Socialism: Difference between revisions

The systems of '''Owen''', '''Fourier''', and '''Saint-Simon''' (which Marx explicitly called properly Communist or Socialist) did not lack historical vision. These men understood that the crisis was both irreversible and progressive, and therefore that the only way out was foreword. They differed from Marx chiefly in their understanding of class, a difference which Marx ascribes to their prematurity. Utopians saw their theories as ''above'' class antagonism, and sought a new social science with which to improve the condition of all classes. They appealed to society at large, with particular emphasis on the role, not of the proletariat, who they deemed significant only insofar as they suffered more than others, but of the upper class, to the benevolence of whom they entrusted their historical mission. They saw socialism as a naturally and universally appealing idea, the realization of which required nothing but for level-headed men to read their book.