French thinker who held that society should be led by its productive “industrials”
Chapter III of the Communist Manifesto names him, with Fourier and Owen, among the founders of critical-utopian socialist systems born before the class struggle had developed.
Born in Paris to an aristocratic family, Saint-Simon fought in the American War of Independence and took part in the siege of Yorktown. During the Revolution he made money speculating in national property and was imprisoned under the Terror. In L’Industrie, L’Organisateur and the Catéchisme des industriels he argued that the productive “industrials” — scientists, entrepreneurs and workers alike — rather than the idle classes should direct society; his last work, Nouveau Christianisme, made the improvement of the poorest class society’s aim. The Communist Manifesto’s classification of him as a critical-utopian socialist who saw no independent political movement of the proletariat is Marx and Engels’ assessment, not his own self-understanding.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1779–1783Fought in the American War of Independence and took part in the siege of Yorktown.
- 1793–1794Imprisoned at Sainte-Pélagie and the Luxembourg during the Terror; released after 9 Thermidor.
- 1803Published his first work, Lettres d’un habitant de Genève.
- 1816–1817Published L’Industrie; from 1817 Auguste Comte worked with him as secretary.
- 1823–1824Published the Catéchisme des industriels.
- 1825Published Nouveau Christianisme and died in Paris the same year.