weigong( Chinese : 天下爲公 ; pinyin : Tiānxià wèi gōng ) influenced modern Chinese reformers and revolutionaries, such as Kang Youwei . It is said, once Maitreya is reborn into the future kingdom of Ketumati , a utopian age will commence. The city is described in Buddhism as a domain filled with palaces made of gems and surrounded by Kalpavriksha trees producing goods. During its years, none of

4410-470: Is awoken to a guide, Doctor Leete, who shows him around and explains all the advances of this new age, including drastically reduced working hours for people performing menial jobs and almost instantaneous, internet-like delivery of goods. Everyone retires with full benefits at age 45, and may eat in any of the public kitchens (realized as factory-kitchens in the 1920s–30s in the USSR). The productive capacity of

4557-465: Is bolstered by the title of the book and nation and its apparent confusion between the Greek for "no place" and "good place": "utopia" is a compound of the syllable ou-, meaning "no" and topos, meaning place. But the homophonic prefix eu-, meaning "good," also resonates in the word, with the implication that the perfectly "good place" is really "no place." In many cultures, societies, and religions, there

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4704-555: Is essential for the improvement of the human condition. But if used wrongly, it becomes dangerous. Utopia has an inherent contradictory nature here. The opposite of a utopia is a dystopia . Utopian and dystopian fiction has become a popular literary category. Despite being common parlance for something imaginary, utopianism inspired and was inspired by some reality-based fields and concepts such as architecture , file sharing , social networks , universal basic income , communes , open borders and even pirate bases . The word utopia

4851-484: Is former Labour Party minister Peter Hain , who has written in support of libertarian socialism, identifying an axis involving a "bottom-up vision of socialism, with anarchists at the revolutionary end and democratic socialists [such as himself] at its reformist end" as opposed to the axis of state socialism with Marxist–Leninists at the revolutionary end and social democrats at the reformist end. Another recent mainstream Labour politician who has been described as

4998-519: Is not realized or feasible, but has the ideal that is somewhere beyond the horizon, a lighthouse to which it may seek to approach if it considers that ideal socially valid and generally accepted." Chronologically, the first recorded Utopian proposal is Plato 's Republic . Part conversation, part fictional depiction and part policy proposal, Republic would categorize citizens into a rigid class structure of "golden," "silver," "bronze" and "iron" socioeconomic classes. The golden citizens are trained in

5145-450: Is some myth or memory of a distant past when humankind lived in a primitive and simple state but at the same time one of perfect happiness and fulfillment. In those days, the various myths tell us, there was an instinctive harmony between humanity and nature. People's needs were few and their desires limited. Both were easily satisfied by the abundance provided by nature. Accordingly, there were no motives whatsoever for war or oppression. Nor

5292-447: Is the central notion of the proposal. It has few laws, no lawyers and rarely sends its citizens to war but hires mercenaries from among its war-prone neighbors. These mercenaries were deliberately sent into dangerous situations in the hope that the more warlike populations of all surrounding countries will be weeded out, leaving peaceful peoples to remain. During the 16th century, Thomas More's book Utopia proposed an ideal society of

5439-399: Is this old notion of imagining this ideal society we know will never be realized, the other is the capitalist utopia in the sense of new perverse desire that you are not only allowed but even solicited to realize. The true utopia is when the situation is so without issue, without the way to resolve it within the coordinates of the possible that out of the pure urge of survival you have to invent

5586-536: The 1917 Revolution , in which libertarian socialists played a leading role, the Bolsheviks changed tack and adopted elements of the libertarian socialist programme in their appeals to the workers. But by 1919, the new Bolshevik government had come to view the libertarian socialists as a threat to their power and moved to eliminate their influence. Libertarian socialist organisations were banned and many of their members were arrested, deported to Siberia or executed by

5733-465: The Cheka . The Revolutions of 1917–1923 ended in defeat for the libertarian socialists, with either the social democrats, the Bolsheviks or nationalists rising to power. Libertarian socialists responded by reevaluating their positions, emphasising mass organisation over intellectual vanguardism and revolutionary spontaneity over substitutionism . They also came to conceive the " dictatorship of

5880-774: The Knights of Labor and from the immediate vicinity of Chicago, workers at the Pullman Palace Car Company went on strike in June 1894. This came to be known as the Pullman Strike . The book had a specific and intense reception in Wilhelminian Germany including various parodies and sequels, from Eduard Loewenthal , Ernst Müller and Philipp Wasserburg , Konrad Wilbrandt and Richard Michaelis . The Russian translation of Looking Backward

6027-456: The New Left , new social movements and contemporary anarchism , have been listed among the other wings of libertarian socialism. The currents of classical anarchism that developed in the 19th century were committed to autonomy and freedom, decentralization, opposing hierarchy, and opposing the vanguardism of authoritarian socialism . In the 20th century, social anarchism emerged as

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6174-517: The Russian Revolution of 1917 and particularly during the Spanish Revolution of 1936 . Its defeat during these revolutions led to its brief decline, before its principles were resurrected by the New Left and new social movements of the late 20th century. While its key principles of decentralisation , workers' control and mutual aid are generally shared across the many schools of libertarian socialism, differences have emerged over

6321-861: The Shakers , who originated in England in the 18th century and arrived in America in 1774. A number of religious utopian societies from Europe came to the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries, including the Society of the Woman in the Wilderness (led by Johannes Kelpius (1667–1708), the Ephrata Cloister (established in 1732) and the Harmony Society , among others. The Harmony Society

