Socialism: Utopian and Scientific

I.

Modern socialism is, in its content, primarily the product of the perception of class antagonisms—on the one hand, those between the propertied and the propertyless, capitalists and wage-laborers, prevailing in contemporary society; and on the other, the anarchy prevailing in production. However, in its theoretical form, it initially appears as a further developed, supposedly more consistent continuation of the principles established by the great French thinkers of the Enlightenment in the 18th century. Like any new theory, it had to begin by attaching itself to the existing body of thought, however much its roots lay in the material economic facts.

The great men in France who cleared the minds for the coming revolution acted with extreme revolutionary fervor. They recognized no external authority of any kind. Religion, the view of nature, society, and the structure of the state were all subjected to the most ruthless criticism; everything had to justify its existence before the judgment seat of reason or forfeit that existence. The thinking intellect was applied as the sole measure for everything. It was a time when, as Hegel says, the world was stood on its head,*) primarily in the sense that

The following is the passage concerning the French Revolution: "The thought, the concept of law, asserted itself all at once, and against this, the old scaffolding of injustice could offer no resistance. Thus, a constitution has now been erected on the basis of the concept of law, and on this foundation, everything was henceforth to be based. As long as the sun stands in the firmament and the planets revolve around it, it had not yet been seen that man stands upon his head—that is, upon thought—and constructs reality according to it. Anaxagoras was the first to say that Nûs Reason/Intellect governs the world; but only now has man arrived at the realization that thought should govern spiritual reality. This was, therefore, a glorious sunrise. All thinking beings have celebrated this epoch. A sublime emotion prevailed in that time, an enthusiasm of the spirit has shuddered through the world, as if the reconciliation of the divine with the world had only now come to pass." (Hegel, Philosophy of History, 1840, p. 535.)