Take-Aways Preface on an Allegedly True Story from the Island of Utopia What It’s About Ideal Society and Ideal State

About the Author

Sir Thomas More (venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More) was born in 1478, the son of a distinguished London judge. He embarked on an impressive legal career that would take him as far as the court of King Henry the VIII. As a child, he was educated at the court of Archbishop John Morton of Canterbury. More studied in Oxford and became a member of the House of Commons in 1504. In 1518, the king appointed him his personal adviser. In 1523, he moved on to the position of Speaker of the House of Commons and in 1529 that of Lord Chancellor. Henry the VIII sent the gifted lawyer on sensitive diplomatic missions abroad, which More mastered successfully. Much to his father’s chagrin, he showed an early interest in literature, writing epigrams (short satirical poems). He was well-versed in the Latin and Greek classics and, inspired by his close friendship with Erasmus of Rotterdam, engaged in the philosophical discourse of the Renaissance and humanism. Erasmus honored More as an exceptional human being who did everything for his friends. More was a devout Catholic, and in his youth, he sincerely contemplated priesthood. Yet he opted for a secular life, married and had children. He remained loyal to his faith and the Catholic Church, considering himself a servant of God and the Pope. This in turn resulted in a conflict with Henry VIII, who in 1534 demanded the submission of the clergy to the crown and claimed the supreme right to decide on matters of faith, thus usurping the privileges of the Pope. More refused allegiance to his king and resigned. Henry VIII tried him for treason and had him beheaded in 1535 at age 57. The Catholic Church beatified More in 1886 and canonized him in 1935. In its view, he was someone who fought against the unlawful interference of the state in church affairs and died for his beliefs. In 2000, Pope John Paul II declared More “the heavenly patron of statesmen and politicians.”

"Utopia" begins with a story about Mohr's embassy in Flanders and how he once met Peter Egidius, accompanied by an elderly, bearded stranger, his face scorched by the sun, and a cloak thrown carelessly over his shoulders. It was an old sailor and traveler named Raphael Gitdodey. He participated in almost all the expeditions of the famous Amerigo Vespucci, crossed the ocean more than once, saw many peoples and learned a lot of outlandish things. All three - Mor, Aegidius and Gitlodey - sit in the garden and begin their fascinating conversation. The first part of the conversation was devoted to England, whose fate could not but worry the humanist, primarily because the "state" of the English state at that time was far from being the best. The beginning of the XVI century. in the history of England was a time of profound changes in the economic and social life of the country. Capitalism arose in the bowels of feudal society. The bulk of the English peasants by the end of the 15th century. was free from serfdom, but was in land dependence on its lords, who, taking land from the peasants, fenced it off and turned it into pastures.

Subsequently, Karl Marx, in the chapter of Capital, specially devoted to the history of the birth of capitalism in England, quoted More's testimony about English enclosures, about "sheep eating people." According to K. Marx, "Utopia", along with other evidence of contemporaries of fencing, convincingly proves that the early capitalist accumulation, which laid the foundation for capitalism, did not occur as a result of the "thrift" of future capitalists, as bourgeois scientists tried to assert, but as a result of cruel , violent robbery of the peasantry {See. K. Marx and F. Engels. Works, vol. 23, pp. 744-745.}. A terrible picture of the disasters that befell the English peasants in connection with the fencing, depopulation of villages and crowds of beggars wandering along the roads of the country, Mor paints in the first book, "... Since one glutton, an insatiable and cruel ulcer of the fatherland, destroys the borders of the fields , surrounds several thousand acres with a single fence, "tenant peasants," entangled in deception "or" suppressed by violence, "are thrown out. Unhappy people have nowhere to go, they have nowhere to look for a means of livelihood - "after all, no one hires their labor, although they offer it in the most ardent way." Where once a whole village of farmers worked, now one shepherd is enough. What is left for these disadvantaged people, "how not to steal and fall on the gallows ... or wander and beggarly?"

More's story of the fencing is a passionate denunciatory document directed not only against the fencing lords, but also against the entire feudal absolutist state, which defended the interests of the fence lords and unleashed cruel "bloody laws" on the unfortunate and robbed peasants and ruined artisans against vagabonds, beggars and thieves. Mora's interlocutor - Gitlody, who lived in England for several months, was simply amazed at the unheard-of cruelty of the "bloody" laws. According to these laws, vagrants were ordered to be flogged "until blood flowed through the body," and the death penalty was imposed for the smallest theft. During the time of Mora, under Henry VII, an average of 2 thousand people were hanged annually, and under Henry VIII, as the historical chronicles of the 16th century report. (Holinshed), 72,000 vagrants and beggars were hanged.

