Robert Owen and Socialism

Introduction Owen Robert born in Newtown, Montgomeryshire, on May 14, 1771 was one of the most influential socialists of the early 19th century. On November 17, 1858 Owen died in the Bear Hotel, next door to the house in which he was born.

Early Life Owen attended public schools until the age of 10, when he became an apprentice to a clothier. Owen spent much of his time reading and studying business. He then set up his own business as a manufacturer of spinning mules. He did so well in business that when he was 19, he had become a superintendent of a large cotton mill in Manchester. There Owen met a lot of businessmen involved in textile industry. This included David Dale. With the support of many businessmen, Owen purchased Dale’s four textile factories in New Lanark. Under the control of Owen, the company expanded much more rapidly. However, Robert wasn’t only interested in making money...

New Lanark He wanted to create a Utopian society. Owen induced his business partners to purchase the New Lanark mills in Lanarkshire. There he had success in creating an almost perfect Utopia. In the town of New Lanark, lived 2000 people, 500 who were poor children. The standard of living was unbearable and Owen improved nearly everything. He improved houses, encouraged people to have order, cleanliness, and thrift. He nearly banned alcohol with strict supervision. He rose wages, reduced hours of work, improved factory conditions, rebuilt homes, provided schools for children, and reversed the standard concept of labor relations. His greatest well known success however was in the education of the children. He devoted special attention to these children. In 1816 he opened the first infant school in Great Britain at the New Lanark mills and thereafter gave it his close personal supervision. He also limited the children labor hours and extended schooling hours. Ultimately, Owen gained productivity and efficiency due to his benevolence.

New Lanark "Within a year Owen had made New Lanark a changed community; within five years it was unrecognizable; in ten years more it was world famous. It would have been accomplishment enough for most men, for in addition to winning a European reputation for farsightedness and benevolence, Robert Owen made a fortune of at least sixty thousand pounds for himself.... he advocated the formation of the Villages of Cooperation in which eight hundred to twelve hundred souls would work together in farm and factory to form a self-sustaining unit. The families were to live in houses grouped in parallelograms - the word immediately caught the public eye - with each family in a private apartment but sharing common sitting rooms and reading rooms and kitchens. Children over the age of three were to be boarded separately so that they could be exposed to the kind of education which would best mold their characters for later life. Around the school were gardens to be tended by the slightly older children, and around them in turn would stretch out the fields where crops would be grown - needless to say with the aid of spades and without the use of plows. In the distance, away from the living areas, would be a factory unit; in effect this would be a planned garden city."4 (Heilbroner.)4Heilbroner

New Harmony New Lanark ultimately did not work out as he planned. His schemes lacked funds and support. He sold his interest in the New Lanark Mills to finance his second attempt on establishing a utopia called New Harmony located in Posey County, Indiana. However, this enterprise was a failure worse than that of New Lanark. He chose poor associates and it lacked sufficient practical planning. After his failure, he returned to England.

The Afterwards Returning to England, Owen stuck to his views. His philosophy made a deep impression on workers. He launched a moral crusade for the working class. He inspired the pioneers and created a Grand National Moral Union in 1833 with 500,000 workers. They demanded social change including better wages and working conditions. This union failed as most do because of the government.

His Philosophy Owen was a socialist that wanted to create a perfect society. Owen believed that humanity is no better than its environment. Owen was of the view that the world was not inevitably good or bad. Man can always change. He believed that man was but a “creature of circumstances.” In other words, Owen believed that a change in the circumstances of man would make a corresponding change in the man. He believed that since people are shaped by environment, improvement of that environment can produce a paradise on earth. Owen also believed in equality. Robert Owen strongly suggested and took action to give everyone an equal chance to strive. He supported this argument through the enormous amount of social help he gave to the people. When he could have maximized profit, he instead looked toward the people and put their lives first. Furthermore, Owen looked down on machines and believed that it would inevitably lead to poverty and degradation for workers. He planned communities where people worked together and live in private homes. Unlike the socialism we know today as communism, Owen was definitely a socialist for the right cause.

Affecting Society Robert Owen’s work was so influential to society that he is known today as the founder of socialism. Although today communism a form of socialism is looked down upon today, the idea that Robert Owen had was much different than any other. Robert Owen was looking toward a Utopian society where everything was equal. Robert Owen definitely thrived upon equality and equal chances. He would defend till death the rights of man between different social classes. Today, although socialism is not a commonly used ideology, we can still remember Robert Owen for attempting to create peace through the same ideas that we pertain to today. Although he lacked preparation at some points, his influence was huge and even started a grand union that most likely brought rights to many workers in the time. _

Interview On the 26th April, 1816, Robert Owen appeared before Robert Peel's House of Commons Committee. Question: At what age to take children into your mills? Robert Owen: At ten and upwards. Question: Why do you not employ children at an earlier age? Robert Owen: Because I consider it to be injurious to the children, and not beneficial to the proprietors. Question: What reasons have you to suppose it is injurious to the children to be employed at an earlier age? Robert Owen: Seventeen years ago, a number of individuals, with myself, purchased the New Lanark establishment from Mr. Dale. I found that there were 500 children, who had been taken from poor-houses, chiefly in Edinburgh, and those children were generally from the age of five and six, to seven to eight. The hours at that time were thirteen. Although these children were well fed their limbs were very generally deformed, their growth was stunted, and although one of the best schoolmasters was engaged to instruct these children regularly every night, in general they made very slow progress, even in learning the common alphabet. I came to the conclusion that the children were injured by being taken into the mills at this early age, and employed for so many hours; therefore, as soon as I had it in my power, I adopted regulations to put an end to a system which appeared to me to be so injurious. Question: Do you give instruction to any part of your population? Robert Owen: Yes. To the children from three years old upwards, and to every other part of the population that choose to receive it. Question: If you do not employ children under ten, what would you do with them? Robert Owen: Instruct them, and give them exercise. Question: Would not there be a danger of their acquiring, by that time, vicious habits, for want of regular occupation. Robert Owen: My own experiences leads me to say, that I found quite the reverse, that their habits have been good in proportion to the extent of their instruction.

Publications Robert Owen published many books on his views on society such as: Observations on the Effect of the Manufacturing System, (1815) “Evidence on New Lanark” (1815) A New View of Society (1816) An Address to the Inhabitants of New Lanark (1816) Two Memorials on Behalf of the Working Classes (1818) Report to the County of Lanark, (1821) Lectures on an Entire New State of Society (1830)

Citations Utopian-Socialists.id-163,pageNum-18.html

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