Utopian Socialism, theories and teachings of the radical and equitable restructuring of society on socialist principles that preceded scientific communism and that were unaware of the laws of social development and its motive forces. As a combination of ideas and schools of thought, it included Utopian Communism prior to the 18th century. The term "Utopian Socialism" originates from the title of the book Utopia (1516) by Th. More. Embryos of socialist ideas which contained aspirations for liberty were expressed in the Middle Ages as a reaction to the advent of private property and the exploitation of man by man. The Utopian Socialism of the 16th century contained the initial elements of criticism of the nascent bourgeois society and the desire to build a genuinely humane society. The communist Utopias of More and T. Campanella (16th century) called for a society of reason that would be based on public property and the universal organisation of the economy. At the time of early capitalism (18th century) Utopian Communists (Gabriel Bonnot de Mably, Jean Meslier, Morelly) criticised bourgeois society and demanded the change to a society which would guarantee liberty and the benefits of life for all. After the French revolution of 1789-94 the French revolutionary Fran9ois Noel Babeuf was the first to attempt a communist revolution and to prove the need for a proletarian dictatorship. A new school of critical Utopian Socialism emerged in the first quarter of the 19th century in the context of the increasing conflicts between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. Because the workingclass movement was still spontaneous, Utopian Socialism, which expressed the hopes and aspirations of the working people, was then popular. Its protagonists were Claude Henri Saint-Simon and Charles Fourier in France, and Robert Owen in England. Speaking of Utopian Socialism as the close forerunner of scientific communism, Lenin also noted its radical difference from scientific socialism. The Utopian Socialists criticised bourgeois society, envisioned its destruction, and fantasied about a better society. But "utopian socialism could not indicate the real solution. It could not explain the real nature of wage-slavery under capitalism, it could not reveal the laws of capitalist development, or show what social force is capable of becoming the creator of a new society" (V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 19, p. 27). The main contribution of the Utopian Socialists was their criticism of capitalism, its vices, and its contradictions from a materialist position. Fourier saw the conflict between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Owen was aware of the exploitation of the working class. But what 381 they failed to comprehend was that class struggle was the motive forde of the world development and the working class was to play a historical role in it. One of the merits of the Utopian Socialists was their historical approach to social development. They believed that the capitalist system was transitory, and demanded the creation of a new social system. But they saw the transition to socialism as the result of enlightenment and the spread of socialist ideas among the masses. They called on the bourgeoisie to restructure the world, but overlooked the working-class movement. In this they displayed an estrangement from politics. The Utopian Socialists dreamed of an ideal society where property would be publicly owned, where labour would be collective, and where distribution would be according to one’s abilities. They envisioned the society of the future as a society of plenty which would insure satisfaction of human requirements and flourishing of the personality. On the other hand, they gave more attention to the details of such a society (especially Fourier) than to the means of attaining it. The valuable and progressive in the teaching of the Utopian Socialists, their criticism of bourgeois system, contributed to the education of the workers. The embryos of the great ideas about the specifics of capitalism and of the future socialist system were highly appreciated by Marx and Engels. They assimilated everything valuable in the teaching of the Utopian Socialists and gave it a scientific explanation. In the context of developing working-class movement following the advent of Marx’s theory, the ideas and practices of the successors of the Utopian Socialists became reactionary and hindered the organisation of the proletariat. In Russia, Utopian Socialism took the shape of peasant socialism but, unlike West European Utopian Socialism which rejected the revolutionary path of transformation, its ideas intertwined with revolutionary democratic ideas (see Russian Revolutionary Democrats). A. I. Herzen, N. G. Chernyshevsky, and N. A. Dobrolyubov hoped for a peasant revolution because the backwardness of the Russian economy at that time prevented them from seeing the true creator of revolutionary transformation—the proletariat.