Socialism In Thomas More's Utopia

2 Pages 517 Words

In this critical essay, Kleine writes about how More’s Utopia brought about socialism. He also shows how the story of Utopia, whether written about by Plato, Marx, or More, is a socialist place. Utopia is socialist because all Utopians wear the same clothes, all practice agriculture, all live in similar houses in identical towns, how they all speak the same language, and how they all have a standard view of God and call him by the same name. All Utopians are also on the same social class level. There is no differentiation between the princes, magistrates, priests, and the learned in Utopia.
The Utopians also wear the same simple material for clothing, and the only demarcation of the status of people is color. The different colors represent the different statuses of people, such as being married, single, a child, a priest, or a slave. Slaves, besides wearing a different color of clothing also wear gold earrings, gold necklaces, gold shackles or chains, a distinguishing badge for their district, have no money, and they have a little piece of one ear cut off, are treated the same as the other Utopians. They are fed from the Utopians food surplus and their wages from working for freemen go straight to the treasury or their labor helps the public, so they always help the public either by the money they earn or by their labor.
The people of Utopia also have different occupations depending on what they want to learn. The children are moved to different houses according to their choice of work. Up to 30 people live in the same house, and they share the same or similar occupations. Utopians can also worship in their own way with people of their faith, however they are required to go to a service in which there are no images of God, He is called by the same name by all people, and all prayers are non-denominational. These are the only distinguishing factors between people and everyone respects the other people. Everyone shares t...