6468-562: The Socialist Party of Great Britain , Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Korsch Anton Pannekoek , Roland Holst , Hermann Gorter , Sylvia Pankhurst , Antonio Gramsci , Grego Lukacs , Socialisme ou Barbarie, Henri Simon , Echanges et Mouvements and Paul Mattick as significant Marxian libertarian socialists. There was a strong left-libertarian current in the British labour movement and the term "libertarian socialist" has been applied to

6615-529: The Spanish Regional Federation of the IWA , debated and refined proposals for the construction of a libertarian socialist society. Over several decades, resolutions from these congresses formed the basis of a specific program on a range of issues, from the structure of communes and the post-revolutionary economy to libertarian cultural and artistic initiatives. These proposals were published in

6762-658: The anti-austerity and new municipalist movements, such as Ada Colau 's Barcelona en Comú party, in which they ally with democratic socialists . In Chile , there have been several libertarian socialist movements active since the 2010s in groups including Libertarian Left and the Broad Front (FA). Gabriel Boric founded Social Convergence in 2018, bringing together the Autonomist Movement , Libertarian Left and other libertarian socialist groups. Boric, who describes himself as libertarian socialist,

6909-459: The anti-globalization movement . In this period, many librertarian socialists, such as Murray Bookchin, Cornelius Castoriadis, Andre Gorz , Ivan Illich , E.P. Thompson and Raymond Williams , were committed to " in rethinking what socialism might come to mean in an age of ecological limit". According to Robin Hahnel, new social movements continued the New Left's tendency of failing to develop

7056-659: The authoritarian personality were also rediscovered by the New Left, who developed his programme for individual self-governance into a libertarian system of education used by the Summerhill School . Drawing on the Freudo-Marxist conception of civilisation as "organised domination", Herbert Marcuse developed a critique of alienation in modern Western societies, concluding that creativity and political dissent had been undermined by social repression . Meanwhile, Lewis Mumford published denunciations of

7203-521: The bureaucratisation and moderation of the socialist movement, leading to the establishment of the Socialist Party of Great Britain . By the early 20th century, libertarian socialists had gained a leading influence over the left-wing in the Netherlands , France and Italy and went on to play major roles in the Mexican and Russian Revolutions . In India, the libertarian socialist tradition

7350-488: The class reductionism prevalent in traditional forms of libertarian socialism, proving intersectional oppressions other than class also demanded attention. Through the new social movements, libertarian socialism developed an awareness of different aspects of oppression, beyond class analysis. Libertarian socialism again received a revival of interest in the wake of the fall of communism and concurrent rise of neoliberalism . It proved particularly attractive to people from

7497-529: The common ownership of the mir . Their agitation for land reform in the Russian countryside culminated with the establishment of rural soviets during the 1905 Revolution . Anarchists also organised among the urban proletariat , forming clandestine factory committees that proved more attractive to revolution-minded workers than the more reformist trade unions favoured by the Bolsheviks . During

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7644-458: The empowerment of individuals to control their own lives and encourage them to voluntarily cooperate with each other, rather than allow themselves to be controlled by a state. Libertarian socialists therefore uphold civil liberties such as freedom of choice , freedom of expression and freedom of thought . In contrast to authoritarian forms of socialism , libertarian socialism rejects state ownership and centralisation . Instead it upholds

7791-673: The garden city movement in England, and also influenced the design of the Bradbury Building in Los Angeles . During the Great Strikes of 1877 , Eugene V. Debs argued that there was no essential necessity for the conflict between capital and labor. Debs was influenced by Bellamy's book to turn to a more socialist direction. He soon helped to form the American Railway Union . With supporters from

7938-488: The idyllic state of affairs they describe is not irretrievably and irrevocably lost to mankind, that it can be regained in some way or other. One way might be a quest for an "earthly paradise" – a place like Shangri-La , hidden in the Tibetan mountains and described by James Hilton in his utopian novel Lost Horizon (1933). Christopher Columbus followed directly in this tradition in his belief that he had found

8085-558: The military-industrial complex and Paul Goodman advocated for decentralisation. In the process, the new generation of Marxists gravitated towards libertarian tendencies, sometimes closely resembling anarchism. Following on from Marcuse, Daniel Cohn-Bendit , E. P. Thompson , Raymond Williams and Stuart Hall all adopted forms of "libertarian Marxism", opposed to the bureaucracy and parliamentarism of statist tendencies. A specific and explicit libertarian socialist tendency also began to emerge. While some more libertarian Marxists adopted

8232-582: The state and capitalism . With its roots in the Age of Enlightenment , libertarian socialism was first constituted as a tendency by the anti-authoritarian faction of the International Workingmen's Association (IWA), during their conflict with the Marxist faction . Libertarian socialism quickly spread throughout Europe and the American continent, reaching its height during the early stages of

8379-548: The 'Associationism' of Albert Brisbane , whom Bellamy had met in the 1870s. On publication, Looking Backward was praised by both the American Federation of Labor and the Knights of Labor . Many members of the Knights read Looking Backward and also joined Bellamy's Nationalist clubs. Looking Backward was also praised by Daniel De Leon , Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and Upton Sinclair . In 1897, Bellamy wrote

8526-567: The 15th century. The Levante , where collective self-management of irrigation was commonplace, became the hotbed of anarchist collectivisation. Building on this traditional collectivism , from 1876, the Spanish libertarian socialist movement grew through sustained agitation and the establishment of alternative institutions that culminated in the Spanish Revolution. During this period, a series of workers' congresses, first convoked by

8673-795: The British libertarian socialist group Solidarity , and the Australian councilists of the Self-Management Group. Some of this new generation of libertarian socialists also joined the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), swelling the old union's numbers, organising agricultural workers and launching a new journal, The Rebel Worker . This libertarian socialist milieu, with their criticisms of democratic centralism and trade unionism , and their advocacy of workers' self-management and council democracy , went on to inspire

