Robert Owen

Robert Owen on Education

"The three lower rooms (in the Institute) will be thrown open for the use of the adult part of the population, who are to be provided with every accommodation requisite to enable them to read, write, account, sew or play, converse or walk about. Two evenings in the week will be appropriated to dancing and music, but on these occasions, every accommodation will be prepared for those who prefer to study or to follow any of the occupations pursued on the other evenings".
[Address to the Inhabitants of New Lanark, 1816]

"It is therefore, the interest of all, that everyone, from birth, should be well educated, physically and mentally, that society may be improved in its character, - that everyone should be beneficially employed, physically and mentally, that the greatest amount of wealth may be created, and knowledge attained, - that everyone should be placed in the midst of those external circumstances that will produce the greatest number of pleasurable sensations, through the longest life, that man may be made truly intelligent, moral and happy, and be thus prepared to enter upon the coming Millennium". [1841]

"Where are these rational practices to be taught and acquired? Not within the four walls of a bare building, in which formality predominates . But in the nursery, play-ground, fields, gardens, workshops, manufactures, museums and class-rooms.
[Book of the New Moral World 3rd Part 1842]

Robert Owen on Social Inclusion and Early Intervention

"... Nor will there be any distinction made between the children of those parents who are deemed the worst, and of those who may be esteemed the best members of society: indeed I would prefer to receive the offspring of the worst, if they shall be sent at an early age; because they really require more of our care and pity and by well-training these, society will be more essentially benefited than if the like attention were paid to those whose parents are educating them in comparatively good habits".
[Address to the Inhabitants of New Lanark, 1st Jan 1816]

Robert Owen on Parenting Classes

"One of the apartments (in the Institute) will also be occasionally appropriated for the purpose of giving useful instruction to the older classes of the inhabitants. For believe me, my friends, you are yet very deficient with regard to the best modes of training your children, or of arranging your domestic concerns".
[Address to the Inhabitants of New Lanark, 1816]

Robert Owen on Working Conditions

"The working classes may be injuriously degraded and oppressed in three ways:
1st When they are neglected in infancy
2nd When they are overworked by their employer, and are thus rendered incompetent from ignorance to make a good use of high wages when they can procure them.
3rd When they are paid low wages for their labour ".
[On the employment of children in manufactories, 1818]

"Eight hours' daily labour is enough for any human being, and under proper arrangements sufficient to afford an ample supply of food, raiment and shelter, or the necessaries and comforts of life, and for the remainder of his time, every person is entitled to education, recreation and sleep".
[From the Foundation Axioms of Owen's "Society for Promoting National Regeneration", 1833]

Robert Owen on Employment Training

"Train any population rationally, and they will be rational. Furnish honest and useful employments to those so trained, and such employments they will greatly prefer to dishonest or injurious occupations."
. [A New View of Society - Essays 1813-1816]

Robert Owen on Child Care

"The Institution has been devised to afford the means of receiving your children at an early age, almost as soon as they can walk. By this means many of you, mothers and families, will be able to earn a better maintenance or support for your children; you will have less care and anxiety about them......
[Address to the Inhabitants of New Lanark, 1816]

Robert Owen on Women

"Women will be no longer made the slaves of, or dependent upon men%u2026.They will be equal in education, rights, privileges and personal liberty".
[Book of the New Moral World: Sixth Part, 1841]

Robert Owen on Religious Tolerance

"As there are a very great variety of religious sects in the world (and which are probably adapted to different constitutions under different circumstances, seeing there are many good and conscientious characters in each), it is particularly recommended, as a means of uniting the inhabitants of the village into one family, that while each faithfully adheres to the principles which he most approves, at the same time all shall think charitably of their neighbours respecting their religious opinions, and not presumptuously suppose that theirs alone are right".
[from the Rules and Regulations for the Inhabitants of New Lanark, 1800]

Robert Owen on Caring for the Vulnerable Members of Society.

"In advanced age, and in cases of disability from accident, natural infirmity or any other cause, the individual shall be supported by the colony, and receive every comfort which kindness can administer"
[The Social System - Constitution, Laws, and Regulations of a Community 1826]

Robert Owen on The Environment

"They will be surrounded by gardens, have abundance of space in all directions to keep the air healthy and pleasant. They will have walks and plantations before them".

