Robert Owen is considered one of the original socialists. His ideas about cooperation and workers' rights laid the foundation for socialist principles and trade unions and influenced thinkers such as Karl Marx and Frederick Engels.

Owen was born May 14, 1771 in Newton, Wales as the sixth of seven children. Beginning at age seven, he educated himself and left home at ten to apprentice with a draper. In 1785, Owen arrived in Manchester, England, which was in the throes of industrial development. At this point, Owen made his way into business, applying his savings and his textile knowledge to start his own factory. At age twenty, Owen managed a textile mill of five hundred workers and was eventually made a partner.

Soon after, Owen met Anne Caroline Dale, whose father owned the mill in New Lanark, Scotland. Owen and Anne married and Owen and his partners were able to purchase the...