8820-588: The French situationists and Italian autonomists . Of the figures in the New Left, the American linguist Noam Chomsky became the most prominent spokesperson for libertarian socialism. Inspired by the humanism of Bertrand Russell , the individualism of Wilhelm von Humboldt and the syndicalism of Rudolf Rocker , Chomsky championed a libertarian socialism that upheld individual liberty and self-ownership . Chomsky has been outspoken advocate of anti-authoritarianism , opposing limits on individual freedoms by

8967-655: The Garden of Eden when, towards the end of the 15th century, he first encountered the New World and its indigenous inhabitants. The Peach Blossom Spring ( Chinese : 桃花源 ; pinyin : Táohuāyuán ), a prose piece written by the Chinese poet Tao Yuanming , describes a utopian place. The narrative goes that a fisherman from Wuling sailed upstream a river and came across a beautiful blossoming peach grove and lush green fields covered with blossom petals. Entranced by

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9114-617: The Greek historian and biographer of the 1st century, dealt with the blissful and mythic past of humanity. From Sir Philip Sidney 's prose romance The Old Arcadia (1580), originally a region in the Peloponnesus , Arcadia became a synonym for any rural area that serves as a pastoral setting, a locus amoenus ("delightful place"). The Biblical Garden of Eden as depicted in the Old Testament Bible 's Book of Genesis 2 ( Authorized Version of 1611 ): And

9261-580: The High Castle (1962) . According to the Philosophical Dictionary , proto-utopian ideas begin as early as the period of ancient Greece and Rome, medieval heretics , peasant revolts and establish themselves in the period of the early capitalism, reformation and Renaissance ( Hus , Müntzer , More , Campanella ), democratic revolutions ( Meslier , Morelly , Mably , Winstanley , later Babeufists , Blanquists ,) and in

9408-480: The Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. [...] And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; [...] And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs and closed up

9555-450: The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil . [...] And the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And

9702-559: The Mexican state, in 1994, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) rose up against the government, enabling the formation of a self-governing autonomous territory in the Mexican state of Chiapas . The Zapatistas have roundly rejected political sectarianism and ideological doctrine , including the state socialist model of seizing state power, with spokesman Subcomandante Marcos famously declaring "I shit on all

9849-432: The New Left failed to form a coherent ideological program or establish lasting support to carry forward the momentum of the late 1960s, resulting in many dropping out of activism altogether. A minority from the New Left continued their radical activism within the new social movements of the 1970s and 1980s, becoming involved in second-wave feminism , the gay liberation movement , environmental movement and eventually

9996-441: The United States alone, over 162 "Bellamy Clubs" sprang up to discuss and propagate the book's ideas. According to Erich Fromm , "It is one of the few books ever published that created almost immediately on its appearance a political mass movement." Looking Backward influenced many intellectuals, and appears by title in many socialist writings of the day. Owing to its commitment to the nationalization of private property and

10143-475: The United States is nationally owned, and the goods of society are equally distributed to its citizens. A considerable portion of the book is dialogue between Leete and West wherein West expresses his confusion about how the future society works and Leete explains the answers using various methods, such as metaphors or direct comparisons with 19th-century society. Although Bellamy's novel did not discuss technology or

10290-442: The absence of death and suffering ; changes in human nature and the human condition . Technology has affected the way humans have lived to such an extent that normal functions, like sleep, eating or even reproduction, have been replaced by artificial means. Other examples include a society where humans have struck a balance with technology and it is merely used to enhance the human living condition (e.g. Star Trek ). In place of

10437-647: The anarchist-controlled areas of the Spanish Republic, and the anarchist militias displayed the strongest military discipline, liberals and Communists alike blamed the " sectarian " libertarian socialists for the defeat of the Republic in the Spanish Civil War . These charges have been disputed by contemporary libertarian socialists, such as Robin Hahnel and Noam Chomsky , who have accused such claims of lacking substantial evidence. Following

10584-941: The anti-authoritarian aspects of Marxism have been described as "Libertarian Marxism", a tendency which emphasises autonomy , federalism and direct democracy . Wayne Price identified it most closely with the tendency of autonomist Marxism and identified libertarian characteristics within council communism , the Johnson–Forest Tendency , the Socialisme ou Barbarie group and the Situationist International , contrasting them with orthodox Marxism , social democracy , and Marxism–Leninism . Michael Löwy and Olivier Besancenot have identified Rosa Luxemburg , Walter Benjamin , André Breton and Daniel Guérin as prominent figures of libertarian Marxism. Ojeili identifies William Morris , Daniel De Leon ,

10731-511: The basis for the new economy. According to Gaston Leval , the CNT established an agrarian federation in the Levante that encompassed 78% of Spain's most arable land . The regional federation was populated by 1,650,000 people, 40% of whom lived on the region's 900 agrarian collectives, which were self-organised by peasant unions. Although industrial and agricultural production was at its highest in

10878-504: The beauty, he continued upstream and stumbled onto a small grotto when he reached the end of the river. Though narrow at first, he was able to squeeze through the passage and discovered an ethereal utopia, where the people led an ideal existence in harmony with nature. He saw a vast expanse of fertile lands, clear ponds, mulberry trees, bamboo groves and the like with a community of people of all ages and houses in neat rows. The people explained that their ancestors escaped to this place during

11025-506: The book. Certain "slight emendations" were made to the text by Bellamy for this second edition, released by Houghton Mifflin in September 1889. In its second release, Bellamy's futuristic novel met with enormous popular success, with more than 400,000 copies sold in the United States alone by the time Bellamy's follow-up novel, Equality, was published in 1897. Sales topped 532,000 in the US by

