Utopia is divided into two parts In the first part, Moore, with Raphael's words, mainly satirized and profoundly exposed the various drawbacks 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. Those rulers only care about two things: either plundering the people's property crazily, for which they can use all means to set the most insidious and despicable trap; Or provoke a predatory war, in order to achieve this goal, they can find various excuses, at the expense of human life or lead to their disability. At ordinary times, we have to raise a group of mercenaries, which has caused serious harm to social security.
Rulers use harsh laws to deal with the lower classes, and there is no justice at all. "Thieves are executed everywhere, and sometimes 20 people are sent to the same gallows at the same time." Moore believes that in this way, the consequence can only be that "people who originally wanted to steal may even kill others." Unless it can be guaranteed that there will be no great danger after being caught, in order to be safer, the insider must be killed to cover up the crime. Therefore, when we use torture to intimidate thieves, it brings disaster to innocent civilians. "
When talking about the enclosure movement of "sheep eating people" initiated by the emerging aristocrats and squires, Moore wrote, "Your sheep used to be so easy to satisfy, and it is said that now they have become greedy and fierce, and even want to eat people. They swallowed up fields, houses and towns. In those areas where fine and expensive wool is produced, aristocratic gentry and bishops who don't know how to become saints are no longer satisfied with the annual pension and the benefits they get from their ancestral property. They feel that it is not enough to live a leisurely and luxurious life that is not beneficial to the country, and they must do some serious harm to the country. ..... They knocked down houses and destroyed towns, leaving only the church as a sheepfold. " In this way, "tenant farmers have been driven away, some of them have been deprived of their land by fraud and violence, and some have even been deprived of their own property;" Others were illegally tortured and forced to sell their land. With farm tools, these poor people are forced to leave their homes-men, women, husbands, wives, orphans, widows, parents with young children, poor families with many people (what can these people do without farm work). However, they had to leave, leaving the only hometown that once belonged to them and was familiar with, and could not find a place to live. "Their books were originally worthless, so they had to be sold at a low price because they were in a hurry."
Moore pointed his criticism at the foundation of the exploitation system-private ownership. He said, "I have always doubted whether everything can be equal in places where personal income is regarded as private property. ..... I firmly believe that unless private ownership is completely abolished, the average distribution of wealth can be just and human life can be truly happy. As long as private ownership exists, the vast majority of mankind, mainly the best people, will still bear the inescapable burden of poverty and misfortune. "
These bold revelations of Moore sketched a three-dimensional picture for the British society at that time, and also set off the utopian social system described in the second part. 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 to his imaginary Utopia island. In this part, Moore used eight obscure titles to systematically plan the main features of an ideal social utopia in politics, economy, science and culture, social life, religion and foreign relations.
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, that is, all utopians except slaves are masters of their own affairs. The highest form for utopians to realize democracy is the island-wide parliament. The Committee is located in Yamurotti, the capital, and consists of three elderly and experienced citizens from 54 cities on the island. Its members are replaced once a year. They discussed issues related to the interests of the whole island. They stipulate that if a law is not discussed three days before the date of promulgation, it cannot be approved for implementation. It is another crime to consider public affairs outside parliament or people's assembly; Moreover, there is a convention in parliament: the bill will not be discussed on the day it is introduced, and it will be discussed at the next meeting; In addition, they always send two tenet to attend meetings, and they change them every day. These measures ensure the authority and effectiveness of the Security Council. Secondly, Utopia has a complete official system. There are three administrative officials on the island: Governor Trannipur (or Chief Feilaha) and caretaker Grante (or Feilaha). The Governor is the Chief Executive. Four candidates from the four districts under Yamaurotti's jurisdiction are elected by secret ballot, mainly from the 200 people who take care of Grante on the island. The governor holds office for life, but he will be removed from office if he is suspected of plotting tyranny. Tenip is elected once a year, and there is no good reason not to change it. Other officials can only serve for one year. Those who try to get jobs by manipulating elections have no hope of being an official in Utopia. Here, no official will see himself as arrogant. They were honored as fathers, and they showed their proper character as fathers. Third, from the perspective of social stratification, a utopian society consists of free citizens and slaves. Utopian slaves come from two aspects: some are people who committed serious crimes in China and were punished like slaves; The other category is prisoners sentenced to death for crimes committed abroad. Here, Moore tries to give a detailed answer to the question "How to punish thieves" raised in the first part. Finally, the legal system of Utopia is also quite distinctive. In utopia, there are almost no laws and no lawyers. People are in charge of their own lawsuits, and judges can also weigh various confessions and make appropriate judgments.
