Cooperative Thought - Charles Fourier

Charles Fourier (Phalansters Scheme)

Charles Fourier was born in 1772 at Besancon in France. He was an industrial idealist and socialist co-operator.  He was the son of merchant. He himself was a businessman but had an unsuccessful career.

As a socialist, he was very much worried about the worst social economic conditions of the workers in particular and the poor people of the France in general.  The environment was not conducive for human development. The industrial policies, level of payments, fines and punishments into the state where people could not find opportunities for growth.  He was the opinion that competition, profit motive and exploitation are the breeding centres for all sorts of problems. This could be alleviated / removed only through organising people into associations, work on collectively to address the social and economic problems.

Phalanster scheme

Charles Fourier conceived his unique scheme of establishing communistic colonies called as Phalanster which he wished to bring about a complete change in the economic and social order.  He wished to crate ‘new industrial world’ which is just like the concept of ‘new moral world’ of Robert Owen.  The Phalansters are like  the self supporting colonies of Robert Owen.

A phalanster was a voluntary, democratic and self sufficient association of producers and consumers in which the members live as a family and work together in a common workshop.  It is a self supporting colony established outside the congested cities. It was consisting of 1500-2000 persons or 300-400 families.  Each phalanster is with big buildings with apartments, kitchens, dining hall, school, library, concert hall, etc. Common cooking, heating, lighting and living would give the consumers the maximum comforts in life at minimum cost. This is the great economic advantage to the members of the Phalanster.

Socially, the phalanster would create a world of brotherhood, sense of love, affection and cooperative spirit.

Each phalanster was located in an area of 400 acres of land on the banks of river. The members have to concentrate on horticulture, animal rearing especially growing apple and poultry farming along with small scale industrial units. 

The objective of a phalanster was to provide everything that it consumers and consuming everything as it provides.  In a way it is self supporting colony.  Accordingly, the phalansters would exchange the goods and services among themselves.

Each phalanster was subdivided into two units for administrative convenience. Big unit was called group and small unit was called as series. Democratic method of administration was followed in the phalansters.  Cooperative assemblies were popular in phalansters. Cooperative assemblies ensured democracy. The directors and office bearers were elected from among the members democratically.  Unarch, a director was incharge to manage a phalanster.

The capital required for establishing a phalanster was mobilished in the form of shares from members and donations from philanthropists. A member could have any number of shares. The profit at the end of the year was divided among the members as per his own formula. The formula may be labour 5/12, capital 4/12, and business ability 3/12. Fourier’s and his disciples made efforts to establish cooperatives throughout the world.  But did not succeed.

Charler Fourier’s scheme was an ideal arrangement of thinks based on integrated form of cooperation namely producer’s cooperatives, consumer’s cooperatives, labour cooperatives and cooperative living.  He enforced a transformation of wage earners into cooperative owners.