- Étienne Cabet
Étienne Cabet (
January 1 ,1788 –November 9 ,1856 ) was a French philosopher andutopian socialist . He was the founder of the Icarian movement and led a group of emigrants to found a new society in theUnited States .In 1831, he was elected to the
Chamber of Deputies inFrance , but due to his bitter attacks on the government he was accused of treason in 1834 and fled toEngland , seekingpolitical asylum . Influenced byRobert Owen , he wrote "Voyage et aventures de lord William Carisdall en Icarie" ("Travel and Adventures of Lord William Carisdall in Icaria") (1840), which depicted autopia in which an elected government controlled alleconomic activity and supervised social affairs, the family remaining the only other independent unit. Icaria is the name of thefictional country and ideal society he describes.In 1839, Cabet returned to France to advocate a
communitarian social movement , for which he invented the term "communisme".cite web|url=http://raforum.info/mot.php3?id_mot=844|title= CABET, Etienne (1788-1856) Fondateur du communisme en France|publisher= Recherches sur l’anarchisme|accessdate=2007-02-27] Cabet's notion of acommunal society influenced other utopian writers and philosophers, notablyKarl Marx andFriedrich Engels [cite web|url=http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1846/letters/46_08_19.htm|title=Engels To Marx|accessdate=2007-06-05] [cite web|url=http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/letters/48_04_05.htm|title=Engels To Étienne Cabet 5 April 1848|accessdate=2007-06-05] . Some of these other writers ignored Cabet's Christian influences, as described in his book Vrai Christianisme ("RealChristianity ").In 1848, Cabet gave up on the notion of reforming
French society . He led a group of followers from across France to theUnited States to organize an Icarian community. They came first toTexas , then moved toNauvoo, Illinois to a site recently vacated by the Mormons. A new colony was established in "Icaria, Iowa" (near what is nowCorning, Iowa ). After disputes within the Nauvoo community, Cabet was expelled and he went toSt. Louis ,Missouri in 1855, where he died the following year. The last Icarian colony at Corning disbanded in 1898.References
External links
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* [http://history.alliancelibrarysystem.com/IllinoisAlive/files/wi/htm4/wi000182.cfm University Library, Western Illinois University]
* [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9018440/Etienne-Cabet Encyclopaedia Britannica Etienne Cabet]
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