"Cast out these destructive plagues, order that the destroyers of farms and villages either rebuild them, or yield to those who wish to rebuild and build. Curb the purchases made by the rich, their willfulness ... Feed fewer parasites. Return agriculture, resume processing wool, so that it becomes honorable. Let this idle crowd take advantage of it: those whom poverty has made thieves until now, or who are now vagabonds ... If you do not heal these calamities, then in vain you will boast of your tried and tested justice in the punishment of theft, rather in appearance impressive than fair and useful "{Ibid, pp. 66-67.}, - wrote More.

Mohr's greatest merit was that he did not confine himself to a simple description of national disasters, but decided to raise a deeper question: what is the reason for the inadequacy of the existing social system of European states? Why is it that the working people - "modest and simple people" who bring with their daily work "more benefit to society than to themselves personally" - are constantly in poverty - "and the predatory and dishonorable parasites who live by the labor of ordinary people flourish? And so it is. not only in England, but also in other states of Europe! According to More, it is impossible to call a just society that "does not show the slightest concern about the farmers, coal miners, day laborers, cabbies and workers, without whom there would be no society at all" { In the same place

Through the lips of his interlocutor, Gitlodey, Mor gave an exhaustive answer to the question of what the main cause of the people's disasters is: in private property. In a society "where ... there is private property, where everyone is measured by money ... the correct and successful course of state affairs is hardly ever possible ..." To recognize a society dominated by private property as fair and correct, in the opinion Mora means "to consider it right that all the best goes to the worst ... when the rest are decisively poor" {Ibid, pp. 95, 97.}.

And today, more than 450 years after the release of "Utopia", the brilliant insight of More, who at the dawn of capitalism was able to deeply comprehend the exploitative essence of the state in a class society, causes amazement and admiration: that they appear to be nothing more than a kind of conspiracy of the rich, who stand up under the name and sign of the state for their personal benefits In the second part of "Utopia" More tried to paint a picture of the ideal, from his point of view, the structure of society and the state.

During his sea voyages in the Western Hemisphere, Gitlodey accidentally ended up on one of the remote islands that amazed him with their social structure. It was the island of Utopia {Translated from the Greek word "utopia" means a place that does not exist.}. The second part of Mora's book is dedicated to the story of Gitlodey about this wonderful island.

Life on the island is the complete opposite of European reality. Work in Utopia is not burdensome, the working day lasts only 6 hours, but the rest of the time everyone does what he wants: sciences, arts and other favorite things. All the wealth of the island belongs to all its citizens, and everyone uses them according to their needs. Thus, the social structure of Utopia is based on the principles of socialism and justice. Moreover, in Utopia there is a communist principle - distribution according to needs.

Mor emphasizes the humble needs of the citizens of Utopia. Take, for example, their clothes: during work they are covered with skins, which are enough for seven years, after work they put on coarse woolen clothes of the same color. Such a primitive approach by Mora to the problem of satisfying needs, even in the conditions of an ideal social system, is not accidental. The imagination of a brilliant thinker was limited by the framework of his century. After all, the level of development of handicrafts and agriculture in the XVI century. did not give the opportunity to even dream of the abundance of material and spiritual benefits that the progress of technology brings.

More expressed in Utopia his humanistic conviction that man is born to be happy. Even the purpose of their daily work, the Utopians see in "ensuring, as far as possible ... all citizens the greatest amount of time after bodily slavery for spiritual freedom and education. This, in their opinion, is the happiness of life" {Thomas Mop. Utopia, p. 126.}.

Mora's entire book is permeated with the pathos of love for people and hatred of exploitation and oppression of man.

The Utopians abolished private property, took money out of use. Thus, they destroyed the very root of crimes - theft, murder, betrayal, that is, everything that accompanies the power of gold and money and with which they are so unsuccessfully trying to fight in other states by means of cruel laws.

"I am convinced," said Gitlodey, finishing his story about Utopia, "that nowhere is there such an excellent people and a happier state."

