Socialist Thought

Paper Summary:

This paper relates that Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a French Revolutionist, believed that people should live according to natural law. The paper then discusses Francois Noel, or "Gracchus" Babeuf, leader of the Society of the Pantheon, which aimed to overthrow the French government. Babeuf, like Rousseau, believed in equality. The paper relates that Rousseau believed that the conflict between social and natural existence is the struggle between being vs. seeming. The author concludes that, although both Rousseau and Babeuf did have a natural empathy toward the common good of mankind, their ideals are foreign to humanity.

From the Paper:

"The idea of the ownership of land was something that Rousseau believed to be the root of corruption in men. Once private property was established, fields appeared, and with them, the need of workers to sow and reap them. And so it began that men would
work for the benefit of others. Soon, other arts, such as the forging of iron were created, merely to motivate mankind to continue with the art of agriculture. As the number of foundry workers increased, the number of field hands decreased, and yet the number of
mouths to feed remained the same."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Freid, Albert; Sanders, Ronald. Socialist Thought; A Documentary History, 1964-1992. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992.

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