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Chapter 34 The Founding Work of Utopian Socialism

Chapter 33 The Founding Work of Utopian Socialism: "Utopia"

"Utopia" means "where there is nothing" in Greek.The book is written in the form of dialogue by the British writer More

Post your own fantasy novels on social criticism and political thought. The famous allusion of "sheep eats people" comes from this.this is for capital
The most concise and vivid summary of British society in the period of primitive accumulation.For the first time, this book systematically fantasizes about the vision of human beings
The great founding work of the socialist ideology.

Accused of "sheep cannibalism" pretending to be "Utopia"

Thomas More (1478-1535) was a famous British political activist and thinker, and the founder of utopian socialism.That
The works are collected in "The Complete Works of More".

More's creation of "Utopia" is the era of great geographical discovery. The emergence of new sea routes and new races has opened the eyes of Europeans.

World, mind emancipation.More's own research on humanism and his role as the second king of the Tudor dynasty Henry VIII
His political positions and the social activities he engaged in made him rich in experience and knowledgeable.He was good at observing the society at that time

status and disadvantages.

At that time, Moore's most concerned issue was the enclosure movement of nobles and rich people.they put into

Tens of thousands of farmers were driven out of their homes where they lived for generations, and their land was converted into pastures. The farmers died tragically.
The tragic situation of "sheep eating people" has emerged.

More pointed out in the book "Utopia" that Henry VIII was a cruel tyrant who expressed dissatisfaction or complaints against this social situation,

will lead to unintended consequences.Therefore, I can only express my criticism of this society and the future in a concealed way.
ideal.Therefore, he described his ideal country in detail by using a travelogue genre to describe a conversation with a navigator——

utopia.Utopia is his fiction with two Greek nouns, which means "the land of nothingness".This book is written in Latin

, published in Louvain, Belgium, in 1516, with the full title "Concerning the Most Perfect State Institutions and Utopian New Isles Both Beneficial and

The Complete Book of Fun.Divided into two parts.

utopian society ideal country

The main content of "Utopia" is divided into two parts: one is the criticism of the feudal system and the primitive accumulation of capitalism;

A description of the ideal social system of Utopia.

In the first part, the author uses the mouth of the traveler Raphael Hislad to tell the basics of European countries (mainly Britain) in the early 16th century.

views on the political and social systems of this country.He sharply criticized the British absolute monarchy and the foreign aggression of the absolute monarch

It is said that this kind of policy not only ruins the invaded country, but also makes life difficult for its own people.

More is pointing out the feudal system that has not yet been eradicated

After reviewing the situation at a high level, it focuses on pointing out the problem of "sheep cannibalizing people" that occurred at that time.He believes that the starting point of this process is the demand for wool
An increase in volume and an increase in the price of wool.In order to increase their income, the big landowners changed their real estate from agricultural to economical.

Nourish the sheep industry, convert all their land into pastures, and drive out the tenant farmers from the land.farmers with small holdings

, Under the coercion of deception or violence, he had to sell his property at a low price and leave his land.due to sheep needs
With few hands, these poor peasants have no place to live and can only wander around, begging for a living, or becoming thieves.

All business connected with wool fell into the hands of a wealthy few, who only cared about their own interests, were greedy, and did not consider
Others live or die.Moore pointed out that the government should have stopped the rich from running amok, forcing them to restore their farmland and villages, and let the evicted

of farmers are able to return to continue farming and wool processing.But the government uses harsh laws to deal with those who lose the opportunity to work

Will the poor.The state is nothing but the gang of the rich.And the root of all these evils is the rule of private ownership.

"Utopia" said that to establish a just
In order to maintain order, private ownership must be completely abolished, and all limited reforms cannot cure this social disease.

In the second part of "Utopia", More describes his utopian ideal of no private property, exploitation and oppression, and opposition between rich and poor

society.The Utopians live on a crescent-shaped island called Abraxa.There are 54 cities distributed across the island, all of which are of similar size.

Many, all of them are magnificent and well-equipped.The capital, Amauroti, is located in the center of the island, making it easy for representatives of the Quartet to meet.

Utopia first completely abolished private ownership and established a communist society with public ownership. Land, houses, production tools, and individuals
All property such as consumer goods are owned by the whole people.In order to put an end to the idea of ​​private ownership, Utopia smokes the houses of residents every 10 years.

Sign exchange once.

Set up the Senate in Utopia's capital, Yama Uroti, which is composed of three senior and experienced people selected by each city every year

into.Its most important responsibilities are: to discuss the division of labor in the affairs of the whole island, to make up the budgets of each city, and to allocate the material supplies of each city.
Should be excess and deficiency.Utopian cities are the direct organizers of production. Under the unified leadership and arrangement of the state, the cities

Specifically organize production and distribution, adjust each other's availability, and transfer products that are lacking in the countryside from the city to the countryside.

