ABSTRACT
During the 1840s new immigrant groups reached the shores of the United States with the intention of establishing communitarian units in the New World. These groups were different from the preceding ones; they did not emerge from persecuted religious sects but from socialist and communist organizations that had been involved in radical political activities in Europe. Their members were inspired by Utopian theories designed to change the social reality through the establishment of model settlements. The most renowned of the European socialist circles reached the port of New Orleans early in 1848. They were disciples of the French Utopian Etienne Cabet 1 and followed their leader’s call to establish a communitarian society on the principles of his Utopian novel, Voyage en I carie. 2 Before arriving in the United States they had been politically active in France since 1840.
