Among the authors who put forward association projects on the eve of the French bourgeois Revolution of the late eighteenth century was a certain Joseph-Alexandre-Victor Yupey. From a letter written in 1782 to Retief de la Breton, a popular writer at the time, the author of numerous social reform projects, and one of the most prominent representatives of utopian communism of that era, and published by the latter in an appendix to one of his works, we learn that Yupei, who called himself a "communist author", was guided by the desire of the Communist Party to to maintain contact with other authors who write about associations, he sent Retief his published "Project of the Philosophical Community" 1. A. Lishtanberger, in his study "Socialism in the XVIII century", mentions Yupey's book, published in 1779: "A very rare work, usually known only by its name"2, but this is by no means the case. not the "Philosophical Community Project" that Yupei had sent to Retief. We have already analyzed Yupei's pamphlets and books published during the revolution, in which he referred to his "project". However, since this book itself is not in the National Library or in other Parisian book repositories, the author of these lines in 1966 came to the conclusion that this work should be considered lost .3 Eventually, however, we managed to find Yupei's "project" in the collections of the Feltrinelli Institute Library in Milan.

Yupei's "Project of the Philosophical Community" was published in 1777.4 It was a fairly large book, with over two hundred pages. In the library of the Feltrinelli Institute, there is also a second book by Yupei, published in 1779, which Lishtanberger mentions, but this is not.the "Project of the philosophical community" itself, but as if an addition to it, developing and explaining the proposals put forward in it5 . Both of these books by Yupei testify to his sharply negative attitude towards the existing social system, which he portrays in the darkest colors. Yupei writes about the horrors of modern society: it is a society only in name, but in reality it is a chaos in which people are increasingly estranged from each other, becoming alien and indifferent to each other. A society based on private property, he believes, is dominated by plunder, barbarism and inhumanity. 6 The purpose of such a society is "to rob the working man in order to enrich the idle and dangerous individuals." The situation is particularly difficult in rural areas, where greedy farmers and inhumane owners devour all the fruits of the land. "Poor peasants, exhausted by hunger and fatigue, covered with rags, villages with miserable huts

1 Retif de la Bretonne. Les Contemporaines. T. XIX. Leipsick. 1785.

2 A. Lichtenberger. Le socialisme au XVIII-e siecle. P. 1895, pp. 341 - 342.

3 A. R. Ioannisyan. Communist ideas in the years of the Great French Revolution, Moscow, 1966, p. 97.

4 "Projet de Communaute Philosophe, fonde sur la vie du bon La Fontaine, les sentimens des meilleurs Auteurs, les principes des Etablissemens des peuples les plus sages du Nouveau Monde et sur l'Analyse de syteme economique de la Nouvelle Heloise, Avec un Plan Geometral du Sejour Champetre de cette Societe". Par J. A. Vd. Hxx . A Euphrate. Chez les Associes Freres Dumplers. MDCCLXXVII (Library of the Feltrinelli Institute. Ut. f. 5, 3).

5 "Maison de reunion pour la communaite philosophe dans les Terres de l'Auteur de ce Projet. Plan d'ordre propres aux personnes de deux sexes, de tout age et diverses professions, pour leur faire passer dans les Communautes semblables la vie la plus agreable, la plus sainte et la plus vertueuse". A Euphrate. Chez les Associes Freres Dumplers et a Utrecht. Aux frais de la Maison commune des Moravites 1779 (Library of the Feltrinelli Institute. Ut. f. 5, 1).

6 "Projet de Communaute Philosophe...", p. 65.

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they are a sad sight. " 7 Oppression exists where taxes are levied arbitrarily and recruits are made, where laws imposed on the people without their consent are enforced, where public privileges are violated and private ones are established, where there is a power that seeks to take everything by the sword and order everything in the name of God. The injustice of the laws, the injustice of the distribution of property, the torments and hardships of poverty, the insolence and impunity of wealth, and the abuse of power, in their turn, give rise to rioters and criminals. Of course, Yupei points out, " evil kings need cruel gods to set up an example of tyranny in heaven, they need priests to make them worship these tyrant gods." The people can be happy "without masters and without priests" 8 .

Thus, Yupei's criticism has a pronounced anti-feudal character, it is directed against the "old regime", against the feudal-absolutist system. At the same time, Yupei condemns any social system based on social inequality - the inevitable consequence of private property. The denial of the very principle of private property is the leitmotif of all the author's arguments. Its ideal is a social system based on the community of property.