11172-404: The causes and meaning of natural events, the purpose of creation, the path of good and evil, happiness and misfortune, fairy tales and legends later inspired by poetry and philosophy ... the underlying motives on which utopian literature is built are as old as the entire historical epoch of human history. ” Philosopher Richard Stahel said: ...every social organization relies on something that

11319-868: The centennial year of the novel's publication. It was released as a DVD titled The Musical Telephone . Utopia Hypothetical utopias focus on, among other things, equality in categories such as economics , government and justice , with the method and structure of proposed implementation varying according to ideology. Lyman Tower Sargent argues that the nature of a utopia is inherently contradictory because societies are not homogeneous and have desires which conflict and therefore cannot simultaneously be satisfied. To quote: There are socialist, capitalist, monarchical, democratic, anarchist, ecological, feminist, patriarchal, egalitarian, hierarchical, racist, left-wing, right-wing, reformist, free love, nuclear family, extended family, gay, lesbian and many more utopias [ Naturism , Nude Christians , ...] Utopianism, some argue,

11466-502: The civil unrest of the Qin dynasty and they themselves had not left since or had contact with anyone from the outside. They had not even heard of the later dynasties of bygone times or the then-current Jin dynasty . In the story, the community was secluded and unaffected by the troubles of the outside world. The sense of timelessness was predominant in the story as a perfect utopian community remains unchanged, that is, it had no decline nor

11613-471: The defeat of the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War , libertarian socialism fell into decline. Left-wing politics throughout the world came to be dominated either by social democracy or Marxism-Leninism , which attained power in a number of countries and thus had the means to support their ideological allies. In contrast, Hahnel argues, libertarian socialists were not able to gain influence within

11760-431: The desire to avoid use of the term "socialism," this political movement came to be known as Nationalism (not to be confused with the political ideology of nationalism ). Bellamy's novel tells the story of a young American man named Julian West who, at the end of the 19th century, falls into a deep, hypnosis -induced sleep and wakes up 113 years later. He finds himself in the same location ( Boston, Massachusetts ), but in

11907-532: The development of such a utopia. In his book Deep Utopia: Life and Meaning in a Solved World , philosopher Nick Bostrom explores what to do in a "solved world", assuming that human civilization safely builds machine superintelligence and manages to solve its political, coordination and fairness problems. He outlines some technologies considered physically possible at technological maturity, such as cognitive enhancement , reversal of aging , self-replicating spacecrafts , arbitrary sensory inputs (taste, sound...), or

12054-477: The early-19th century also centred on economic considerations, but with a view to preserving class distinctions; Wakefield influenced several colonies founded in New Zealand and Australia in the 1830s, 1840s and 1850s. In 1905, H. G. Wells published A Modern Utopia , which was widely read and admired and provoked much discussion. Also consider Eric Frank Russell 's book The Great Explosion (1963),

12201-536: The economy in detail, commentators frequently compare Looking Backward with actual economic and technological developments. For example, Julian West is taken to a store which (with its descriptions of cutting out the middleman to cut down on waste in a similar way to the consumers' cooperatives of his own day based on the Rochdale Principles of 1844) somewhat resembles a modern warehouse club like BJ's, Costco, or Sam's Club. He additionally introduces

12348-777: The elimination of social and economic inequality through the coercive expropriation of property from the wealthy. The roots of libertarian socialism extend back to the classical radicalism of the early modern period , claiming the English Levellers and the French Encyclopédistes as their intellectual forerunners, and admiring figures of the Age of Enlightenment such as Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine . According to Mikhail Bakunin and Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis , while authoritarian socialism had its origins in Germany , libertarian socialism

12495-557: The first biography of Bellamy. Looking Backward influenced the novel Future of a New China by Liang Qichao . Despite never mentioning the book by name in any of his works, Looking Backward postulated a socialist-fueled utopia that "confounded" Orwell, and his Nineteen Eighty-Four can be seen as a dystopian counterpoint to the utopian genre, of which Looking Backward was a progenitor. Orwell wrote of Oscar Wilde 's The Soul of Man Under Socialism that "these optimistic forecasts make rather painful reading." Looking Backward

12642-408: The first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea...'He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away" and no longer just gnosiological ( Isaiah : "See, I will create/new heavens and a new earth./The former things will not be remembered,/nor will they come to mind". Narrow interpretation of

12789-635: The flesh instead thereof and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman and brought her unto the man. According to the exegesis that the biblical theologian Herbert Haag proposes in the book Is original sin in Scripture? , published soon after the Second Vatican Council , Genesis 2:25 would indicate that Adam and Eve were created from the beginning naked of the divine grace , an originary grace that, then, they would never have had and even less would have lost due to

12936-796: The former Eastern Bloc , who saw it as an alternative both to western capitalism and Marxism-Leninism. Since the end of the Cold War , there have been two major experiments in libertarian socialism: the Zapatista uprising in Mexico and the Rojava Revolution in Syria . In reaction against the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the privatisation of indigenous lands by

13083-479: The growth of the New Left, which by this point was disillusioned by the mainstream social democratic and Marxist-Leninist political groupings, due to the capitalistic tendencies of the former and the rigid authoritarianism of the latter. Sociologist C. Wright Mills , who displayed strong libertarian socialist tendencies in his appeals to the New Left, reformulated Marxism for the modern age in his work on The Power Elite . Wilhelm Reich 's Freudo-Marxist theses on

