Associationists and Socialists: the First Debates

International audience"This chapter deals with the various socialist political economies aimed at the realisation of a fairer world – a world of equity or radical equality, that can be grasped through alternative formulas of wealth distribution. Adopting the meaning of the word “utopian” as proposed by Paul Ricœur, this chapter considers the creative dimension of utopia with regard to its concrete manifestations concerning associations, cooperatives and communities, but also more broadly with regard to the regulation of economic activities by a democratic State and the socialist proposals in the field of public finance. These different elements highlight the existence of two alternative traditions within French socialism during the first nineteenth century.