The basic economic unit of Utopia is the family.No less than 40 members per household in rural areas, no less than 16 members per household in urban areas, plus children
several people.The head of the family is a respected old man who directs the production and labor of the whole family.The population imbalance between households can be mutually
deployment.Every urban family only engages in a certain kind of handicraft production, and children who do not want to engage in this handicraft can also join in freely
another family.Although Moore stipulated the family as the basic
Production units, however, the Utopian family is already different from the medieval patriarchal peasant family or handicraft family.

Blood ties have been broken.Its rural families are actually agricultural teams owned by the whole people, and urban families are actually owned by the whole people.
State-owned handicraft workshops.

Agriculture is highly valued in Utopia, but farming is not a profession here.Agricultural work is based on the principle of voluntary labor
Organized, each person must engage in two years of agricultural labor, and only those who are particularly fond of rural life can apply for the two-year
period is extended.There is no real village in Utopia, only farms in the village.People come from cities to farm for a period job

After working, he returned to the city to be his own basic worker.Utopians work 6 hours a day and have 1 hour of recreational activities.

Moore said that Utopia implements a universal compulsory labor system, except for a few executives and scholars engaged in specialized scientific research, all

People with labor capacity must participate in productive labor.Women's physical strength is weak, and they generally participate in relatively easy activities such as knitting sweaters and spinning linen.

labor.

Utopia

The society will be based on the organization of co-productive labor, which is the center of More's ideal social project, and it is also the

in the place of the predecessors.Moore was the first to describe in detail the basis of public ownership
How to organize social production, this is his historical achievement.

Utopian society implements the principle of distribution according to "need".The household in Utopia is not only a unit of production but also a unit of consumption.

Each family puts all the industrial and agricultural products produced into the public warehouse, and receives everything the family needs from the public warehouse.black
Topian people are very self-conscious, and no one will take more supplies.In Utopia, "although everyone has nothing, everyone is rich.

"The principle of distribution according to "needs" implemented by Utopia actually has a tendency of egalitarianism, but Moore puts the organization of production
, the richness of products and the high degree of self-consciousness of the people are regarded as the main basis for the implementation of distribution according to needs, which makes the ideal of public ownership

For the first time in history society was freed from the asceticism and asceticism advocated by the utopians of the past.

The functions of the utopian state are mainly to organize production and manage people's economic life internally, and to consolidate national defense externally.Moore

In terms of the internal functions of the utopian state described above, it reflects an important embryonic idea, that is, with the abolition of private ownership, exploitation

If it is eliminated, the functions of the state will be greatly simplified and it will become an institution for organizing production and managing the economy.Utopia and levels of administration

Officials do not have any privileges and are completely equal to the people economically and politically. They are truly representatives of the interests of the people.
table.

Utopia also has laws, but the laws are extremely simple, with only a few fundamental laws.Therefore, in Utopia, everyone is proficient in the law.

Utopian law is the reflection of the will and wishes of all citizens, and its purpose is to safeguard the people's welfare and democratic rights.

Utopia places great emphasis on the development of education and scientific culture.In Utopia, all children have to learn, learn agriculture from an early age, the ministry

One part is to accept theories at school, and the other part is to practice in the fields near the city, combining education with productive labor.utopia
People only work six hours a day, and have plenty of spare time for study and scientific research.

Utopians advocate freedom of religious belief.Everyone can believe in whichever religion he likes.they object to
A certain religion is the state religion and the ruling ideology of the country.

Utopians
Do not believe in scholastic philosophy and feudal superstition.Utopians insist on just war.

Once a Utopian has waged a war, he is determined to carry it on to the end until he wins.

Foundational Works of Fantasy Fiction

More's "Utopia" completely described the picture of utopian socialism for the first time in history.he is in socialism

For the first time in history, it criticizes the evils of capitalist primitive accumulation, and puts forward the concept of public ownership based on organized production and universal labor.

The idea of ​​establishing an ideal social system and eliminating the opposition between workers and peasants, urban and rural areas, mental labor and manual labor established the utopian socialism
It provides some valuable ideological materials for scientific socialism.This book had a huge impact at that time, hundreds of

Over the years, "utopia", as a synonym for the word "utopia", has been widely used in various writings and has become a

Idiomatic words.When Marx discussed the process of primitive accumulation of capital in Das Kapital, he quoted these descriptions from More twice.

More's attack on the enclosure movement reflects his deep sympathy for the predecessor of the proletariat - bankrupt farmers, expressing
The protest of the early proletarians against the indictment of the evils of primitive accumulation of capital.However, due to the limitations of the historical era and More's own worldview
In his social reform plan, he still retained backward things such as religion and slave labor, and did not propose to realize the ideal

way of society.But until the French bourgeois revolution in the 18th century, there was no such thing as a worthy work in the history of socialist thought.
A work comparable to "Utopia", it is the great foundational work of the utopian socialist ideology.Moore still deserves to be empty

Think of the founder of socialism.

(End of this chapter)