ABSTRACT
The difference between the socialists of the nineteenth century and their predecessors is so great that one often hesitates to apply the name "utopian" to the former. When socialism becomes a political party, it is impossible for it to avoid the law of transformation, and it is vulnerable at all times to sacrificing its principles to the convenience of public opinion. During the nineteenth century economic facts presented a complexity that had no parallel in any previous time: never had there appeared in such an unpredictable way and in such a compact mass technical inventions of the first order and such powerful industrial combinations. Socialism contained many fantasies; it was strongly influenced by popular suffering, economic crises, and political revolutions which produced a strong exaltation of the sentiments of revolt and revolutionary aspirations for a better world. During the nineteenth century socialist utopias ceased to be regarded as harmless.