13230-549: The idealistic principles of the American Founders. The colonies of Carolina (founded in 1670), Pennsylvania (founded in 1681), and Georgia (founded in 1733) were the only three English colonies in America that were planned as utopian societies with an integrated physical, economic and social design. At the heart of the plan for Georgia was a concept of "agrarian equality" in which land was allocated equally and additional land acquisition through purchase or inheritance

13377-518: The importance of political and economic reform . Hahnel consequently suggested that, in the 21st century, libertarian socialists should work together with other anti-capitalist social movements, organize for reform without abandoning anti-capitalist principles and strive to build grassroots institutions of self-management , even if those projects are "imperfect". While most libertarian socialists consider it necessary to combat both economic and political power in tandem, regarding each as fundamental to

13524-550: The inhabitants of Jambudvipa will need to take part in cultivation and hunger will no longer exist. In the 21st century, discussions around utopia for some authors include post-scarcity economics , late capitalism , and universal basic income ; for example, the "human capitalism" utopia envisioned in Utopia for Realists ( Rutger Bregman 2016) includes a universal basic income and a 15-hour workweek , along with open borders . Scandinavian nations , which as of 2019 ranked at

13671-562: The labour movement. At a time when reformist trade unions were consistently winning concessions, the libertarian socialists' anti-reformist message gained little traction. Their platform of workers' self-management also failed to appeal to industrial workers. Until the 1960s, libertarian socialists were limited mostly to making critiques of authoritarian socialism and capitalism , although Hahnel asserts that these arguments were largely overshadowed by those from neoconservatives and Marxists respectively. Libertarian socialist themes received

13818-478: The last section of which details an economic and social utopia. This forms the first mention of the idea of Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS). During the " Khrushchev Thaw " period, the Soviet writer Ivan Efremov produced the science-fiction utopia Andromeda (1957) in which a major cultural thaw took place: humanity communicates with a galaxy-wide Great Circle and develops its technology and culture within

13965-699: The longest-running financially successful communes in American history. The Oneida Community , founded by John Humphrey Noyes in Oneida, New York , was a utopian religious commune that lasted from 1848 to 1881. Although this utopian experiment has become better known today for its manufacture of Oneida silverware, it was one of the longest-running communes in American history. The Amana Colonies were communal settlements in Iowa , started by radical German pietists , which lasted from 1855 to 1932. The Amana Corporation , manufacturer of refrigerators and household appliances,

14112-747: The majority of the secular communes failed within 8 years. Sosis cites anthropologist Roy Rappaport in arguing that rituals and laws are more effective when sacralized . Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt cites Sosis's research in his 2012 book The Righteous Mind as the best evidence that religion is an adaptive solution to the free-rider problem by enabling cooperation without kinship . Evolutionary medicine researcher Randolph M. Nesse and theoretical biologist Mary Jane West-Eberhard have argued instead that because humans with altruistic tendencies are preferred as social partners they receive fitness advantages by social selection , with Nesse arguing further that social selection enabled humans as

14259-646: The middle of 1939. The book gained an extensive readership in Great Britain , as well, with more than 235,000 copies sold there between its first release in 1890 and 1935. The Bellamy Library of Fact and Fiction , by William Reeves, a radical London publisher, printer and bookseller was a systematic effort to organize this literature. The Bellamy Library codified series of texts designed to make political works, defined by their radical content and popular appeal, both intellectually and financially accessible to working-class activists and lower- middle-class radicals. It

14406-410: The movements for gay and women's rights changed societal outlook on gender oppression ; the anti-racist movement proved it necessary to tackle the social aspects of racialisation ; the anti-imperialist movement reconceived of anti-imperialism outside of economic terms; and the environmentalist movement launched a wave of ecological defense and restoration. Together, Hahnel argues, they broke from

14553-585: The myth does not take place towards the remote past but either towards the future or towards distant and fictional places, imagining that at some time in the future, at some point in space, or beyond death, there must exist the possibility of living happily. In the United States and Europe, during the Second Great Awakening (ca. 1790–1840) and thereafter, many radical religious groups formed utopian societies in which faith could govern all aspects of members' lives. These utopian societies included

14700-565: The mythological tradition (the poem Works and Days ), explained that, prior to the present era , there were four other progressively less perfect ones, the oldest of which was the Golden Age . Perhaps the oldest Utopia of which we know, as pointed out many years ago by Moses Finley , is Homer 's Scheria , island of the Phaeacians . A mythical place, often equated with classical Corcyra , (modern Corfu / Kerkyra ), where Odysseus

14847-501: The need to improve. Eventually, the Chinese term Peach Blossom Spring came to be synonymous for the concept of utopia. Datong ( Chinese : 大同 ; pinyin : dàtóng ) is a traditional Chinese Utopia. The main description of it is found in the Chinese Classic of Rites , in the chapter called "Li Yun"( Chinese : 禮運 ; pinyin : Lǐ yùn ). Later, Datong and its ideal of 'The World Belongs to Everyone/The World

14994-428: The new legal system explained. Most civil suits have ended in socialism, while crime has become a medical issue. The idea of atavism , then current, is employed to explain crimes not related to inequality (which Bellamy thinks will vanish with socialism). Remaining criminals are medically treated. One professional judge presides, appointing two colleagues to state the prosecution and defense cases. If all do not agree on

15141-625: The new social order. It is considered by local critics to be the first Bulgarian utopian work. The book also influenced activists in Britain. Scientist Alfred Russel Wallace credited Looking Backward for his conversion to socialism. Politician Alfred Salter cited Looking Backward as an influence on his political thought. William Morris 's 1890 utopia News from Nowhere was partly written in reaction to Bellamy's utopia, which Morris did not find congenial. Bellamy's descriptions of utopian urban planning influenced Ebenezer Howard to found

