What is a phalanx? This word is rarely found in everyday life, as it is associated with the lesser-known general public teachings of Charles Fourier, the French socialist utopian. Another “phalanx” is the name of one of the Moscow bookstores.
Cloth son
Charles Fourier was born in 1772 in France, in the city of Besancon, in the family of a draper. During the French Revolution, he thinks about the fate of mankind. Seeing the surrounding injustice, Charles seeks to change society. In 1976, he presented to the members of the Directory his ideas on this subject. But, to his surprise and disappointment, the audience laughs in his face.
However, this incident does not stop Fourier. Although he is forced to earn his living by trading, he devotes all his free time to pondering ways to build a society that seems ideal to him. In his many books, he describes such a society in detail.
Family replacement
According to the socialist, it would be more expedient for people to live not in families, but in relatively small communities, accommodating about 1600-1800 people. He gives this type of community the name “phalanx”.
He believes that the phalanx should replace the family. “If there is no family, there will be no kinship, and therefore no pressure from the authorities,” says the utopian. The size of the administrative apparatus in the country of Fourier proposes to minimize.
Important decisions should be made by the whole world in the central square on the appointed days. Each of the phalanges will live in a peculiar house-city - the phalanx.
Life in the castle
Charles Fourier gives a very detailed description of his ideal phalanx. This building is a castle of a special type, with three to five floors. It is the center of the phalanx life. The latter is a self-sufficient commune consisting of people who work together, while respecting the mutual benefits.
The streets located on the first level are washed in the summer by jets of water, and in the winter they are heated by huge fireplaces. In the very center of the town is the so-called tower of order. Here are the chimes, as well as an observatory, telegraph, night security.
Phalanx device
This building combines the features of both urban and rural life. It is divided into three parts: the central and two wings. The central one is intended for recreation, as well as for work of an intellectual nature. There are dining rooms, libraries, living rooms and studios.
Workshops and other rooms where noisy activities are carried out are located in one wing. There are also children's rooms. This is due to the fact that during games children make a lot of noise.
The other wing is conceived as a large hotel, accommodating ballrooms and lounges for relaxing with guests. At the same time, guests must pay for such an opportunity to meet with members of the phalanx. Contributions to the treasury of the phalanx.
In addition, the phalanx provides a large number of both private apartments and public places.
Association idea
At the heart of the phalanx is the idea of ​​a consumer and production association, which, although it was already expressed before Fourier in the literature, has not yet been developed. He saw its embodiment as follows.
The results of the work of all members of the phalanx flock to common storage, from where they can take everything they need. Then there will be no need for intermediaries in the exchange of goods, and domestic trade will disappear as such.
At the same time, private property and inequality remain in the phalanx. Each has a separate room, consistent with his condition, as well as food and clothing. There is no trace of communism. Despite the commonality of life and work, everyone’s work is paid for in the quantity and quality of his work, in his talent, and also in the amount of capital invested in the enterprise.
Freedom of the Harmonians
Fourier did not allow individual freedom only in the distribution of products. In all other respects, he saw her as the supreme principle. However, he suggested that the phalanx should still have a guide in the form of an areopagus, in which the most wise and experienced of the “harmonians” sit. This is the name of people who live in a new society with a harmonious system.
The manual should consist not so much in issuing general instructions as in giving specific instructions. For example, concerning time, which is more favorable for carrying out certain agricultural works. Moreover, to follow or not to such instructions, the community members themselves decided. That is, the role of the Areopagus was largely deliberative.
Implementation
Students of Fourier built phalanxers in countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and the USA. For instance:
- In the years 1835-1837. carried away by the ideas of utopian socialism, the landowner from Romania, Emanuel Belecianu, freed his peasants and settled them in a phalanx. Later, authorities dispersed him.
- In 1847, M.V. Petrashevsky, a public figure and landowner, in accordance with the ideas of Charles Fourier, in Russia built a phalanx for his serfs. In the same year, the building was set on fire by peasants.
- In 1859, the inventor of heating furnaces, Andre Gaudens in France, inspired by the utopian ideas of Fourier, also organized a community. In it lived 2100 people who made stoves and shared profits. However, the whole system was kept purely due to the paternalistic authority of the Goden family.
- At the end of the 19th century, in the north of France, in the city of Gizne, a residential complex called “Familister” was built. It was based on the principles of Fourier.
- In 1902, La Ruche, the famous Parisian phalanx, was created by an amateur sculptor, philanthropist Alfred Boucher. This word in translation from French means "beehive".
Unlike his students, Charles Fourier was unable to organize a single community due to a lack of necessary funds. However, of all those created by others, not a single phalanx has existed for more than 12 years.
As mentioned above, in addition to the already considered, there is another, "book" phalanx.
Without director
It is on this principle that the Phalanster bookstore operates in Moscow. It opened in 2002 and is a cooperative in which all employees are equal, and the position of the director is generally absent.
The “book” phalanx in Moscow has its own specialization. This is, first of all, classical, oriental and modern philosophy. As well as history, sociology, religion, theology, linguistics, literary criticism, cultural studies, art criticism.
Among the books sold by "Phalanster" a prominent place is allocated for left-wing literature. In this regard, the epithets such as “anti-globalist” and “house of a political book” were often used in the media to the store.
In addition to this direction, there is also a department of children's literature, as well as modern fiction. Within the walls of the store, meetings are held with writers, politicians, philosophers, creative evenings with musicians and poets. One can name such famous names as, for example, writer Zakhar Prilepin, politician and writer Eduard Limonov, poet and playwright Naum Korzhavin. Often organized book presentations, seminars affecting the artistic and socio-political topics.
At first, the store's place of work was Bolshoi Kozikhinsky Lane. But in the summer of 2005 he was set on fire, after which he had to move. Today the address of "Phalanster": Maly Gnezdilovsky per., House 12/17, travel to the metro station "Pushkinskaya". The entrance to it is through the arch, on the 2nd floor. Opening hours: from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. without days off and a break.
In 2008, in the fall, another trading hall was opened, which is located in the Center for Contemporary Art under the name "Winery". His address: 4th Syromyatnichesky per., Building 1, p. 6, 1st pavilion. Opening hours: from 11:00 to 21:00 without days off and a break.