Phalanstery

In the complicated visionary socialist system of Charles Fourier (1772-1837), a phalanstery or phalanstère (French) was a common organization of essentially self-sufficient cooperative communities. Fourier would permit some inter-phalanstery exchanges between those in different parts of the world. In such communities, all participants would seek their happiness in the abandonment of the restraints normally imposed by the previously existing societies. Minimum subsistence would be a first lien on total production. After that, the balance would be allocated 5/12ths for labor, 4/12ths for capital and 3/12ths for talent. It was assumed that all tasks, even the most menial, could be made sufficiently attractive so that enough workers would always volunteer to perform all necessary communal work.