fractal-vortex
20th December 2013, 18:18
In his social origins, Saint-Simon was an aristocrat. Before the French revolution, he was one of the French officers who participated in the American revolution, fighting against the English. In the times of the French revolution, he made a fortune on land speculations, but afterward lost it and lived his life in penury. Once, he was forced to take up a job of copying manuscripts, which cost him 10 hours a day. Later, he was able to live on donations of one of his friends. (It's amazing what number of revolutionaries live on donations! Just remember Marx and Engels.)
In his work of 1824, Saint-Simon traces the origins of modern socialists. Their immediate pre-cursors were "liberals". These people were the ones who, in the beginning of XIX century, wanted to overthrow all governments. Perhaps, a modern equivalent of them we call "anarchists". Immediately before the liberals were "Bonapartists", i.e. people who opposed the Restoration of Bourbons in France, and looked up to Napoleon as the champion of the people. One example of this we see in the work of Balzac, "Napoleon of the People". A modern equivalent of such people would be Stalinists, Maoists, and similar people.
Of course, in the period of the French revolution modern "socialists" called themselves "patriots" as opposed to "loyalists", i.e. those who were loyal to the monarch of France, and hence united with all monarchist governments of Europe in their assault on the revolutionary France, at the end of XVIII century.
And so, the "hereditary line" of modern socialists, in chronological order, is:
1. "Patriots"
2. "Bonapartists"
3. "Liberals"
more read here:
http://fractal-vortex.narod.ru/Transition/saint-simon.htm
In his work of 1824, Saint-Simon traces the origins of modern socialists. Their immediate pre-cursors were "liberals". These people were the ones who, in the beginning of XIX century, wanted to overthrow all governments. Perhaps, a modern equivalent of them we call "anarchists". Immediately before the liberals were "Bonapartists", i.e. people who opposed the Restoration of Bourbons in France, and looked up to Napoleon as the champion of the people. One example of this we see in the work of Balzac, "Napoleon of the People". A modern equivalent of such people would be Stalinists, Maoists, and similar people.
Of course, in the period of the French revolution modern "socialists" called themselves "patriots" as opposed to "loyalists", i.e. those who were loyal to the monarch of France, and hence united with all monarchist governments of Europe in their assault on the revolutionary France, at the end of XVIII century.
And so, the "hereditary line" of modern socialists, in chronological order, is:
1. "Patriots"
2. "Bonapartists"
3. "Liberals"
more read here:
http://fractal-vortex.narod.ru/Transition/saint-simon.htm