ABSTRACT
The intellectual hegemony of Marxism within the socialist traditions has frequently led to a sense that Karl Marx in fact somehow created socialism out of nothing. Marx’s own views were clear even before he forged his pact with industrialism, for modernity thankfully brought with it the transcendence of the idiocy of village life. His stronger utopias, are governed to an increasing extent by the sense of industrialism as a human fate, if not to be mastered then at least to be put to good advantage in the pursuit of free time. Emile Durkheim’s text on socialism is one of the most important documents establishing some of the specific differences generated by the field, for Saint-Simon and Fourier remain far more significant utopian thinkers for modernity than, say, Plato or More. The object of socialism ought rather to be a humanity rich in needs.
