Saint-Simonism

ONE OF THE MOST eccentric and fascinating individuals of history is unquestionably Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Comte de Saint-Simon (1760–1825). Born into wealth and privilege as an aristocrat in Paris, France, in 1760, Saint-Simon felt himself destined for greatness from early on; his family claimed no less than to be direct descendants of Charlemagne. Apparently, he exhorted his valet to remind him upon awakening each day, “Remember, Monsieur le Comte, you have great things to do.”

As a young man, Saint-Simon served in the French army as an officer in the American Revolution, distinguishing himself at the battle of Yorktown. Upon returning to France, Saint-Simon found himself caught up in the throes of the French Revolution. He welcomed the end of the French Old Regime but regretted the violence and anarchy the revolution had unleashed. In revolutionary France, Saint-Simon made himself a fortune, played the role as patron to a brilliant circle of scientists and artists, ingratiated himself unsuccessfully with Napoleon, and finally ended up in destitution and even briefly in an insane asylum. In post-Napoleonic France or the period of Restoration until his death in 1825, Saint-Simon styled himself a liberal aristocrat, a champion of bankers, economists, and publicists.

Saint-Simon's social and moral philosophy centers on three central tenets: his notion of a hierarchically managed society led by “industrialists”; his vision of European integration; and his proclamation of a New Christianity. First and foremost, Saint-Simon was a critic of laissez-faire capitalism for its social costs. Likewise, he opposed violent revolutionary change due to its anarchic tendencies and possible degeneration into authoritarian rule. Saint-Simon was also a modernist dazzled by the potential of the application of rational planning and modern technology to society, a true child of the Enlightenment. Thus, the key to Saint-Simon was to design a rational social and economic order based on harmony, productive labor, and equality of opportunity in order to avoid rampant individualism and anti-social competitiveness.

At the apex of his society were to be “industrialists,” or managers, which included scientists, philosophers, craftsmen, and various artists. According to Saint-Simon, society would function best administered by scientific technocrats who could bring about “the most rapid possible amelioration of the lot of the most numerous and poorest class.” Saint-Simon envisioned a rational social organization to take root within a panEuropean framework guided by Europe's two most productive powers, France and England. Saint-Simon's vision of a pan-European confederation was formulated as an antidote against European warfare, destructive nationalism, and popular unrest—three forces that undermined social stability and order and sparked senseless bloodshed and violence. Finally, Saint-Simon proclaimed the necessity of a new Reformation, the establishment of a New Christianity based on the principle that “all men must behave as brothers toward one another.”

The legacy of Saint-Simonism is disputed, yet impressive. Saint-Simonism is most commonly explained as a form of utopian socialism, a forerunner to the scientific socialism of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Some 20th-century philosophers, such as Hannah Arendt and Friedrich von Hayek, have seen in Saintsimonism traces of communist and fascist totalitarianism, while other scholars have emphasized its peaceful, egalitarian, cosmopolitan, and feminist dimensions. After Saint-Simon's death in 1825, a small but influential group of his followers established Saint-Simonism as a religion. Eclectic individuals such as Prosper Enfantin founded a Saint-Simonian sect that delved into religious mysticism, cultic activity, eroticism, and the pursuit of the Great Mother, who would ostensibly reconcile the Orient and the Occident.

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