SOURCE: "Publishing a Journal," in Charles Fourier: The Visionary and His World, University of California Press, 1986, pp. 431-53.

In the following excerpt, Beecher traces the development of the journal created by Fourier and his disciples and comments on the publication's significance.

The first months of 1832 were a time of great hope and enthusiasm for Fourier and his disciples. The "conspiracy of silence" that had so long impeded the spread of his ideas was at last broken. The lectures and articles of Jules Lechevalier and Abel Transon had made Fourierism known to the world at large, and had also played an important role in bringing about the conversion of a number of Saint-Simonians. Fourier's older disciples were delighted by these developments. From Metz Victor Considerant wrote triumphantly about the "wonderful" news from Paris and the "beautiful" prospects for the future. At Besançon Just Muiron reveled in now being...