Thomas Moore was an important humanist in the Western Renaissance and a great founder of utopian socialism theory. His masterpiece Utopia is the first masterpiece of this theory.
Utopia is divided into two parts The first half mainly exposes and criticizes the reality, and the second half is the conception of an ideal society.
In the first part, Moore satirized and profoundly exposed the various disadvantages of British society at that time, the tyranny and impudence of the ruling class, and the tragic situation of the broad masses of the lower classes through Raphael's mouth. Those rulers only care about two things: either plundering people's property crazily or provoking predatory wars. In order to achieve this goal, they can find all kinds of excuses at the expense of people's lives or disabilities. Rulers use harsh laws to deal with the lower classes, and there is no justice at all.
When talking about the enclosure movement of "sheep eating people" initiated by the emerging nobles and squires, Moore wrote: "Your sheep, once so easy to satisfy, are now described as greedy and fierce, and even want to eat people."
Moore will criticize the foundation of the exploitation system-private ownership. "I am convinced that unless private ownership is completely abolished, the average distribution of wealth is fair and human life is truly happy. As long as private ownership exists, the vast majority of mankind, mainly the best part, will still bear the inescapable burden of poverty and misfortune. " Moore's bold exposure outlined a three-dimensional painting for the British society at that time, and also set off a second social system to describe utopia. It is in the contrast between ideal and reality that Moore draws some important conclusions about utopian socialism.
In the second part of Utopia, Moore projected his vision of a beautiful national system of mankind onto his imaginary Utopia island.
In politics, Moore mainly involves the highest form of utopian people's democracy, utopian officials, utopian social stratification and utopian legal system. First of all, the basic feature of utopian political system is democracy. The highest form for utopians to realize democracy is the island-wide parliament. Secondly, Utopia has a complete official system. Here, no official will see himself as arrogant. Third, from the perspective of social stratification, utopian society is composed of free citizens and slaves. Utopian slaves are mainly served by people who have committed serious crimes at home or prisoners who have been sentenced to death for crimes abroad. Finally, the legal system of Utopia is also quite distinctive. In utopia, there are almost no laws and lawyers. People manage their own lawsuits, and judges can skillfully weigh various confessions and make appropriate judgments.
Economically, all economic activities of Utopian people are carried out on the premise of human productive labor. In Utopia, all cities and their nearby villages, regardless of gender, should take part in labor as long as their age and physical strength are suitable. Utopians emphasize economic interests. What their workers are engaged in are all necessary occupations to "meet people's natural needs and convenience requirements", of which agriculture is the most important. In addition, every Utopian should learn a useful craft according to his own situation, such as wool, linen, bricklayer, smelting, carpentry and so on. In utopia, there is no money and no commodity circulation. Last but not least, Utopia practices public ownership of property. All products are managed by the public and distributed on demand. Here, "No matter where you are, you won't find private property. In fact, every ten years, they have to exchange houses by drawing lots. " Public ownership of property is the material premise of the existence of the whole utopian society.
In social life, firstly, Utopians adopt a healthy and progressive lifestyle. In utopia, there is no chance to waste time and excuse absenteeism. Secondly, what prevails here is a new interpersonal relationship of equality, mutual assistance, harmony and friendship. Family ethics is of great significance to utopian society. In terms of religion, Utopians adopted a very wise tolerant attitude. It is free to worship the sun, the moon or the stars. People can freely preach their religion, and no one will be punished for their beliefs, but no one is allowed to impose their beliefs on others.
In foreign relations, Utopians have a peaceful and friendly attitude towards the outside world, but they will not refuse or even go to war when necessary. Its war was mainly a crusade when their colonial people rebelled; Or protect their territory from infringement; Or to save those who are oppressed by tyranny, they think it is an act driven by human compassion.
In addition, in this part, Moore also described the utopian population, education, urban planning, transportation, marriage customs, language, medicine and health, and even ideas.