Cabet, Étienne (1788–1856)

French-born Utopian, social reformer, and author. In France he published a Utopian romance, Voyage en Icarie (1839), which outlined what he called the Icarian doctrine, a detailed blueprint for a new society. He went to the USA in 1849 to join a Utopian community established by his American followers at the abandoned Mormon town of Nauvoo, Illinois.

He was born in Dijon, France. Trained as a lawyer, he was a radical member of the French Chamber of Deputies (1831) and founded Le Populaire (1833), a publication that promoted the working class cause. In 1834 the government prosecuted him for certain articles and he went into exile in England. He was autocratic and this turned many of his followers against him. In 1856 he left for St Louis, Missouri, where he soon died. His death did not stop the creation of other Icarian colonies but all were dissolved by 1895.