Visions of Technological Utopia - from a Hillside Overlooking Paris to the Eiffel Tower
Before the Tech Bros of Silicon Valley there were the Saint-Simonians of Menilmontant.
Utopian schemes invented by technology enthusiasts are as old as the industrial revolution. During the summer of 1832, a band of idealistic young men and women retreated to a country estate in Menilmontant on a hill overlooking Paris. Here, they made their communal living arrangement a public spectacle, hoping to demonstrate the social ideals that they wished to promote — brotherhood among men, equality between men and women, and society freed from the materialistic bonds of marriage.
These were the Saint-Simonians, followers of the social theorist Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Compte de Saint-Simon (1760–1825). They were a diverse group of engineers, scientists, writers, artists, and entrepreneurs who sought to put Rouvroy’s utopian ideals into action. Above all, the Saint Simonians believed that progress in science and industry would create a more equitable and just society.
There was, however, a hard edge to the Saint Simonian’s idealism. They divided society into producers and idlers. Producers were people like themselves — engineers, industrialists, and workers in industry — who kept the economy running for the benefit of all of society. Idlers were parasites who sought to live off the work of others. They believed that government’s only legitimate role in the economy was to remove barriers to the productivity of the industrious producer class.
And, there was the sticky business of the Saint Simonian’s challenge to the status quo. They were critical of the monarchy and of the Catholic church, two traditional pillars of French society. Their economic reforms directly challenged the ruling class, and the social reforms they advocated challenged conventional norms for the structure of the family and women’s role in society.
Leaders of the Saint Simonians promoted their vision for a new economic order that would subvert the authority of national governments.[1] They were globalists. They proposed to build far-reaching networks for transport and communication making use of the emerging technologies of the railroad and the steamship. The Saint Simonians promised that rapid flow of commerce and ideas these neacross tworks would bring harmony to the relations between the world’s peoples.
Ultimately, the Saint Simonians’ mission of radical social change proved to be too much even for cosmopolitan Paris. Police closed the Menilmontant commune in August 1832, and they arrested Barthélemy Prosper Enfantin and other leaders of the commune on charges of threatening public order. After serving in prison for a year, Enfantin left France to continue proselytizing the Saint Simonian cause, first in Egypt, then in Algeria. While in Egypt, he tried, and failed, to drum up support to build the Suez Canal, a key element in Saint Simonian plans for a global trade network.
While the Saint Simonians failed in their program of massive social reform, their vision of a world transformed by global networks influenced a generation of French engineers and financiers.[2] In 1859, Ferdinand Lesseps, an acolyte of Enfantin, suceeded in launching the project to build the Suez Canal. Reviewing the work of French engineers over the last half of the 19th century, Gustave Eiffel, the celebrated engineer, proclaimed his astonishment at what they had accomplished.
Eiffel was speaking to an assembly of influential leaders and public figures a few days before the official opening of the Eiffel Tower.[3] He noted that French engineers had influenced the industrial development of the world more than those of any other nation, including the United Kingdom. Eiffel built a business manufacturing pre-fabricated metal structures and shipping them around the world to be erected in remote locations. He had supplied the iron skeleton for the Statue of Liberty, and he was then engaged building the massive gates for the locks of the Panama Canal.
Even before it was completed, the Eiffel Tower was a mecca for technological optimists. Constructed as the centerpiece of the 1889 Exposition Universelle, the tower was the crowning achievement of Eiffel’s notable career. It was by far the tallest structure ever built, a distinction the Eiffel Tower would hold for the next 40 years. Visitors believed that they could see the future.
Notes:
[1] Chevalier, Michel, 1832. Systeme de la Mediterranee. in: Chevalier, M., Flachat, S., Duveyrier, C., and Fournel, H., 1832. Politique industrielle et système de la Mediterranée : religion Saint-Simonienne. Paris. [online: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5688202n/f8.item (accessed 14 November 2023)]
[2] Gabriel Lamé, Émile Clapeyron, and half brothers Stephane and Eugène Flachat were members of the Saint Simonian movement who first described in 1832 how the nascent technology of railroads could be integrated into a national transportation network. In the years following, they and others of their generation played leading roles in building and operating the first railroads in France. Lamé, G., Clapeyron, É., Flachat, S., and Flachat, E., 1832. Vues politiques et pratiques sur les travaux publics de France. Éverat, Paris. [online: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k54273318?rk=236052;4 (accessed 14 November 2023)]
[3] Discours Prononcés au Treizième Banquet de la Conférence Scientia, offert à M Eiffel le 13 avril 1889. Revue scientifique, January 1889. [online:
https://books.google.ca/books?id=AicDAAAAYAAJ&dq=charles+bresse&pg=PA490&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false; (accessed 15 November 2023)]
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More by this author: Read about the 19th century roots of the engineering profession and the 72 engineers and scientists named on the Eiffel Tower.