"To obtain and preserve health in the best state to ensure happiness, pure air is necessary. It is at once obvious that large cities and extensive manufactories are not well calculated to permit pure air to be enjoyed by those who live in the one, or who are employed in the other. The advantage of pure, and the disadvantage of impure air are experienced each time we breathe, and all who understand the causes of disease know that an impure atmosphere is most unfavourable to the enjoyment of health, and an efficient cause to shorten human existence within the natural life of man. It is therefore most desirable that decisive measures should be devised and generally adopted to ensure to all a pure atmosphere, in which to live during their lives".
[Book of the New Moral World - 1842]

Robert Owen on International Co-operation

"There is but one mode by which man can possess in perpetuity all the happiness which his nature is capable of enjoying, - that is by the union and co-operation of ALL for the benefit of EACH.

Union and co-operation in war obviously increase the power of the individual a thousand fold. Is there the shadow of a reason why they should not produce equal effects in peace; why the principle of co-operation should not give to men the same superior powers, and advantages, (and much greater) in the creation, preservation, distribution and enjoyment of wealth?"
[The Social System, written in 1821, published in 1826]

With Thanks to the New Lanark Trust.

14th May 1771, in Newtown, a small market town in Montgomeryshire, Mid Wales, Robert Owen was born the sixth child of seven. His father was a saddler and ironmonger while his mother had been born into one of the areas prosperous farming families. It was here young Owen, an intelligent boy who read avidly, loved music and was good at sports, received his education. However, his schooling came to an end at the age of ten when he began his career in the textile industry. By the time he was twenty one he was managing a mill in Manchester and his entrepreneurial spirit, management skill and progressive moral views were begining to emerge.

In 1793 he was elected as a member of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society where ideas of reformers and philosophers of the Enlightenment Movement were hotly debated. Owen also became a committee member of the Manchester Board of Health, set up to promote improvements in the health and working conditions of factory workers. Meanwhile, in Scotland, New Lanark Cotton Spinning Mills were being established - an enterprise that would prove to be instrumental in Owen's career as not only a businessman but a social pioneer.

Early in life Owen rejected belief in the popular forms of religion and developed a creed for himself. The cornerstones of this philosophy were that man was born inherently good but were corrupted when subjected to harsh circumstances over which he had no control. This led to Owen's conclusion that the way to rightly develop a person's character was to place them in the path of proper influences,whether that be physical, moral or social, from their earliest years.

These were the over riding principles of Owen's system of education and social amelioration and they were incorporated into his first work, A New View of Society, or Essays on the Principle of the Formation of the Human Character (the first of four essays that he published in 1813).

Owen's first foray into socialism took place in 1817 a report to the House of Commons on the Poor Law.

At conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars, as is generally the way of things, trade began to stagnate and a general malaise enveloped the country. After considering the conditions that had contributed to the decline Owen's unique proposals for remedying the situation were centred on communities of about twelve hundred people. Each community would be settled on a piece of land thousand to fifteen hundred acres in size. All the members would be housed in one large building, square in shape, which would feature a communal kitchen and other public rooms, although every family would have its own private apartments. Children would be the sole responsibility of the family until they were three years old, after which they would be cared for by the community as a whole, although they would share meals and all other special times with their family.

He believed these communities could be initially founded by individuals, parishes, counties, or even the state but in any event they would be supervised by a suitably qualified team. The community would work together for the benefit of all its members and in time Owen came to believe this model would be the best form for the re-organization of society in general.

Betwen five hundred and three thousand members, depending on the land available, was cited as best number for a workable community, which he saw as having an agricultural base.He believed it omportant the community should have the best machinery it could afford, offer a wide variety of employment opportunities and, as far as possible, be self-sustaining.

"As these townships" (as he also called them) "should increase in number, unions of them federatively united shall be formed in circles of tens, hundreds and thousands, till they should embrace the whole world in a common interest".

The plans drawn up for the New Harmony, Indiana community exemplify his ideal for the future of society.

In 1784, a go ahead Scot, David Dale, founded what was to become the largest cotton manufacturing establishment in Scotland. At its height, New Lanark maintained a living and working community of approximately two thousand mill-workers, with about five hundred of these being children of five or six years old, brought from the poorhouses and charities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. The natural energy provided by the powerful Falls of Clyde in Lanarkshire powered the four large mills.

