Henri-Robert Feugueray: la "République dans l'atelier"

Abstract

Between 1838 and 1851 the most Catholic of Philippe Buchez's disciples, Henri-Robert Feugueray (1813-1854), tried to redefine the republican and working class tradition spreading the idea of the «République dans l'atelier» in his articles, published on Correspondant, Revue Nationale, L'Ere Nouvelle, Revue des Réformes et du Progrès. According to Feugueray it was important to go beyond social conflict and recompose society's division rethinking politics and society through the application of the democratic model. He illustrated the sociopolitical value of the associationism as a process of civic education that gives workers political dignity even when electoral laws deny it. With his writings he tried to make workers understand that progressive transformations of the social economy require above all a revolution of mind and a moral reform. Therefore, radical changes were necessary and urgent and Feugueray expressed the need to study and address the political and institutional problems in the light of the correlations between morality, economy and politics.