Communism and cooperation: Winstanley and Cabet

David Reisman

Chapter 7 in Economy and Utopia, 2026, pp 93-112 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Winstanley and Cabet were communitarians who built their utopia on the vision of sociable individuals collaborating freely in small-scale cooperatives such as Winstanley's St. George's Hill and Cabet's Icaria or Nauvoo. Personal relationships were more important than economic efficiency. Communism in the ownership of productive assets and access to consumer goods is the precondition for the sociability and fellowship that are the essence of the good society. Scientific evidence is more important to this campaign than superstition and theology, however much the communist cause is close to Jesus and his disciples. Winstanley saw riches as a common stock to which all had an equal right. The conspicuous consumption of status symbols would disappear. Not an anarchist, there would be an elected leadership. Cabet in his ideal community also envisaged a legislature and an executive, although his constitutional checks and balances are weak. Consensus would be enough even in a society that rejected consumer sovereignty with respect to socially harmful consumables such as tobacco.

Keywords: Community; Communism; Fellowship; Anarchism; Political Leadership (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035368600
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