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The French feminist and socialist Flora Tristan may be seen as a predecessor of Marx and Engels, even if they seem to have ignored her. In the Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels refer to critical utopian socialism, particularly drawing attention to Louis Saint-Simon, Robert Owen, and Charles Fourier, among others. Among these others, however, Flora Tristan, who was in certain respects more radical than her male colleagues, is not mentioned at all.
It is not certain whether Marx was personally acquainted with Flora Tristan when they lived in the same part of Paris in 1843. Arnold Ruge, coeditor with Marx of the Deutsche-Franzosische Jahrbucher, met her at least twice in her salon. In any case, Marx and Engels did know her concept of the workers' union, because in the Holy Family Engels defended Flora Tristan against the Young Hegelians.
In her book The Universal Union of Male and Female Workers (known by the shortened title, The Workers' Union), published five years before the Communist Manifesto, Tristan states that the emancipation of the working class can only be realized by the working class itself, and that in order to realize this aim, the working class needs a universal and strong organization. This strong organization should not be limited to the national level but should be developed on the international level as well. Male and female workers have to fight together; the emancipation of women is not a consequence of, but a prerequisite for, the emancipation of the working class.
Flora Tristan's life
A brief look at Tristan's biography provides a useful background for an analysis of her ideas. Flora Tristan was born in Paris in 1803. Her father belonged to one of the richest and most famous families in Peru, although her mother came from the French lower middle class. When Flora was five years old, her father suddenly died, causing a radical change in her life. The marriage of her parents was not recognized by either the Peruvian or French governments. The family of Flora's father refused to give Flora's mother and her two children their inheritance. Suddenly penniless, Flora's mother and the two little children, who were regarded as bastards, were forced to leave their manor and move to the slums of Paris.
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