15288-714: The novel in January 1888. Initial sales of the book were modest and uninspiring, but the book did find a readership in the Boston area, including enthusiastic reviews by future Bellamyites Cyrus Field Willard of the Boston Globe and Sylvester Baxter of the Boston Herald. Shortly after publication, Ticknor's publishing enterprise, Ticknor and Company, was purchased by the larger Boston publisher, Houghton, Mifflin & Co. , and new publishing plates were created for

15435-478: The pages of widely distributed libertarian socialist periodicals, such as Solidaridad Obrera and Tierra y Libertad , which each circulated tens of thousands of copies. By the outbreak of the revolution, the anarcho-syndicalist Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) enjoyed widespread popularity, counting 1.5 million members within its ranks. During the revolution, the means of production were brought under workers' control and worker cooperatives formed

15582-421: The people that tolerates it." Marxists responded to this by insisting on the eventual " withering away of the state ", in which society would transition from dictatorship to anarchy , in an apparent attempt to synthesise authoritarian and libertarian forms of socialism. This put libertarian socialists into direct competition with social democrats and communists for influence over left-wing politics , in

15729-539: The precise control of motivation, mood, well-being and personality. Libertarian socialist Libertarian socialism is an anti-authoritarian and anti-capitalist political current that emphasises self-governance and workers' self-management . It is contrasted from other forms of socialism by its rejection of state ownership and from other forms of libertarianism by its rejection of private property . Broadly defined, it includes schools of both anarchism and Marxism , as well as other tendencies that oppose

15876-885: The proletariat " as a form of class power, rather than as the dictatorship of a political party. Many Marxists of the period were attracted to this position, including Rosa Luxemburg in Germany, Antonie Pannekoek in the Netherlands, Sylvia Pankhurst in Britain, György Lukács in Hungary and Antonio Gramsci in Italy. Libertarian socialism reached its apex of popularity with the Spanish Revolution of 1936 , during which libertarian socialists led "the largest and most successful revolution against capitalism to ever take place in any industrial economy ". In Spain, traditional forms of self-management and common ownership dated back to

16023-569: The public good, may be inconceivable because of the disordered human passions which, under the wrong governments, seek to highlight the poorly conceived or selfish interest of the community. But even though we find it impossible, they are ridiculous to sinful people whose sense of self-destruction prevents them from believing. Marx and Engels used the word "utopia" to denote unscientific social theories. Philosopher Slavoj Žižek told about utopia: Which means that we should reinvent utopia but in what sense. There are two false meanings of utopia one

16170-424: The questions of revolutionary spontaneity , reformism , and whether to prioritise the abolition of the state or of capitalism. Libertarian socialism strives for a free and equal society, aiming to transform work and everyday life . Broadly defined, libertarian socialism encapsulates any political ideology that favours workers' control of the means of production and the replacement of capitalism with

16317-572: The realities of Bulgarian social order. The resulting work, titled The Present as Seen by Our Descendants And a Glimpse at the Progress of the Future ("Настоящето, разгледано от потомството ни и надничане в напредъка на бъдещето"), generally followed the same plot. The events in Yovchev's version take place in an environmentally friendly Sofia and describe the country's unique path of adapting to

16464-597: The religion-based Twelve Tribes , which started in the United States in 1972. Since its inception, it has grown into many groups around the world. Similarly, a commune called Brook Farm established itself in 1841. Founded by Charles Fourier's visions of Utopia, they attempted to recreate his idea of a central building in society called the Phalanx. Unfortunately, this commune could not sustain itself and failed after only six years of operation. They wanted to stay open for longer, but they could not afford it. Their goal, however,

16611-440: The rest of the 19th century and into the 20th. The back-and-forth nature of the debate is illustrated by the subtitle of Geissler's 1891 Looking Beyond , which is "A Sequel to 'Looking Backward' by Edward Bellamy and an Answer to 'Looking Forward' by Richard Michaelis". The book was translated into Bulgarian in 1892. Bellamy personally approved a request by Bulgarian author Iliya Yovchev to make an "adapted translation" based on

16758-640: The revolutionary vanguards of this planet." As such, they have commonly been characterised as libertarian socialist, or inspired by libertarian socialism. They have in turn become a source of inspiration for libertarian socialists, including the autonomist Marxists Harry Cleaver and John Holloway , as well as some anarchists. In 2012, the Rojava Revolution established the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES; or "Rojava") to put "libertarian socialist ideas ... into practice", and whose cantons present themselves as

16905-474: The same name. Readers, including Utopian socialists, have chosen to accept this imaginary society as the realistic blueprint for a working nation, while others have postulated that Thomas More intended nothing of the sort. It is believed that More's Utopia functions only on the level of a satire, a work intended to reveal more about the England of his time than about an idealistic society. This interpretation

17052-492: The similarity of the word to eutopia , meaning "good place", from Greek : εὖ ("good" or "well") and τόπος ("place"), which ostensibly would be the more appropriate term for the concept in modern English. The pronunciations of eutopia and utopia in English are identical , which may have given rise to the change in meaning. Dystopia , a term meaning "bad place" coined in 1868, draws on this latter meaning. The opposite of

17199-466: The state to be an inherent instrument of landlordism and capitalism, therefore opposing the state with equal intensity as they oppose capitalism. Libertarian socialism views corporate power as an institutional problem, rather than as a result of the influence of certain immoral individuals . It thus opposes capitalism , which it sees as an economic system that upholds greed , the exploitation of labour and coercion , and calls for its overthrow in

17346-493: The state. He has also focused much of his libertarian socialist critique on mass media in the United States , due to its role in the military-industrial complex. While most sections of the New Left expressed a form of libertarian socialism, others were instead being inspired by the Cuban and Chinese Communist Revolutions to embrace forms of authoritarian socialism such as Maoism–Third Worldism . As such, according to Hahnel,

