Cabet, Étienne

Cabet, Étienne (1788–1856) Utopian, social reformer, author; born in Dijon, France. Trained as a lawyer, he was a radical member of the French Chamber of Deputies (1831) and founded Le Populaire (1833), a publication that promoted the workingmen's cause. In 1834 the government prosecuted him for certain articles and he went into exile in England. Back in France he published a Utopian romance, Voyage en Icarie (1839), which outlined what he called the Icarian doctrine, a detailed blueprint for a new society. This and his other writings attracted a large audience and followers for establishing a Utopian community in America; Cabet joined them in 1849 and they established it at the abandoned Mormon town of Nauvoo, Ill. But his autocratic rule turned many in the community against him and in 1856 he left for St. Louis, Mo., where he soon died. His death did not stop the creation of Icarian colonies in: Cheltenham, Mo.; Corning, Iowa; and Cloverdale, Calif.; but all were dissolved by 1895.