In justifying this ideal, Jupe refers, on the one hand, to the literature of utopian communism, which became widespread in the XVIII century, with which, obviously, he was well acquainted, and on the other - to the works of ancient philosophers. He writes about the need to fulfill the wishes of Plato, T. More and Diderot, mistakenly considering him (as, indeed, other contemporaries, up to Babeuf) the author of the "Code of Nature" 9 . He mentions the author of the"majestic poem of the Basiliad" 10 , that is, the same Morelli, and gives extensive excerpts from Mably's work "On Legislation or Principles of Laws"published a year earlier (in 1776) .11 It is well known that Mably, in justifying the theoretical principles of communism, limited himself in practice only to equalizing propositions. But Yupei refers to those parts of Mably's work where the ideal of community of property is established. He cites, for example, his following statements:: "You see with what wisdom nature has prepared us to lead us to a community of possessions and to prevent us from falling into the abyss into which the establishment of property has plunged us." "If people do not need to have possessions in order to be sensitive to joy and sorrow, then be sure that the community of possessions will not plunge them into the stupor that you fear." 12
In addition to references to Mabli, Morelli, Mora, Yupei, in the spirit of contemporary ideas, justifies the ideal of community of property and concrete examples. In this respect, his description of the Jesuit state in Paraguay, which was widely idealized in eighteenth-century literature, is characteristic. "The people of Paraguay," he writes, " have no civil laws, because they do not know what property is, and they have no criminal laws. The watchmaker, the weaver, the locksmith, and the tailor take their wares to public warehouses, while the farmer also works for them... It is a way of government where no one is idle and no one is exhausted by work, where food is healthy, plentiful and equal for all citizens, who are placed in comfortable homes, well-dressed, where the elderly, widows, orphans, the sick are provided with help, where everyone marries according to their choice, without self-interest where the multitude of children is a comfort and cannot be a burden. " 13
Community of property, according to Yupei, is inseparable from the concept of a society worthy of this name .14 This is a necessary condition for enjoying love and friendship forever 15 . Therefore, when describing the social system of Paraguay, Yupei concludes: "The legislator could go one step further to implement Thomas More's idea of a true republic, in order to lead human societies to the greatest possible happiness - a complete community of possessions: the only plan of brotherhood, in the spirit of the gospel, a code of the most perfect morality" 16 .

7 Ibid., pp. 227 - 228.

8 Ibid., pp. 85 - 86, 95, 98.

9 Ibid., pp. 66 - 67.

10 "Maison de reunion...", p. 27.

11 "Projet de Communaute Philosophe...", pp. 34 - 63.

12 Ibid.

13 Ibid., pp. 80 - 88.

14 "Maison de reunion...", p. 32.

15 "Projet de Communaute Philosophe..."k p. 108.

16 Ibid., p. 82.

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Speaking as a strong and consistent advocate of common property, Yupei had every reason to consider himself a "communist author," as he does in his letter to Retief. However, without counting on the possibility of direct realization of his social ideal, he puts forward the" Project of a philosophical community", which pursues a twofold goal: on the one hand, already in the conditions of modern society, to enable a certain circle of people to get rid of everyday worries, worries and life adversities by organizing community-associations, and on the other - to create a philosophical community. prerequisites for further social transformation.

Specifically, Yupei's plan was as follows. He proposed to organize initially on the estate belonging to him, 9 leagues from Marseille, a community-an association of several families. Each family must pay 500 ecu for their board. Therefore, it would be an association of well-to-do families with certain incomes. What, in the author's opinion, should encourage them to unite for a joint life and joint farming? This is primarily an understanding that living together is the only natural and social way of life that ensures equality, friendship, and harmony between people. Such a community will save its members from the worries, hardships, and vicissitudes of a society based on private property, which affects not only the poor, but also the rich. There is no room for conflict of interest. Not interested in opposing each other, the members of such an association will fraternally love each other, as well as all their children, as if they were their common children. Members of the community will no longer be afraid of poverty or disease, they will have no regrets, no fears, no remorse. Equality, full consent, a sense of independence, living together and working together will make them happy 17 .

But Yupei also makes purely economic arguments in favor of organizing such communities-associations, which are surprisingly similar to the corresponding Fourier argument. Living together in communities is also financially more beneficial for its members. Sharing a household is much cheaper. A single chef who manages a single kitchen can feed the community well for a more moderate amount. The same applies to other expenses. Thus, association also provides significant cost savings than if families lived separately. "And so I am surprised," writes Yupei, as if anticipating the comparison so often and persistently made later by Fourier, "that people who in our age have such a great propensity for associations in the field of trade have not yet tried to implement this economic structure." 18 Yupei gives a detailed description of the organization of the proposed community. Its members live with their families in separate houses-apartments connected by corridors with each other and with common areas. One of them is called a "laboratory". This is a workshop where members of the community work. The fact is that although the "philosophical community" is inhabited by well-to-do people, they do not lead an idle lifestyle. The author believes that physical labor is necessary for the health of the body and soul. In the workshop, men work at various machines located along the walls, and women in the center of the hall are engaged in work specific to their gender. In the common refectory, members of the community eat together. In this room, magazines and instructive books are read in turn, so that members of the community also receive spiritual food during meals. In general, the order of joint meals in the community should be about the same as " in Utopia, this beautiful and happy republic invented by Thomas More." Children of community members receive joint education, learning from an early age not only various sciences, literature, art, but also useful work. From the age of 14, they are taught "some useful crafts". At the age of 16, they devote an entire year to " agricultural work." Such education is given to children of both sexes. Up to the age of five, they eat in a separate hall, and then in a common refectory, together with adults 19 .

