While working on my talk on the French Economists’ battle against Socialism I came across this marvelous contemporary cartoon by the political caricaturist Amédée de Noé (known as Cham) (1818-1879) entitled “Ce qu’on appelle des idées nouvelles en 1848” (What are called “New Ideas” in 1848). In the cartoon he mocked the leading socialist figures of the 1848 Revolution in this panel of 6 cartoons. He ridicules their claims that their ideas were new and original by pointing out the true origins of their ideas for reform. It turns out they “borrowed” all their ideas from other people. His panels depict socialist thinkers such as Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and Victor Considerant; utopian socialist activists such as Pierre Leroux and Étienne Cabet; as well as socialist politicians such as Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin and Louis Napoléon Bonaparte.

I have posted an “illustrated essay” on this cartoon on the OLL website where some historical background is provided and the individual cartoons explained.

See “”New” Socialist Ideas in 1848: An Anti-Socialist Cartoon by Amédée de Noé” <http://oll.libertyfund.org/pages/new-socialist-ideas-in-1848>.