Dale was not only a very successful businessman but also, for his time, considered an enlightened employer and the education and welfare of his workers were important to him. None the less most families still lived exceedingly cramped quarters - usually just one room - and anybody that had a choice refused to submit to the long hours and seemingly endless drudgery of the mills. As the majority of the workforce came from lowest levels of society theft, drunkenness and other vices were common.

In 1795 Robert Owen began working for David Dale at New Lanark and by 1799 had married his daugther Caroline. By this time Owen had also gained enough financial backing and Dale sold New Lanark Mills to his new son-in-law.

Unusually Owen was not just interested in making money from his businesses and he was eager to develop a new kind of community. From 1800 to 1825,under Owen's management , the mills and village of New Lanark became a model society. Here, the social and educational reforms implemented by Owen tempered the often relentless drive towards progress and prosperity that had been pushed ahead by the new technology of the Industrial Revolution. Instead New Lanark was governed by a caring and humane regime. Here the first Infant School in the world was opened as well as a creche for working mothers, free medical care, and a comprehensive education system for children, including evening classes for adults. Children under ten were not allowed to work in the Mill and their working hours were reduced.

Leisure and recreation were an integral part of Owen's vision and the New Lanark community profited from concerts, dancing, music-making and many pleasantly landscaped areas. The community education centre Owen built for his workers was known as the Institute for the Formation of Character and was home to his progressive and enlightened system of education which was key to the happier, healthier and more harmonious society he so believed in.

It was Owen's greatest hope that other employers would follow his example and when they were slow to take up the cause he pushed for laws limiting child labour and for a reduction in the working day. For the most part he was unsuccessful. Disappointed by the lack of enthusiasm for his ideas in Britain he decided to set up another community on the other side of the Atlantic.

"What ideas individuals may attach to the term "Millennium" I know not; but I know that society may be formed so as to exist without crime, without poverty, with health greatly improved, with little, if any misery, and with intelligence and happiness increased a hundredfold; and no obstacle whatsoever intervenes at this moment except ignorance to prevent such a state of society from becoming universal."

Extract from Robert Owen's "Address to the Inhabitants of New Lanark"
New Year's Day, 1816

Disappointed that his ideas had not been received with more enthusiads, in 1825 Owen bought New Harmony, Indiana, U.S. from a George Rapp for $30,000. Although all of Owen's children moved to New Harmony and his eldest son was not only a teacher but also placed in charge of the project, Owen himself elected to say in England to continue his work with reform groups. The American experiment, however, only lasted about two years before failing completely. This may have been due at least in part to Owen's lack of presence to govern the community. New Harmony was not a pauper experiment; but certainly its members were a motley crew described by Owen's son as "a heterogeneous collection of radicals... honest latitudinarians, and lazy theorists, with a sprinkling of unprincipled sharpers thrown in."

According to Josiah Warren, one of the participants in the New Harmony Society, the collapse of the community was due to a lack of individual sovereignty and private property.

"We had a world in miniature - we had enacted the French revolution over again with despairing hearts instead of corpses as a result. ...It appeared that it was nature's own inherent law of diversity that had conquered us ...our "united interests" were directly at war with the individualities of persons and circumstances and the instinct of self-preservation..."
(Periodical Letter II 1856) Josiah Warren

In 1827 Robert Owen sold his interest in New Harmony.

Despite his previous antipathy to religion, at the age of 83 Owen embraced spiritualism after a series of "sittings" with the American medium Maria B. Hayden. A public profession of his new faith was made in 1853 through his publication of The Rational Quarterly Review. Later that year he wrote a pamphlet entitled The future of the Human race; or great glorious and future revolution to be effected through the agency of departed spirits of good and superior men and women.

For Owen, communication with the otherside was another way to further the advancement of mankind. He claimed to have had contact with the spirits of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson amongst others, whose reason for communicating was, "to change the present, false, disunited and miserable state of human existence, for a true, united and happy state...to prepare the world for universal peace, and to infuse into all the spirit of charity, forbearance and love." Some of the prophecy communications were printed in Owen's autobiography The Life of Robert Owen (2 vols., London, 1857-58). After his death Owen's Spiritualist interests were continued by his son, Robert Dale Owen.

