Jean-Baptiste Godin and Utopia, Guise, Aisne (02)

Utopian socialist, industrialist and writer Jean-Baptiste André Godin was born in Esquéhéries in Aisne in 1817 to a locksmith father. In 1840, now a locksmith himself, Godin took out a patent on cast iron stoves. Two years later he discovered the socialist ideas of Charles Fourier. He moved his business in domestic appliances to Guise in 1846 and, between 1859-1884, he constructed his Familistère there.

At La Familistère the workers joined in the management and decision-making process, becoming owners of the factory and the central dwelling: Le Pavillon, or Palais social. Godin was driven by the ideas of Fourier mainly, and also those of Saint-Simon, Étienne Cabet and Robert Owen. La Familistère housed 2000 people, and for thirty years, with his partner and later wife Marie Moret, dedicated himself to the community in Guise.

Godin died in 1888, although the cooperative continued until 1968, when La Familistère became a capitalist concern. The buildings were declared historical monuments in 1991 and between 2006 and 2014 they were opened as a museum.

An external view of Le Pavillon Central, or Palais central.

And here, an internal view of the superb Pavillon Central. Formerly the rooms were all apartments, although now many are display rooms giving information on the apartments, the history of La Familistère, different utopias, Godin stoves, etc.

A Cuisiniére No. 1080 'Pot-au-Fer', 1930

Cuisiniére No. 956, 1914.

There are several reconstructions of the apartments, this representing the 1950s.

And this the 1960s. Apartments were quite spacious, having several rooms.

The impressive view from the top of the stairs.

The statue of Godin in front of the Pavillon Central, with a 'map' of the Familistère on one of the sides of the base.

A plate, one of a series, in Godin's former apartment where he lived with Marie Moret. The scene is called 'La Propriété c'est le vol' ('Property is theft'), and is a satire on the anarchist Proudhon's famous quotation.

Bust in bronze of Godin by Tony-Noël, c. 1881.

Bust in marble of Marie Moret, again by Tony-Noël in 1881.

The buanderie, or laundry.

The swimming pool at the side of the laundry.

Next to the buildings there is a jardin d'agrément at the side of the River Oise, the upper part of which ends in the mausoleum where Jean-Baptiste André Godin and Marie Moret lie.

In 1938, the 150th anniverary of Godin's death, members of the Association 'Travailleurs et Pensionnés' of Guise and Brussels had erected this monument to Godin at the side of the mausoleum.

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Jean-Baptiste Godin and Utopia, Guise, Aisne (02)