On the economic front. First of all, all the 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. Although people who take care of Grant can be exempted from labor according to law, they will not take advantage of this privilege, but set an example to attract others to do their jobs better. Secondly, Utopians emphasize economic interests. What their workers are engaged in are all necessary occupations to "meet people's natural needs and convenience requirements". Among them, agriculture is the most important, which is in the basic position in the whole economic structure and is the most valued. Utopia should take turns to engage in agricultural labor without exception. In addition to agriculture, every Utopian has to learn a trade according to his own situation. Usually, people will choose some necessary occupations, including wool weaving, linen weaving, bricklaying, smelting, carpentry and so on. Moreover, they don't need to consume a lot of labor like other countries in most necessary crafts. Third, in Utopia, there is no money to borrow, no commodity to circulate, and people regard gold and silver as dirt. Utopian people's production, distribution and consumption are all planned and regulated. Last but not least, Utopia practices public ownership of property. All products are managed by the public and distributed on demand. So there are no vagrants and beggars. People can enjoy the delicious food in public canteens and the excellent service of public hospitals here. Here, "you can't find private property anywhere. 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 science and culture. First of all, Utopians pay attention to improving the scientific and cultural level of all the people. They demanded that the time outside of work, sleep and meals should be used for academic discussions as much as possible. They even regard people's mental development as the goal of social development. The Utopian Constitution states the only goal they pursue: "In order to liberate all citizens from manual labor as much as possible without damaging public needs, and strive for spiritual freedom and spiritual perfection." Secondly, Utopians pay attention to promoting the continuous development of science and culture. They choose people with good personality, extraordinary intelligence and strong interest in learning as full-time academic researchers and enjoy some special treatment. Therefore, it has a fairly high level of development in music, logic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, philosophy and so on. In addition, they attach great importance to learning foreign culture and have amazing digestion and absorption ability to foreign culture.
In social life. First of all, Utopians adopt a healthy and upward lifestyle. In utopia, there is no chance to waste time and excuse absenteeism. There are no pubs, brothels, casinos and thieves' dens here. People engage in some normal and healthy recreational activities in their spare time. In clothing, people pursue frugality, simplicity and practicality, and despise those who are gaudy, gold and silver, and deliberately dress up. 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. At home, wives serve their husbands, children serve their parents, and young people serve the elderly. The elderly are respected by people in all fields of utopian social activities and have high authority. In a sense, the whole utopia is like a big family, and the governor is like the "father" in this big family. Finally, Utopia has a new type of relationship between men and women. Women can participate in social activities on an equal footing with men and play an important role in promoting social development. Of course, due to the differences in gender roles of women, their roles in various fields of society are also different from those of men.
In terms of religion, Utopians adopted a very wise tolerant attitude. Here, some people worship the sun, some people worship the moon and some other 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. Although people may belong to different sects, there is only one supreme god in the hearts of all Utopians-"Smila", who is regarded as the creator and master of all things in the world. In addition, utopian religion is completely integrated with the true teachings of Christianity. Pastor plays a considerable role in social life and even war.
In terms of 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. Utopians attach great importance to friendly exchanges with other countries and clans in politics, economy and culture. They will.