17 Ibid., pp. V-VI, 65; "Maison de reunion...", pp. 3 - 4, 10 - 22, 26, 33 - 34.

18 "Maison de reunion...", pp. 31 - 35, 40 - 41.

19 "Projet de Communaute Philosophe...", pp. 73 - 76, 125 - 126; "Maison de reunion...", pp. 58 - 91, 104.

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The most remarkable thing about the Yupei association's project is undoubtedly the detailed description of the "phalanster" - a single complex of premises in which members of the community live-located in the midst of a vast garden and land. The author not only describes in detail this community dormitory with its living quarters, workshop, common hall, library, kitchen, dining room, storage room, bathhouse, infirmary, etc., but also gives a plan-scheme of the "phalanster" and its surrounding territory in a special insert. "Common houses" of associations were described by other authors of similar projects on the eve of the French Revolution. But the concrete plan-drawing published by Yupei back in the late 70s of the XVIII century is, of course, the first (and to date the only one known to us) scheme of the "phalanster", compiled earlier than similar Fourier projects.

To justify its project of community associations, Yupei uses traditional examples from the 18th century, which were also referred to by the authors of other similar projects .20 When he mentions the Anabaptists and points out their principle of community of property, he sees their merit in the fact that this doctrine eventually gave rise to a movement of Quakers "who did not want to have either masters or servants." Like other writers of that era, including Mably, he portrays Quaker communities in a New light, idealizing their lives, claiming that they live without luxury and vice, in conditions of equality and joint work .21 He also reuses the classic examples for the authors of "associative" projects of the eighteenth century: Moravian or Gerngouter communes22 and French peasant communities in Auvergne23 . Yupei, however, does not limit itself to mere references to these communities. Among the appendices published in his second book is a famous article by an employee of the "Encyclopedia", the author of a number of economic works of Fege "Moravy" 24 . This article, published in 1765 in the Encyclopedia, contained not only a description of the Moravian and Auvergne communities, but also put forward a plan for an" association of good citizens", an" association of industrious people", developed by the author himself. In a letter to Retief, Yupei, "very much interested in books about education and as much in books about community," inquired about his work "The School of Fathers," which, according to the advertisement, was to describe the Auvergne and Moravian communities. After reviewing the association's project for urban residents published in the third volume of Retief's New Abelard, he also reprinted it at the end of his second book as "an example of a new plan for the unification house discovered when this work was finished being printed." 25
Like the authors of some other projects of associations, which have increasingly assumed the character of mutual partnerships, Yupei also allows the use of hired labor. This is understandable. After all, Yupei thought of his community as an association of a group of well-to-do people. According to his plan, it was to have a cook, servants to run the household, servants to take care of the garden and the community grounds. It was even specifically stated that servants eat together with members of the community in the refectory, but sit at the end of the table. However, being a supporter of the communist ideal, Yupei did not consider the "philosophical community" proposed by him as his ultimate goal, unlike the authors of some other association projects. He saw in such communities only the first step towards the transformation of society on the principles of equality and fraternity.

First of all, well-to-do people in the "philosophical community" do not live idly, but engage in physical labor for a certain part of the time. Thus, they join in the work that becomes a vital necessity for them. In addition, the hired servants are getting closer and closer to them. They not only share their meals, but also take part in community-organized festivals and "village concerts and balls"together with the surrounding peasants

20 For more information, see: A. R. Ioannisyan. Genesis " of the Fourier social ideal, Moscow, 1939, pp. 152-164. :

21 "Projet de Communaute Philosophe...", pp. 93 - 105.

22 Characteristically, the title page of Yupei's second work indicates that this book was published at the expense of the Moravian brothers ' community. Was this just a literary device, or was Yupei really connected to Moravian and the communities? Be that as it may, this is further proof of the influence that the example of the Gernguther communities had on the authors of the eighteenth-century association projects.

23 "Maison de reunion...", pp. 5, 32.