After passing to the Spirit World, Owen authored the Seven Principles of Spiritualism. Communicated through the mediumship of Emma Hardinge Britten in 1871, they were adopted by the Spiritualist's National Union as the foundations of the seven principles of spiritualism and formed the basis of the Union's religious teaching.

After passing to the Spirit World Owen authored the Seven Principles of Spiritualism. Communicated through the mediumship of Emma Hardinge Britten in 1871 they were adopted by the Spiritualist's National Union as the foundations of the seven principles of spiritualism and formed the basis of the Union's religious teaching.

*THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD

*THE BROTHERHOOD OF MAN

*THE COMMUNION OF SPIRITS AND THE MINISTRY OF ANGELS

*THE CONTINUOUS EXISTENCE OF THE HUMAN SOUL

*PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

*COMPENSATION HEREAFTER FOR ALL GOOD AND EVIL DEEDS DONE ON EARTH

*ETERNAL PROGRESS OPEN TO EVERY HUMAN SOUL

1. The Fatherhood of God

By the study of Nature, by personal experience and from the wisdom given to us from those in the spirit-world we recognise that there is a creative force in the universe. This force created the whole universe and life itself in its many forms. This 'Creative Force' manifests in all things and as we are part of the Life created by God, we acknowledge God as our Father.

2. The Brotherhood of Man

We are all part of the universal creative force, one large human family in God. Spiritualists try to understand the needs of others and aim to help all people materially, emotionally, and spiritually.

3. Communion of Spirits and the Ministry of Angels

Spiritualism aims to prove that there is life after death and encourages the development of mediums who are able to communicate with the many loved relatives and friends in the spirit world. There are people in the spirit world who are dedicated to the welfare and service of mankind, some bring inspiration and guidance whilst others help with healing.

4. Continuous Existence of the Human Soul

Spirit is part of the 'Creative Force' and indestructible. After death the spirit continues in a different dimension, that we call the 'spirit world'. In the spirit world we have a spirit body which, until we progress far enough, is a replica of our earthly body. We have the same personality and characteristics and we change and grow, as we would on earth, by experience and as result of our own efforts.

5. Personal Responsibility

Responsibility for wrongful thoughts and actions, in every aspect of life, lies with the individual. No other person or influence can put right our wrong doings. No one can interfere with our spiritual development unless we allow this.

6. Compensation and Retribution hereafter for all Good and Evil Deeds done on Earth

Spiritualists believe that this sixth Principle is a natural law and has been expressed by others as, 'as you sow, so shall you reap'. If someone is cruel and vindictive towards others then in some way retribution will follow, if someone gives love and kindness then compensation follows. This law operates now, on earth as well as in the spirit world.

7. Eternal Progress open to every Human Soul

All who want to walk the path that leads to perfection are able to progress in mental and spiritual understanding. By doing our best in earth life and by following our inward intuitions we shall find progress comes on earth and in spirit.

In 1831Owen's wife died, about the time he began to actively support the trade union movement in England. He took every opportunity available to expound his views on factory reform in particular. In 1832, believing the maldistribution of wealth was caused by unnecessary, and expensive, middle men, Owen founded the Labour Bazaar, thus removing the barrier between consumer and producer. At the Labour Exchanges or Labour Bazaars goods could be exchanged for labour notes. These labour notes could be used to 'buy' other items. Athough the system was primitive there was much support and people were keen to participate in the exchange process.

Believing the strength of unions lay in unity in 1834 that the Grand National Consolidated Trade Union was formed. However, there were many strikes and employers retaliated by staging lock-outs. As a result the unions suffered financially. Robert Owen believed striking was not the way forward and encouraged a spirit of co operation between the unions and the employers, yet the employees to fight for their rights. 1834 saw the collapse of the union which also brought down many of the small co operative shops. Thoroughly disheartened Owen was afraid this could mark the end of the mass labour movement which he had so many hopes for. However, not all was lost and the Rochdale Pioneers in Lancashire started a co operative movement. This was the seed that germinated into the modern Co-Operative movement.

He subsequently devoted the remainder of his life to campaigning for a variety of causes, disseminating his ideas through the media of the day: pamphlets, journals, books and public lectures. Remaining up until a few days before his death on the 17th of November 1858, he died at his hometown of Newtown, Powys.