17493-412: The static perfection of a utopia, libertarian transhumanists envision an " extropia ", an open, evolving society allowing individuals and voluntary groupings to form the institutions and social forms they prefer. Mariah Utsawa presented a theoretical basis for technological utopianism and set out to develop a variety of technologies ranging from maps to designs for cars and houses which might lead to

17640-533: The subject of several poems, one of which, an early translation of a 13th-century French work, is given in George Ellis' Specimens of Early English Poets . In this, "the houses were made of barley sugar and cakes, the streets were paved with pastry and the shops supplied goods for nothing." London has been so called (see Cockney ) but Boileau applies the same to Paris. Schlaraffenland is an analogous German tradition. All these myths also express some hope that

17787-489: The subsequent events narrated. On the other hand, while supporting a continuity in the Bible about the absence of preternatural gifts ( Latin : dona praeternaturalia ) with regard to the ophitic event , Haag never makes any reference to the discontinuity of the loss of access to the tree of life. The Land of Cockaigne (also Cockaygne, Cokaygne), was an imaginary land of idleness and luxury, famous in medieval stories and

17934-445: The survival of the other, some consider it a priority to combat one or the other first. Some, such as Mikhail Bakunin and Alexander Berkman , considered capitalism to rely on the support and protection of the state. They thus concluded that if the state were to be abolished, capitalism would naturally dissolve in its wake. But others, including Noam Chomsky , believe that the state is only inherently oppressive because of its control by

18081-409: The term in order to distinguish themselves from authoritarian socialists, anarchists began calling themselves "libertarian socialist" in order to avoid the negative connotations associated with anarchism. The libertarian socialist Daniel Guérin specifically attempted to synthesise anarchism and Marxism into a single tendency, which inspired the growth of the French libertarian communist movement. For

18228-439: The text depicts Heaven on Earth or a Heaven brought to Earth without sin . Daily and mundane details of this new Earth, where God and Jesus rule, remain unclear, although it is implied to be similar to the biblical Garden of Eden. Some theological philosophers believe that heaven will not be a physical realm but instead an incorporeal place for souls . The Greek poet Hesiod , around the 8th century BC, in his compilation of

18375-645: The title in a printing of 100,000 copies in 1945. Though Bellamy tended to stress the independence of his work, Looking Backward shares relationships and resemblances with several earlier works—most notably the anonymous The Great Romance (1881), John Macnie 's The Diothas (1883), Laurence Gronlund 's The Co-operative Commonwealth (1884), and August Bebel 's Woman in the Past, Present, and Future (1886). For example, in The True Author of Looking Backward (1890) J. B. Shipley argued that Bellamy's novel

18522-560: The top of the World Happiness Report , are sometimes cited as modern utopias, although British author Michael Booth has called that a myth and wrote a 2014 book about the Nordic countries . Particularly in the early 19th century, several utopian ideas arose, often in response to the belief that social disruption was created and caused by the development of commercialism and capitalism . These ideas are often grouped in

18669-606: The top-down ( bureaucratic ) nature of Bellamy's utopia, which Morris criticized. However, as the socialist movement developed, it moved away from utopianism; Marx in particular became a harsh critic of earlier socialism which he described as "utopian". (For more information, see the History of Socialism article.) In a materialist utopian society, the economy is perfect; there is no inflation and only perfect social and financial equality exists. Edward Gibbon Wakefield 's utopian theorizing on systematic colonial settlement policy in

18816-472: The verdict, then it must be tried again. Chapters 15 and 16 have an explanation of how free, independent public art and news outlets could be provided in a more libertarian socialist system. In one case, Bellamy even writes, "the nation is the sole employer and capitalist." The decades of the 1870s and the 1880s were marked by economic and social turmoil, including the Long Depression of 1873–1879,

18963-536: The world organized and built intentional communities with the hope of developing a better way of living together. Many of these intentional communities are relatively small. Many intentional communities have a population close to 100, with many possibly exceeding this number. While this may seem large, it is pretty small in comparison to the rest of society. From the small populations, it is apparent that people do not prefer this kind of living . While many of these new small communities failed, some continue to grow, such as

19110-511: The world. Anthropologist Richard Sosis examined 200 communes in the 19th-century United States, both religious and secular (mostly utopian socialist ). 39 percent of the religious communes were still functioning 20 years after their founding while only 6 percent of the secular communes were. The number of costly sacrifices that a religious commune demanded from its members had a linear effect on its longevity, while in secular communes demands for costly sacrifices did not correlate with longevity and

19257-591: Was elected president in 2021 . Libertarian socialism encompasses both the libertarian wing of socialism and the socialist wing of libertarianism , including many different schools of thought under its banner. The most commonly cited tendencies of libertarian socialism are anarchist communism , anarcho-syndicalism and council communism . Other Marxist strands of libertarian socialism include Western Marxism , Bordigism and impossibilism . Additionally, utopian socialism , guild socialism , socialist feminism and social ecology , as well as various strands of

19404-737: Was a Christian theosophy and pietist group founded in Iptingen , Germany , in 1785. Due to religious persecution by the Lutheran Church and the government in Württemberg , the society moved to the United States on October 7, 1803, settling in Pennsylvania . On February 15, 1805, about 400 followers formally organized the Harmony Society, placing all their goods in common . The group lasted until 1905, making it one of

19551-403: Was a repeat of Bebel's arguments, while literary critic R. L. Shurter went so far as to argue that " Looking Backward is actually a fictionalized version of The Co-operative Commonwealth and little more". However, Bellamy's book also bears resemblances to the early socialist theorists or 'utopian socialists' Etienne Cabet , Charles Fourier , Robert Owen , and Henri Saint-Simon , as well as to