24 Ibid., pp. 158 - 170.

25 Ibid., pp. 211 - 227.

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and other entertainment 26 . Servants are treated as equals, and after a three-year probationary period, they are included in the community .27 The author, however, does not elaborate on this topic, but the trend of further evolution of such a "philosophical community" is quite clear.

Yuley expresses the hope that the" philosophical community " will not be the only one and that similar communities will be organized in all big cities .28 Moreover, the author suggests organizing communities not only for well-off people, but also for other segments of the population. "This unification and this commonality of the moral and economic regime could be carried out by groups of people in all classes, without mixing their states. It would strengthen the friendship between people in every profession, eliminating all vain external differences for the same class of citizens." For the organization of such communities, monasteries could be used, "which are becoming more and more empty every day, as if waiting for a better destination." 29
More specifically, Yupei sets out a plan for organizing peasant communities. Initially, associations of "agricultural citizens" could be established on plots owned by members of the"philosophical community". They should be created in the image of the "philosophical community" itself. "Agricultural citizens" in such associations would eat well, be well dressed, and have good living quarters. After the rent was paid to the landowner, all revenues would remain at the disposal of the association, which would distribute them annually among its members. The author expresses his willingness to organize such an association on one of his land plots near Aix, initially including people from Auvergne communities and children of poor parents, and building a "common house" for community members, as described in his draft 30.

So, Yupei proposed at first to organize communities-associations for certain groups of the population. But, like the rapprochement between members of the community and their servants in the communities of well-off citizens, the same process should have taken place between members of communities of different social strata. The incentive for this was supposed to be a unified system of national education "for all classes of citizens", which the author especially insists on. He considered it absolutely necessary to apply the detailed plan of education (based on a combination of training and labor education)that he had outlined to all children, regardless of their social background, including the children of peasants. The latter could receive this education at least until the age of 16, after which they would continue their self-education with the help of their "former comrades", children of more affluent families. In this way, the "young peasants and workers" would continue their education in the future .31 According to the author, a unified labor education of the younger generation, which teaches children from well-to-do families to useful work and provides children of the lower classes with the necessary education, should lead in the future to the rapprochement of various strata of society and, consequently, the various communities organized on their basis. The plan of association communities outlined by Yupei was aimed at gradual progress with the aim of eventually establishing a communist social system.

The French bourgeois Revolution of the late eighteenth century raised Yupei's hopes. In his books and pamphlets published in those years, setting out his pedagogical ideas and the plan for universal national education, he repeatedly refers to the project of the "philosophical community". In a book published in the third year of the Republic, that is, already during the period of the Thermidorian reaction, under the title "Republican Koran"32 , Yupei, speaking as a staunch Republican and democrat, supported popular government - direct legislation of the people, united in rural and urban sections, again put forward the project of their communities, pointing out that the commonality of life corresponds to the social instinct of people, their needs, talents, virtues. Proving that when by-

26 Ibid., p. 111.

27 "Projet de Communaute Philosophe...", p. 129.

28 Ibid., p. 78.

29 "Maison de reunion...", pp. 6 - 7.

30 Ibid., pp. 124 - 131.

31 Ibid., pp. 92 - 99.

32 "Alcoran republicain ou institutions fondamentales du Gouvernement Populaire ou legitime pour l'Administration, l'Education, le Mariage et la Religion. Par l'Auteur de la Communaute Philosophe, du Reglement de l'Education Nationale et de Generalif. A Ge-eralif. Maison Patriarchale et Champetre". An III.

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in such a social system, personal interest would always coincide with the general interest; he would ask the question: "Perhaps... Are we too ill-bred to form the communities I have just proposed, and which I proposed even more inappropriately in 1777?" He expressed, however, the hope that now, as a result of the experience gained during the years of the revolution, it would be possible to organize such communities primarily from the younger generation.

Finally discovered, the "Project of the Philosophical community" of Yupey is of undoubted interest both for the history of French social thought and for the history of communist ideas. The author's communist views and ideals are not, of course, independent and original, but only repeat the main provisions of the French utopian communism of the XVIII century. And yet

Yupey's works expand on the French utopian communism on the eve of the bourgeois revolution of the late 18th century and the extent of its prevalence. The "Project of the Philosophical Community" is also of considerable interest in other respects. Plans of associations of the second half of the XVIII century. Regardless of their ultimate social goals, Fourier's "phalanxes" are anticipated as projects of productive-consumer partnerships. The Yupei plan, which justifies the economic feasibility of joint farming, provides for the introduction of well-off members of the community to work and the labor education of the younger generation, and describes in detail the association's dormitory, is by far the most detailed "pre-furerist" project of this kind.

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