Thanking Gitlodey for the interesting story, More noted that there are really many things in Utopia that he would like to see implemented in practice "in our states." But then he added sadly: "I ... want it more than I expect" {Ibid., P. 222.}. In other words, Mor himself, who described in detail in "Utopia" the project of reorganizing society on a socialist basis, had little faith in the possibility of its implementation in the conditions of feudal Europe. But Mohr's socialist ideas were not in vain. Under the influence of these ideas, dozens of books were written on the problem of rebuilding society on the basis of equality and social justice. More became the founder of a whole trend in the history of socialism, called utopian socialism. At the same time, the word "utopia" began to denote any unrealizable project, any unrealizable dream. And this is not accidental: the utopian socialists, who dreamed of establishing a just social system on earth, did not know how to do this, and the founder of utopian socialism, Thomas More, did not know this either. And nevertheless, the historical merit of utopian socialism is enormous. The ideas of the utopian socialists later served as one of the most important historical foundations of Karl Marx's doctrine of socialism.

How serious the humanists' interest in "Utopia" was can be judged by the assessment it received in the correspondence between Erasmus and his friends. "After reading Mora's Utopia, you will think that you have been transferred to another world; everything is so new there," Erasmus wrote to one of his correspondents in February 1517 {"Opus epistolarum Des. Erasmi Roterodami", v. II, p. 459.} "If you have not read Utopia yet ... try to get it, if you want ... see the sources from which almost all the evil in the state comes from," Erasmus advised his other correspondent in a letter dated February 24, 1517 . {Ibid., P. 483.}
"Utopia" was read and re-read, some even tried to learn it by heart. There were also those who, not understanding Mora's witty literary hoax, were seriously ready to go in search of Utopia. It is important that Mora's contemporaries, especially humanists, took seriously the socio-political ideas of Utopia. In particular, the Dutch humanist Hieronymus Bouslidiade and the French humanist Guillaume Budet spoke enthusiastically about the author of "Utopia". The latter wrote in July 1517 to his friend T. Lapset: "I love and highly esteem him (Mora - I. O.) for everything that he wrote about this island of the New World. Our century and future centuries will have in of this story is a precious source of practically usable legislation for anyone who would like to use it and apply it in their states "{" The Complete Works of St. Thomas More ", v. 4, p. 14-15.}.

Finally, Mor himself, in correspondence with friends, with all frankness expressed his own attitude towards the republic of the Utopians as a state that, in a just social order, surpasses all states known to him.

Erasmus, who took the most ardent part in the fate of "Utopia", explained in a letter to Gutten on July 23, 1519, that Mor had published his book "with the intention of showing the reasons for the decline of states; but mainly he had in mind Britain , which he deeply studied and knew "{" Opus Epistolarum Des. Erasmi Roterodami ", v. IV, p. 21.}.

According to Egidius, Mor discovered in his "Utopia" such a great erudition, intelligence and such a rich experience in worldly affairs that even the famous traveler Ulysses cannot compare with him, and as for Amerigo Vespucci, in comparison with Mor he can be said , saw absolutely nothing {"The Complete Works of St. Thomas More", v. 4, p. 20-21.}.

So, from the correspondence between Mora and his friends, one can see what serious importance the humanists attached to the ideological content of Utopia. They did not at all see it as a joke, "a trifle" (jeu d'esprit) {See. D. Nhard. Etudes sur la Renaissance. Paris, 1856, p. 183; T. E. Bridgett. Life end Writings of Sir Thomas More. London, 1891, p, 105; R. L. Smith. John Fisher and Thomas More: Two English Saints. London, 1935, p. 72; E. M. C. Routh. Sir Thomas More and his Friends. N. Y., 1963, p. 74; D. Sargent. Thomas More. N. Y., 1948, p. 65. The latter expressed this point of view in the most straightforward manner. According to Sargent, More wrote Utopia to "entertain a small circle of humanists who liked his Latin language and who hovered too high above the world to feel interested in the vulgar worldly troubles."}, Written just for fun, as has sometimes been attempted introduce some scholars in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The literary fate of Utopia was influenced by the ideological and political struggle of the Reformation era and the further biography of Mora himself, who took a definite place in this struggle. A firm position on the side of Catholicism, Mohr's active polemic with Luther and Tyndall, his activities as Lord Chancellor Henry VIII and courageous death in the name of his religious and political convictions - all this for a long time distracted the attention of Mora's contemporaries and subsequent generations from Utopia. Mora's first biographer and a person close to him, William Roper, did not even consider it necessary to mention her.

