The worker's union

L’Union Ouvrière (The Workers’ Union) was published in 1843 by the French utopian socialist, Flora Tristan (1803-1844). In this major text of the history of early socialist feminism she argues that the only way to liberate the working class is to liberate and integrate women into the socialist movement. To achieve these aims she proposes a “Universal Worker’s Union” in which all members of the proletariat would belong regardless of profession or sex. The L’Union Ouvrière was Flora Tristan’s final work before her death caused by illness in 1844. In many ways this document, inspired by other early French socialist authors, including Henri Saint-Simonians (1760-1825) and Charles Fourier (1772-1937), was an amalgam of her personal and political experiences.