19698-556: Was banned by the Tsarist Russian censors. In the 1930s, there was a revival of interest in Looking Backward . Several groups were formed to promote the book's ideas. The largest was Edward Bellamy Association of New York; its honorary members included John Dewey , Heywood Broun and Roger N. Baldwin . Arthur Ernest Morgan , chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority , also admired the book and wrote

19845-465: Was born in France . The modern foundations of libertarian socialism lay in the utopian socialism expounded by Charles Fourier , Robert Owen and Henri de Saint-Simon , who envisioned a democratic socialism guided by communitarianism , moralism and feminism . Libertarian socialism first emerged from the anti-authoritarian faction of the International Workingmen's Association (IWA), after it

19992-657: Was coined in 1516 from Ancient Greek by the Englishman Sir Thomas More for his Latin text Utopia . It literally translates as "no place", coming from the Greek : οὐ ("not") and τόπος ("place"), and meant any non-existent society, when 'described in considerable detail'. However, in standard usage, the word's meaning has shifted and now usually describes a non-existent society that is intended to be viewed as considerably better than contemporary society. In his original work, More carefully pointed out

20139-488: Was especially popular among working men's clubs . The first version of the novel published in China, heavily edited for the tastes of Chinese readers, was titled Huitou kan jilüe (回頭看記略). This text was later retitled Bainian Yi Jiao (百年一覺 ), or "A Sleep of 100 Years" and in 1891–1892 this version was serialized in Wanguo gongbao ; the organization Guangxuehui (廣學會; Society for Promoting Education) published these pieces in

20286-568: Was expelled from the organisation by the Marxist faction at the Hague Congress of 1872. The libertarian socialist Mikhail Bakunin had rejected Karl Marx 's calls for a " dictatorship of the proletariat ", as he predicted it would only create a new ruling class , composed of a privileged minority, which would use the state to oppress the working classes. He concluded that: "no dictatorship can have any other aim than to perpetuate itself, and it can only give rise to and instill slavery in

20433-590: Was in part a memoir of their careers teaching at fabled Balboa High School , but also a re-interpretation of the Canal Zone as a creature of turn-of-the-century Progressivism, a workers' paradise. The Knapps used Bellamy's Looking Backward as their heuristic model for understanding Progressive ideology as it shaped the Canal Zone. A one-act play, Bellamy's Musical Telephone, was written by Roger Lee Hall and premiered at Emerson College in Boston in 1988 on

20580-544: Was originally started by the group. Other examples are Fountain Grove (founded in 1875), Riker's Holy City and other Californian utopian colonies between 1855 and 1955 (Hine), as well as Sointula in British Columbia , Canada. The Amish and Hutterites can also be considered an attempt towards religious utopia. A wide variety of intentional communities with some type of faith-based ideas have also started across

20727-606: Was prohibited; the plan was an early step toward the yeoman republic later envisioned by Thomas Jefferson . The communes of the 1960s in the United States often represented an attempt to greatly improve the way humans live together in communities. The back-to-the-land movements and hippies inspired many to try to live in peace and harmony on farms or in remote areas and to set up new types of governance. Communes like Kaliflower , which existed between 1967 and 1973, attempted to live outside of society's norms and to create their own ideal communalist society. People all over

20874-548: Was represented in the early twentieth century anti-colonial movement by Bhagat Singh . Russian libertarian socialists, including anarchists , populists and left socialist-revolutionaries , led the opposition to the Tsarist autocracy throughout the late-19th century. They created a network of both clandestine and legal organisations throughout Russia, with the aim of overthrowing the Russian nobility and bringing land under

21021-552: Was rewritten in 1974 by American socialist science fiction writer Mack Reynolds as Looking Backward from the Year 2000 . Matthew Kapell , a historian and anthropologist , examined this re-writing in his essay, "Mack Reynolds' Avoidance of his own Eighteenth Brumaire : A Note of Caution for Would-Be Utopians". In 1984, Herbert Knapp and Mary Knapp's Red, White and Blue Paradise: The American Canal Zone in Panama appeared. The book

21168-446: Was ripe for new ideas about economic development which might ameliorate the current social disorder. Edward Bellamy (1850–1898), a relatively unknown New England -born novelist with a history of concern with social issues, began to conceive of writing an impactful work of visionary fiction shaping the outlines of a utopian future, in which production and society were ordered for the smooth production and distribution of commodities to

21315-414: Was there any need for hard and painful work. Humans were simple and pious and felt themselves close to their God or gods. According to one anthropological theory, hunter-gatherers were the original affluent society . These mythical or religious archetypes are inscribed in many cultures and resurge with special vitality when people are in difficult and critical times. However, in utopias, the projection of

21462-503: Was very similar to that of Utopia: to lead a more wholesome and simpler life than the atmosphere of pressure surrounding society at the time. It is clear that despite ambition, it is difficult for communes to stay in operation for very long. Though Francis Bacon 's New Atlantis is imbued with a scientific spirit, scientific and technological utopias tend to be based in the future, when it is believed that advanced science and technology will allow utopian living standards ; for example,

21609-513: Was washed ashore after 10 years of storm-tossed wandering and escorted to the King's palace by his daughter Nausicaa . With stout walls, a stone temple and good harbours, it is perhaps the 'ideal' Greek colony , a model for those founded from the middle of the 8th Century onward. A land of plenty, home to expert mariners (with the self-navigating ships), and skilled craftswomen who live in peace under their king's rule and fear no strangers. Plutarch ,

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