After the publication of Utopia, More immediately became the focus of all enlightened Europe {Following the first Louvain edition of Utopia in 1516, several more editions followed. In 1517, a Paris edition came out, and then two editions (in March and November 1518), printed in Basel by Johann Froben. Already during the XVI century. Utopia has been translated from Latin into European languages. In 1524 the German translation of "Utopia" was published, in 1548 - Italian, in 1550 - French, in 1551 - English, in 1562 - Dutch.}. Along with the rise of Mohr's political popularity in London, Mohr's fame as a humanist scientist grew. The latter, perhaps, played an important role in the further development of Mora's political career as a major statesman in Tudor England.

The successful fulfillment of the diplomatic mission by Mohr during his embassy in Flanders, and after that the success of "Utopia" drew the attention of Henry VIII, who did everything to attract Mora to the royal service. Mor himself, in a letter to John Fischer, told about his introduction to the king: "I arrived at the palace completely against my will, as everyone knows and how the king himself jokingly reproached me for that. I felt as awkward there as a novice rider, sitting But our king is so kind and welcoming to everyone that everyone can consider himself an object of his special favor, no matter how modest he may think of himself ... As for me, I am not happy enough to imagine as if I deserved something of his favor for myself, or that I already really have it. But in any case, his virtues are so great that I begin to consider the life of a courtier less and less boring "{T. Stapleton. The Life and Illustrious Martyrdom of Sir Thomas More. London, 1966,

In 1518 More becomes one of the members of the royal council and the rapporteur of petitions addressed to the king. This position obliged not only to report petitions, but also to understand all the intricacies of the case and offer thoughtful decisions to the king for consideration.

In May 1521, Mor was appointed assistant treasurer. Together with this position, he receives the title of knight. At the same time, Mor participates in diplomatic missions, accompanying Chancellor Wolsey on his trips to Calais and Bruges. Mora's service and court career developed so successfully that in 1522 and 1525. he was bestowed by the king as a reward for serving the land in the counties of Oxfordshire and Kent. Henry VIII could not help but appreciate Mora for his deep intelligence and vast knowledge.

To truly understand Mora, you need to know his private life, his relationships with friends and family. In one of his letters, Erasmus left us a vivid description of his friend. Here is More's portrait, drawn by Erasmus in a letter to Gutten: he was no taller than average height, white-faced, with a thin blush, with dark golden hair and a rather sparse beard and with very expressive, beautiful bluish-gray eyes, always with a friendly, kind smile. The voice is quiet, but clear, the speech is surprisingly clean and unhurried .. Mor is modest in his everyday habits: he is unpretentious in food, prefers simple food to delicacies - beef, salted fish, bread, milk; dresses simply, disregards all conventions and secular manners. He loves animals very much, enjoys observing their habits and customs. In his house, a monkey, a fox, a ferret, a weasel and a parrot coexist next to him.

Mor is a fascinating interlocutor, his mind is quick, his memory is excellent. According to Erasmus, he was directly born for friendship: "Whoever seeks the perfect example of true friendship will not find better than Pestilence." Erasmus called him "the patron saint of all those in need", always ready to "support the oppressed, free the oppressed and burdened ..." {"Opus epistolarum Des. Erasmi Roterodami", v. IV, No. 999, p. 21.}

Mor was an ardent supporter of female education. He believed that a woman should be as educated as a man: "The gender difference in the sense of learning does not matter," for men and women "are equally capable of those activities that improve and fertilize the mind, like the soil on which seeds are sown. wisdom "{T. Stapleton. Op. cit, p. 95.}. Mor defended these views in Utopia. He tried to put them into practice: his three daughters received an excellent education, and the eldest Margaret had such a deep knowledge of ancient languages ​​and literature that Erasmus himself called her "an adornment of Britain." Mor taught his young wife to read and write and gave her a musical education. Mora's home has always had an unusually friendly and cordial atmosphere. His family was a real school, where everything was imbued with the spirit of humanism; passion for ancient languages ​​and literature was combined with studies in geography, mathematics, astronomy, medicine and music.

Used Literature

More, Thomas (1516/1967), "Utopia", trans. John P. Dolan, in James J. Greene and John P. Dolan, edd., The Essential Thomas More, New York: New American Library.

Corrigan.K (1990) The Function of the in Platois More, Thomas "Utopia"