The writings of Claude-Henri de Saint-Simon (1760-1825) - who after 1815 simply signed himself Henri Saint-Simon - form an important point in the devel­opment of economic ideas, reinforced by the work of those who later identified themselves as Saint-Simonians.

While these followers pursued their own path, and not without differences, they attracted attention because they proclaimed an idi­osyncratic new religion. While aspects of this scandalised the public, the ideas of Saint-Simon and of the Saint-Simonians would diffuse through French society beyond their original context; the phrase “Saint-Simonian” is still used today for a voluntaristic and technocratic approach to economic activity, or “industry”. Some of their basic positions are analysed in this chapter. Further developments, espe­cially on justice and taxation, are to be found in the next chapter, devoted to the first associationists and socialists.

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